Tag / dustin hoffman

by Jaime Rebanal

The Meyerowitz Stories – Review

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I haven’t always been on board with Netflix’s run of original feature films but amidst a group of entertaining and otherwise mediocre genre efforts, a standout comes by and The Meyerowitz Stories is yet another one of these. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starring a frequent collaborator of his in Ben Stiller, he hits once again with yet another comedy-drama about a family broken apart on the count of an artist of some sort having been a part of why everyone is so distanced. While I still believe that Noah Baumbach has yet to top The Squid and the Whale, his work continues to remain charming enough yet still feel meaningful. But Baumbach also seems to carry a great power in drawing empathy from his viewers towards what they see on the screen, and it works wonders once more.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Lenny – Review

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I think it was only most fitting that Bob Fosse of all people was the man who went behind making a film about Lenny Bruce. But how exactly would a biopic be able to capture a sense of what the man was truly all about? Maybe it was the fact that Bob Fosse was already working himself up to the point he’s captured a sense of what the man was like on the inside, for he was editing this at the same time he was choreographing Chicago, something he went ahead and fictionalized eventually in All That Jazz, his own invitation to a glimpse at the creative process of an artist. And that’s only a fraction of what made me love Bob Fosse as much as I do, because like All That Jazz which came later, he didn’t want to take someone else’s story and turn it into any other disposable biopic. I’ve known the name of Lenny Bruce for a while already, and I’ve already found a newfound respect for him thanks to what Bob Fosse had painted of him in Lenny.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Straw Dogs – Review

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The first time I saw Straw Dogs, I was unsure what to expect given as the only Sam Peckinpah film that I had seen prior was his most famous, The Wild Bunch. I was always cautious with the notion of its infamous rape scene especially inside of a year where more violent films were being put on the radar whether it be Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange or William Friedkin’s The French Connection and that first viewing left me feeling no sort of urge to revisit the film. But going through Sam Peckinpah had gotten me to thinking that maybe there was something even greater at the hands of Straw Dogs which made for only one of the most riveting experiences I’ve ever had watching a film – and if that was the intent, I can only say that Sam Peckinpah has succeeded, but it won’t be for all sensibilities.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Graduate – Review

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I’m probably going to get into my more self-indulgent mode when I’m talking about something like this but it’s necessary when I want to talk about a film like The Graduate. I once wrote in a personal diary entry that at certain points of my life where I just have absolutely nothing, I’m simply Benjamin Braddock. It feels especially reasonable as I feel I’m only living in a world where all I see are nothing but different age groups failing to understand what it is defining what satisfies another. This is a film that understands the loneliness in one’s life and how the outside world just comes in and interferes. Continue reading →