4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on January 25, 2025

There’s something to be said of a contemporary movie that unabashedly focuses on a close-knit family that loves each other dearly and celebrates them. For whatever reason, contemporary cinematic culture almost feels averse to certain topics because they feel staid and formulaic. Subversion and   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on January 23, 2025

It seems suspect, and the film never tries to explain. It feels like a bit of nostalgic, rose-colored wish fulfillment, and yet we come to understand Alana doesn’t know what she’s doing with her life. Perhaps it’s Gary’s charisma that draws her in. He’s got a lot of ne   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on January 21, 2025

I forget Phoenix’s capable of the kind of mundane naturalism that also defines a certain mode of acting. C’mon, C’mon is a reminder he can be a rudimentary person, a normal human being, and when he’s playing Joker or Napoleon, it’s not better just different (Wh   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 28, 2024

“He and you and I will become a part of history — of its futility” – Richard Burton as Jim Leith Bitter Victory is a curious confluence of talents and material. Nicholas Ray was earmarked to helm this British war movie with French-American backing. Aside from the primary lea   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 26, 2024

Run for Cover is rarely talked about in conversations of westerns, but there’s something fascinating about getting a James Cagney-led sagebrusher.  Like seeing Edward G. Robinson in The Violent Men, it’s hard not to read his entire history of gangster pictures into his backstory because   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 21, 2024

“When you came here that first day, I fell flat on my face over your suitcase. I never really got up.” – Joan Leslie as Donna Born to Be Bad is not high-grade stuff. Its trashy exploitive title says as much, but it’s also worthwhile for exactly these reasons. Nicholas...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 19, 2024

Added to the landscape of The Third Man, Germany Year Zero, and A Foreign Affair, Berlin Express is a fascinating portrait in the rubble-film genre. These are the pictures on the cutting edge of filmic history, shooting on-location in the post-war world that was still licking its wounds and putting   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 22, 2024

“Like a rat, I want to be beautiful. Because you have a beauty that can’t be reflected in pictures” -sung by Linda, Linda, Linda During the grainy opening scene of Linda, Linda, Linda there’s some time spent figuring out how these characters relate to our story as two AV nerd   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 20, 2024

“There are two kind of people in the world. Those who swing and those who don’t.” I’ve already talked about this phenomenon ad nauseam, but having lived abroad in Japan, worked at a school, and interacted with many Japanese people, it fascinates me to learn about their cultur   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 15, 2024

There’s an immediate aesthetic artifice to His Motorbike, Her Island. Our hero is cool and simultaneously cruel representing a husky-voiced, brusque masculinity that feels no doubt appealing and equally toxic. He recounts his life’s observations through voiceover — the monochrome   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on October 13, 2024

Lonely Heart is a film bathed in the golden hues of nostalgia (“natsukashii” in Japanese). It also boasts a rural landscape with a topography that’s the utter antithesis of Tokyo’s urban skyline. This in itself already evokes a certain quaintness, regardless of the story bei   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on September 6, 2024

Sometimes you start a film and there’s such a specific sense of place, rhythm, and tone you perk up in anticipation. I felt that sensation from the opening credits of this new film starring Daisy Ridley. The score is replete with a few murmuring voices and a harp, and there’s...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on September 4, 2024

From watching one of director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s interviews, it’s made clear he started Evil Does Not Exist by using the music of Eiko Ishibashi as inspiration. There’s a swelling breadth to it augmenting everything it touches. At times doleful and then evolving into a plinking in   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on September 2, 2024

A version of this article was published in Film Inquiry. “I am always highly irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it is very shocking to the system.” – Flannery O’Connor As someone fascinated by story s   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on August 29, 2024

A version of this article was published in Film Inquiry.  If Spider-Man was the template for what the modern superhero movie would become, its sequel feels like the standard bearer all future successors were asked to eclipse. I had never seen the movie before as I was young during its...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on August 27, 2024

The modern superhero genre as we know it began with Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) starring Christopher Reeve. Then, there were subsequent releases like Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) with Michael Keaton or even Wesley Snipes’s Blade (1998). Also, the first X-Men in 2000 has seen many sub   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on August 19, 2024

On a superficial even subliminal level, La Piscine (The Swimming Pool in English) shares some nominal similarities with The Swimmer and The Graduate. Certainly, drawing the connections isn’t too difficult. It’s a mood and a feeling as much as it is subject matter. We open on a rural vill   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 27, 2024

The introduction of the main character Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko ) feels fairly standard and in line with Ferris Bueller, Say Anything, or any of its brethren from the ’80s. Late for school. Dirty shirts strewn about. Simultaneously zapping pop tarts and wet clothes in the microwave. Fla   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 25, 2024

I must have learned about Ritchie Valens through Don McLean’s “American Pie.” Because there was a time when I was fascinated by all the musical references that seemed so oblique to my young mind. Eventually, the songwriter’s ode leads you to “The Day The Music Died&#822   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on July 23, 2024

I hold an immediate affinity for the images at the core of Mystery Train: A Japanese couple (Youki Kudo and Masatoshi Nagase) riding a train. This is the ’80s so they’ve got a walkman with an audiocassette tape, and it’s blaring Elvis! It becomes apparent they are making a pilgrim   read more