More Than One Lesson

Death in the Desert is an odd little movie. It had all the potential of a genuine cult indie thriller in the overall tone, visual style and musical score. But it is hindered by a multitude of sizable problems.

Supposedly based on the true story of the murder of a tycoon in the outskirts of Las Vegas, the movie tries very hard to establish an ominous quality to its narrative and for the most part, the tone is where it should be. But early promise never quite becomes anything more than that.

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In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, Oscars, Bone Tomahawk, International Christian Film Festival
00:07:20- Bridge of Spies
00:58:45- Grand Illusion
01:32:12- Episode wrap-up

In this episode, Tyler and Robert discuss Lenny Abrahamson’s Room and Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, International Christian Film Festival, Oscar season
00:07:10- Paddington
00:15:10- Room
01:31:25- First Blood
02:08:00- Episode wrap-up

In this minisode, Tyler and Josh discuss Franklin J. Schaffner’s Patton, winner of Best Picture for 1970.

For several years, I’ve been making a joke about God’s will for my life. Having felt the call to become a film critic in 2008, I have often been frustrated by the lack of paid opportunities there have been for me. As a way of coping with this, I adopted a very caustic attitude and would frequently say, “God called me into film criticism just in time for it start dying.”

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Some stories are as old as storytelling itself. One of them is this: a damsel, pure and fair, has been captured by a dragon. It then falls to a group of upright knights, none of whom are fully sure they’re a match for the beast, to enter its lair and retrieve her.

If you substitute the knights for old west citizens and the dragon for a tribe of cannabilistic savages, you’ve summarized Bone Tomahawk, the directorial debut of S. Craig Zahler starring Kurt Russell. I cannot recall a movie like it in recent memory, yet it feels almost mythologically traditional. It manages to somehow be epic in its scope and simultaneously two-sentence-tiny in its premise. It is relentlessly brutal in its violence, yet restrained in how rarely that violence presents itself. It has a constant tone of dread while somehow managing to maintain an ember of hope glowing at its center.

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In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:45- Intro, MTOL Survey, update on Josh
00:08:15- Oscar talk, Tom McCarthy episode
00:13:00- Spotlight
01:10:45- Doubt
01:41:33- Episode wrap-up

In this episode, Tyler and Robert discuss Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs and Franklin J. Schaffner’s Patton.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, The Hateful Eight, MTOL Survey, Tyler’s Movie Collection
00:09:30- Steve Jobs
01:12:00- Patton
02:01:50- Episode wrap-up

Tyler and Josh discuss William Friedkin’s The French Connection, winner of Best Picture for 1971.

As has become a yearly custom, I like to ring in the New Year by looking back on the films released a decade earlier. I don’t do this solely to make myself “feel old”, but rather to allow a moment of reflection. How has Hollywood changed in the last ten years? Which artists have come to prominence and respectability? Which ones have fallen away?

And, of course, an even more personal question. How has my own life changed since I first saw these movies? Has my outlook on film evolved in the last ten years? Has it devolved?

That’s why I enjoy doing this yearly post; it forces me to look back and reflect.

That said, the following movies are now ten years old:

CASINO ROYALE
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III
CARS
SUPERMAN RETURNS
THE DA VINCI CODE
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
V FOR VENDETTA
LITTLE CHILDREN
INSIDE MAN
UNITED 93
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE DESCENT
TALLADEGA NIGHTS
IDIOCRACY
THE QUEEN
THE DEPARTED
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE PRESTIGE
BABEL
BORAT
STRANGER THAN FICTION
THE FOUNTAIN
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
DREAMGIRLS
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
ROCKY BALBOA
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
CHILDREN OF MEN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE PROPOSITION