film reviews
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Review by Aaron Jones | Jul 29, 2024
In this classic thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert’s heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice. It is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, and an indispensable influence on modern crime and thriller fiction.
Review by Aaron Jones | Jul 15, 2024
Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls’ friendship. Ghost World debuted at the Seattle Film Festival in 2001. It had little box office impact but received critical acclaim, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Today it is a well known cult film.
Review by Aaron Jones | Jul 05, 2024
At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie (Audrey Tautou) accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise for Tautou's performance, the cinematography, visuals, production design, sound design, editing, musical score, writing and Jeunet's direction.
Review by Aaron Jones | Jun 24, 2024
The scandal of the 1973 Cannes Festival, director Jodorowsky’s flood of sacrilegious imagery and existential symbolism in The Holy Mountain is a spiritual quest for enlightenment pitting illusion against truth. The Alchemist (Jodorowsky) assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept’s intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.
Review by Aaron Jones | Jun 13, 2024
Mexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph. Salt of the Earth is a subversive piece of guerrilla filmmaking that, 70 years later, remains a revolutionary piece of cinematic history and activism as well as a temperature reading of 1950s America during McCarthyism. It also remains one of the first sensitive representations of Mexican Americans and racial and gender inequality, a precursor to many social conversations still finding traction today.
Review by Aaron Jones | Jun 05, 2024
Envisioned on the picturesque coast of Southern California and based on the book of the same title, the collaborative efforts to put Midnight Cowboy on screen resulted in a 37-year-long love affair, the launching of careers, and a film that inherited an X rating for explicit content that in retrospect feels tame. It would also acquire seven Oscar nominations, winning three, including Best Picture. Its improvisational style meshed perfectly with its urban setting, influencing a generation of future cinema with its avant-garde execution and its refreshing and dogged avoidance of the glamour filmmakers had so readily relied on during the 50s and 60s.
Review by Aaron Jones | May 27, 2024
When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges. Monster is a moving meditation on human ecology portrayed through a coming-of-age story and told through the revisiting of three separate character perspectives that weave interconnected mysteries and multifaceted perceptions, sure to elicit conflicting dialogues within its viewers.
Review by Aaron Jones | May 19, 2024
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon “Videodrome,” a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
Review by Aaron Jones | May 10, 2024
In a bustling Mexican household, seven-year-old Sol is swept up in a whirlwind of preparations for the birthday party for her father, Tona, led by her mother, aunts, and other relatives. As the day goes on, building to an event both anticipated and dreaded, Sol begins to understand the gravity of the celebration this year and watches as her family does the same. It received critical acclaim and was named one of the top five international films of 2023 by the National Board of Review. The film was selected as the Mexican entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Review by Aaron Jones | April 28, 2024
A decadent London aristocrat hires a man-servant to attend to his needs. However, the balance of power starts to shift. Joseph Losey’s 1963 film, The Servant, is loosely based on Robin Maugham’s novella. It was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter (known for The Pumpkin Eater and Accident) and is one of many collaborative efforts between Losey and Pinter. Considered a provocative and risque work at the time of its release, it was shelved for a period but is now revered as a masterpiece.