John Otteni

I made a mockumentary about hunting vampires

Criterion Month Day 19: Mystery Train

Mystery Train (1989)

I love anthologies! Why don’t they make more anthologies? Yorgos Lanthimos made Kinds of Kindness this year—did I see it? Oops, I’m part of the problem! But I look forward to seeing it because anthologies are perfect for short attention spans (like mine). Don’t like the story? Just wait for the next one. If you want to argue that anthologies are annoying because the movie keeps having to stop and restart, let me try to convince you to reconsider with this review of Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train.

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Criterion Month Day 14: Streetwise

Streetwise (1984)

The first time I read about Martin Bell’s 1984 film Streetwise was in the December 2009 issue of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. The issue was dedicated to “75 Years of Seattle Movies,” and no film in that issue piqued my interest like Streetwisee. A gritty documentary about teens living on the streets of my city? But Seattle’s not a dangerous, hardened, urban jungle like New York, right? Right?!?

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Criterion Month Day 13: Quadrophenia

Quadrophenia (1979)

The Who? I love bands. I’ve loved The Who ever since they were the Hillbilly Bugger Boys. So why hadn’t I seen this movie before? Because I’m not a big fan of the album. I like Quadrophenia, but I don’t LIKE like Quadrophenia. It has my favorite Who track, “The Real Me,” but it also has one of my least favorite Who tracks, “Love, Reign o’er Me.” And you better believe that song makes its presence known throughout that album’s sprawling 81-minute runtime. But what about the movie?

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Criterion Month Day 11: Wise Blood

Wise Blood (1979)

I can’t believe John Huston, grizzled director of the iconic The Maltese Falcon and director of propaganda films to support the war effort during WWII, was not only still directing films in 1979, but films that were just as weird and compelling as anything being made by the twentysomething hippies and burnouts of New Hollywood. This is a man who worked with Humphrey Bogart, now filming a man stealing a shrunken mummy from a museum and a guy pounding his chest in a gorilla suit. What a career and what a film.

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Criterion Month Day 7: The Soft Skin

The Soft Skin (1964)

We’ve done a good job of covering the early work of François Truffaut here on the blog. Well, I don’t know how good we’ve done, but we’ve done it. Thus far we’ve covered Truffaut’s first film, The 400 Blows, his second film, Shoot the Piano Player, and his fourth, Jules and Jim. We haven’t covered his third film, The Army Game, but it’s not in the Criterion Collection, so it doesn’t exist as far as I’m concerned.

The Soft Skin is Truffaut’s fifth film, a sexy ode to Hitchcock that underperformed upon its release on April 20th (nice), 1964. But why? What was it about The Soft Skin that failed to resonate with audiences? Was it TOO adult? Was it TOO soft? Let’s find out…

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Criterion Month Day 1: Riot in Cell Block 11

Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)

Welcome to Mildly Pleased’s 8th Annual Criterion Month! Yet again, Sean, Colin, and I will be reviewing stuffy, artsy, and probably long movies from the Criterion Collection for a whole month. So put down those sunglasses, drop that surfboard, and dim the lights—for cinematic purposes (not romantic). Pop some corn and join us for a journey into the world of le cinéma (the cinema).

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Oscars Fortnight: Finding Neverland

Finding Neverland (2004)

The 77th Academy Awards (2005)
Nominations:
7
Wins: 1

Why am I drawn to the worst films nominated for Best Picture? Finding Neverland is not terrible but it has no business being selected as one of the Best Films of 2004. The 77th Academy Awards did otherwise deliver a solid lineup; Million Dollar Baby (the winner), The Aviator, Sideways, Ray, but Finding Neverland? You could have given that spot to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Collateral, or The Incredibles (yeah, right they aren’t that cool). So why Finding Neverland? Answer: the Oscars LOVE middling biopics.

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