finding cain

You know that feeling when you stumble upon an old movie you haven't seen in years? It's like finding a dusty photo album and flipping through the pages, only instead of bad hairstyles, you're greeted with hideous special effects and awful dialogue. Also, the dramatic tension I remembered as nail-biting was now… well, a little slow-paced. But the truly entertaining part of rewatching a movie is that you notice things you never did before. For example, in Midnight Cowboy , I didn't know that the guy who gave Joe Buck (Jon Voight) a blow job was played by Bob Balaban, who later became known for his role as Russell Dalrymple, the fictional president of NBC in Seinfeld . Released in 1969, Midnight Cowboy is a raw, sometimes uncomfortable, often heartbreaking, but ultimately deeply human. And seriously, the chemistry between Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) and Buck is pure gold. Rewatching a movie is like visiting an old friend. You know their idiosyncrasies, their stories, bu...

You have to hand it to David E. Kelley. The success of Picket Fences , Ally McBeal , and Big Little Lies bought him the freedom to do whatever he wants with Presumed Innocent . The trailer looks promising, but few had high hopes for an adaptation of Scott Turow's first novel that had already spawned a Harrison Ford flick 34 years ago. Ah, 1990…the Gulf War. It was the year when I was afraid to go to birthday parties for fear that everyone would start singing Taylor Dayne's Love Will Lead You Back . 1990 was the year when I caught mumps and chickenpox. It was the year when no one was quite sure what happened between my science teacher and my classmate's dad, but they were sure happy about it. A reason to see Presumed Innocent is the amazing performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Bill Camp. A reason not to see it is if you're already very familiar with the book and the movie. For some reason, I even had a paperback…but I'd never read it, start to finish. So here I am, ...

Saudi Arabia just pulled off one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history but I was in my intermittent "don't pay much attention to football" moods, so I watched this instead.

I saw Akira on Betamax when I was a kid. Trust me, it was a pretty astonishing thing to see at the time. I've seen it five times. I still marvel.

I'm not sure why I liked the movie as much as I did. It might have had something to do with the soundtrack and how captivating Anya and Thomasin McKenzie were.

Before the internet, when audio cassettes, VCRs, and floppy disks were the most easily shared technologies, the things that went viral were sexy, bizarre, or just plain f*cked up. When I was 10, I dubbed four copies of 10 to Midnight on VHS and gave them to my friends. Piracy was as simple as hooking two VCRs together with a cable. It was fun. That movie wasn't. 10 to Midnight , starring Charles Bronson, is one of the weirdest slasher flicks from my childhood. You all know Charles, who somehow managed to become a top box office attraction in the seventies and eighties for his badassness. Here's two minutes of him trying to take the law into his own hands.

Todd Haynes' first documentary feature offers a fresh take on the influential 60s group. Critics call it " as radical, daring and brilliant as the band itself ."

Here is the official trailer for The Most Reluctant Convert , the C.S. Lewis biopic that you probably didn't know existed. I know it is unfair to judge solely on the basis of a trailer, and I hope that I am wrong, but the movie looks terrible and I'm just not sure who it is for.

I should have better things to do—but I have to admit to splurging an excessive amount of time and attention last week on an Italian confection strangely titled Baby . It's about a bunch of kids in Rome who deal with domestic strife and school bullies by selling drugs, getting really wasted and "seducing" older men with their youthful beauty. Baby gives you the perpetual, skin-crawling reminder that you're sitting and staring at young women's bodies, enjoying the way you can set foot into their lives and then turn away when the scenes do not interest you any longer. Oh my god. Chiara. Chiara is so hot. The series has a contagious misery, and may remind you of your younger, brasher, more energetic self. Here's another fact: It was inspired by the real-life Baby Squillo (Baby Prostitute) scandal, in which a group of young girls became involved in a prostitution ring. In many of the episodes, sex and teenage romance get mixed up without much effort and I never s...

