Jaime’s Film Diary: March 15, 2020

As expected, I’ve been keeping my Letterboxd up to date – so here’s yet another update for here in regards to what I have been watching as of late.

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2018: Another Year of Cinema Come and Gone

This year was a real game changer for a person like myself. To kick things off, it was the first year in which I was able to attend TIFF as a press member rather than as any other audience member. It was a defining moment for myself, though I don’t want to brag a little too much about what happened there. It was just a good year for cinema in general. That’s all I can really say, and I want to bring more attention to the many films that I absolutely loved this year – and so many of them came around this year and so forth. We’re already nearing the end of a decade, and through the good and the bad, the cinema has always been able to provide nothing but the greatest pleasures through and through. Although as we look through the films that have come to define 2018 as a whole, there were many surprises that came along the way just as there were disappointments – all of which came in between the very best and the worst in cinema through the year. So without further ado, let us begin. Continue reading →

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Coen Brothers’ Western Anthology Hits and Misses, but Mostly Hits: Review

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The Coen brothers’s anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a portrait of the many sides of the west, but like any other anthology film there’s always that challenge coming by as to how can all stories ever remain so compelling. You can only get so much charm out of the sort of wit that’s typical of the Coen brothers, but where the film already finds some of its very best footing it also comes right in between some of the weaker portions of the film. That’s not to say I was never entertained by The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but I had only ever found myself susceptible to dozing off because certain stories didn’t capture my interest as much as another one did. But knowing that the Coen brothers had initially intended this as a miniseries, with every segment representing another facet of the American west, maybe it’s also reflective of what one could also expect from how each story mixes together here. You’ll already know which stories you would want to stick with, just as you would which ones you’ll also find yourself caring less about – but there’s always something entertaining to come out from each story.

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The Big Sick – Review

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I’m not even sure why this movie needed to be two hours long, that’s just one thing on my mind the moment I finished The Big Sick. On the other hand, knowing how personal of a tale this was for Kumail Nanjiani to tell, I already knew that I was in for something sweet. As expected of a Sundance drama it’d be rather cutesy (perhaps maybe a bit too much), but I was ultimately won over despite the occasional qualm. What could already make itself out to be any other conventional romantic comedy proves to be something sweeter and incredibly thoughtful, maybe that was all it needed to be in order to hit every mark in which it does with ease.

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In Your Eyes – Review

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I’m starting to question how I considered myself a big fan of Joss Whedon as I watch more films penned by him and slowly I find myself unimpressed. The Cabin in the Woods being a rather recent example for as much as I like the idea it presented it still lacks in terms of the delivery of its satire for it takes far too long to get there. I’ve grown up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I only saw all of Firefly last year – but his film work seems to pale by comparison and In Your Eyes adds more to that streak of disappointment. A plethora of Peter Gabriel jokes could be made on the spot but I’m not wasting my time on such because the song of the same name isn’t even used in the film once.

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