by Joel KalowThe first thing I did after stepping out of Richard Linklater’s latest film, Everybody Wants Some!!, was call my friend, Brian. Brian is a senior in college, which already makes him the targeted demographic for the ’80s-set college romp. More importantly, Brian is the captain of his college’s baseball team, giving him the … Continue reading
Y Tu Mamá También (Cuarón, 2001) Roads are never just roads in road trip movies. They’re frontiers waiting to be passed, thresholds to be broken through. They are the physical manifestations of the journey ahead, whether that journey be for love, a new life, or self acceptance. In Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También, the … Continue reading
by Joel KalowThere is probably no artist so synonymous with storytelling as Shakespeare. It’s difficult to imagine a world where love does not bring to mind Romeo and Juliet; betrayal, Othello; revenge, Hamlet. A world where some words just don’t exist: “eyeball,” “generous,” “torture,” “moonbeam.” These stories, characters, phrases and words permeate our collective unconscious … Continue reading
by Jordan Aaron & Joel KalowJORDAN: Richard Linklater and Whit Stillman share the same voice for different social classes. For example, Dazed and Confused and The Last Days of Disco share common themes of social structure and people who are new to this structure finding identity within it. In Dazed and Confused, Mitch is welcomed … Continue reading
Over a period of two weeks, Filmic members were asked to submit ranked lists reflecting the very best 2015 films they saw. 21 lists were ultimately received and 64 titles of considerable diversity were named. The following is the final ranked aggregate: HONORABLE MENTIONS The Hateful Eight (dir. Quentin Tarantino) What we get with The … Continue reading
When Ethan and Joel Coen released their darkly comedic crime thriller, Fargo, in 1996, the movie had an impact on the film community that wasn’t unlike the effect of Quentin Tarantino’s breakthrough, Pulp Fiction two years earlier. Fargo may not have been the duo’s first outing, but it was the film that made them a … Continue reading
by Joel KalowOnce upon a time, the Western was the most commoditized genre in Hollywood. For decades, filmmakers threw their proverbial 10-gallon hat into the ring – usually with a Warren Oates or a Clint Eastwood or a John Wayne attached – and tried to say something new with the raw materials at hand. In … Continue reading
Favorite scenes, beloved characters and personal stories from a galaxy far, far away. From the December 2015 Issue Han Solo and the Art of Cool “Han Solo or Luke Skywalker” was the “Beatles or Rolling Stones” of my childhood. The kids that were “little angels” were always Luke Skywalker kids. Incorruptible. But I was always … Continue reading
by Joel Kalow From the October 2015 IssueAbout twenty-five minutes into Times Square, the two leads break out of a mental institute, steal an ambulance, and take an abandoned warehouse as their new home. Few films have ever so gleefully thrust viewers into the cesspool that forms the setting of Times Square: the cheap neon … Continue reading
by Jordan Aaron & Joel Kalow From the April 2015 Issue Joel Kalow: What do we look for when we go to the movies? Visceral pleasure (there’s a reason those Michael Bay movies break the box office every other year), narrative experiments, old-fashioned, epic storytelling. We go for the laughs, the tears, and the in-betweens. … Continue reading
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