Do You See What I See tells the story of David Dees, who started out working for Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and Sesame Street and eventually became the artist-in-residence for internet truthers. Short of the Week's Chelsea Lupkin has a review of the Brad Abrahams-directed documentary. A film that will frustrate, enlighten, and enrage, Do you see what I see? is an unsettling, yet empathetic portrait of the "notorious" illustrator, his beliefs and his eye-catching, yet problematic works of art. The spread of misinformation is now so commonplace the issues Do you see what I see? raises are certainly not to be ignored. Presenting a glimpse into the psyche of someone who has gone so far down the rabbit hole they are living in an alternate reality, Abrahams’ short provides a chilling word of warning for us all. I don't really know what that was about, but that, uh, that was intense. Anyway, here's the video:

I know you've probably seen the second trailer for Denis Villeneuve's Dune by now but I was out for a late night walk and missed it so we're all going to watch it together all right? Possibly the greatest science-fiction novel ever written, Dune is even more relevant now than when it was first published. It's a political saga. It's a technological thriller. It's an ecological drama. If you've never read Dune , do pick it up.

From Jimmy Kimmel's show recently, Quentin Tarantino tries to guess several obscure films from the VHS synopsis alone. I don't know about you, but I find myself enjoying a crazy B movie from time to time.

Last week, having walked home from the market—a nice, effortless stroll but for the danger of contracting coronavirus—I cleaned the house, fed the dogs, showered, and played with my kids to watch four episodes of Cruel Summer . Set in a small town in Texas in the early nineties, Freeform's new series tells the story of two teen girls: the dorky Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia) and the popular Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt). It reminds me of Pretty Little Liars , but when I first heard the title I thought it was a biopic of Bananarama in their prime years. Cruel Summer is just so-so, but it has enough charm to keep me interested. The secret is to make things that appeal to my inner teen without equating youth with stupidity. It's also loaded with iconic throwback hits, including songs by The Cranberries, INXS, Mazzy Star, and 4 Non Blondes. If you were a kid in the '90s, the soundtrack will likely take you right back.

This is the Sesame Street parody of When Harry Met Sally . Until now I don't know why Sesame Street does parodies of movies and TV shows that kids haven't seen or shouldn't be seeing.

Strange Days came out when I was in high school, and although it was considered a commercial failure, it made a huge impression on me. Kathryn Bigelow's uncanny tech noir was way ahead of its time. It was released in 1995; was set in 1999; but was really just about now. I have a history of sometimes liking films that critics despise — Capone would be a recent example — and not liking movies that critics applaud. No, I haven't seen Mortal Kombat yet. But one of these days when I have time, I will.

I'm not happy unless my blog has a little Wes Anderson on it from time to time. Here's the trailer from Bottle Rocket , his feature-length directorial debut. As a teen, I owned — and come to think of it, still own because it's in a storage box here somewhere — a VHS copy of this movie. I'm not sure why I bought it. I guess I just love to watch funny, obscure films.

Those of you who are interested in The Queen's Gambit will be thrilled by this. The rest of you just skip to the next post.

Watched Kung Paano Siya Nawala last night for the fifth time. So why have I seen it so many times? I think it's because I like it a wee bit more with each viewing, which doesn't happen with many Filipino movies. Ang ganda ni Rhian, and she is so darn good in it that she forces you to love the character she's playing. The casting of JM De Guzman in the lead role is also superb. Lio (De Guzman) has prosopagnosia, commonly called face blindness, which means he has trouble recognizing familiar faces and learning to recognize new ones. He walks right past his officemates, his friends, his girlfriend, without being able to recognize them. I first learned about face blindness in 2012, when I watched a report by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes . It can be embarrassing, and it can offend people. Unfortunately, there are no widely accepted treatments. Although prosopagnosia is described as "blindness", it has nothing to do with sight, but rather with a diminished ability to cre...

I almost never watch the NFL. Once upon a time, I followed the Broncos, largely because my friends did…but other interests took over. Every now and then, I check out a few NFL clips on YouTube, not so much of American football but of the gyrating hips of the league's scantily clad, fresh-faced cheerleaders. The other night, I watched Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. It tells the story of Texas legend Suzanne Mitchell, who created the Cowboys cheer squad, as we know it today. I liked it. It's frisky and informative. I think I have a non-sexual crush on Dana Adam Shapiro. He makes films like I make pancakes.

Sean Connery is dead. He left us on Saturday at the age of 90. I still think people pay too much attention to his James Bond flicks. That's fine but I'm more impressed by the multitude of other acting jobs this man had. A very good overview of his long, glorious career can be found here . While his death is deeply felt, we must also celebrate his sheer grit and passion. Here's a clip from one of my favorite Sean Connery movies.