By Tim Winterstein - After I watched Troubled Water last week, one of Amazon's recommendations was Adam's Apples (2005, streaming on Amazon Prime), about a naive pastor in Denmark, Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen), who welcomes in a neo-Nazi in hopes of (I think) rehabilitating him. Add that neo-Nazi to a Saudi immigrant who robs gas stations … Continue reading Absurdity between God and Evil
By Tim Winterstein - Troubled Water (2008, streaming on Amazon Prime) is really a brilliantly made film. You know the whole thing is going to collapse and fall apart between Thomas and Agnes, but you don't know when. That tension builds and builds, even when there is nothing tense happening in a given moment. And … Continue reading Guilt and Grief, and Relief
By Tim Winterstein - First of all, in another life, I would have wanted to be an Icelandic shepherd. Second, Rams (streaming on Netflix) is a beautiful—truly—meditation on family, place, and history. There is the dark humor that comes with two brothers (Gummi and Kiddi) who live next to each other, doing anything and everything … Continue reading Rams
By Tim Winterstein - So I watched Pale Rider for the first time. Clint Eastwood is great, as always. The Eastwood squint/glare is in full effect. He has no actual name in the film, but simply goes by “Preacher.” And he comes as an apparent answer to Megan Wheeler's prayer over her dog's grave, interspersed … Continue reading Wild West Preachers
By Tim Winterstein - This isn't a great documentary. In some ways (down to the design of the credits and titles) it is simply playing on the success and popularity of The Exorcist—though there's no pea soup, no unnaturally turning heads, and no priests die. (And my wife thinks William Friedkin sounds like Donald Trump. … Continue reading The Devil and Father Amorth
By Tim Winterstein - Memory is a strange thing. Last week I wrote that I had seen The Machinist during my second summer at college, the first that I did not return home between classes. In one of my periods of sleeplessness last night, I realized that couldn’t be true. As clearly as I seemed … Continue reading Memory is Treachery
By Tim Winterstein - If Hitchcock remade Fight Club, it would probably look a lot like The Machinist (2004). If you haven't seen it, but you've seen Fight Club, then I probably gave away the major plot twist. But even if you know the major twist, this is a devastating film about the destructive power … Continue reading Guilt and Rest
