Ten years ago this week, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Within a week, it would be in theaters everywhere, including the California AMC multiplex where my then-high school sweetheart watched in horror … Continue reading Scene Dissections: What if Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Had Been Good?

The Silence of the Lambs is Jonathan Demme’s 1991 horror/thriller film, which is based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel of the same name. It’s about an ambitious, promising young FBI trainee, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), who has been recruited by … Continue reading Scene Dissections: The Silence of the Lambs – The Buffalo Bill Dance Scene

The first John Wick introduced us to a colorful criminal underworld that stylized and codified action movie tropes. Many action movie heroes have cut a bloody swath of vengeance after a loved one was slain, but John Wick pushed the … Continue reading Scene Dissections – Best of 2017: John Wick: Chapter 2 – Silenced Shootout

Open Range is a beautiful movie, but it is also very slow.  Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall — two guys who should be playing cowboys way more often, if it were up to me — are free range cattle ranchers … Continue reading Scene Dissections: Open Range

DISCLAIMER: I am a white American woman and I have only recently become interested in Hindu myths and symbolism. All I have to go on here is what research from books and the Internet and the blissed-out murmurings of white hippie … Continue reading Scene Dissection: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion: My BFF Ganesha

  I have no idea why I’m torturing myself having to write about The Boondock Saints. This is a shit movie full of shit acting and shit writing. The film itself is a drunk man’s fever dream of what a movie … Continue reading Scene Dissections: The Boondock Saints – Dead Cat Manifesto

Tartuffe is a play about a religious conman in the 16th century, written by Moliere. He takes over a family, and while Orgon, the head of the household is trying to get Tartuffe to marry his young daughter Mariane, Tartuffe … Continue reading Scene Dissections: Tartuffe’s Bait and Switch

Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite film of all time, and I’ve probably spent more time writing about it than is healthy. The movie is renowned for its amazing photography, cast-of-thousand battles and Maurice Jarre’s sweeping score. But I enjoy … Continue reading Scene Dissections: Lawrence of Arabia: Meeting General Allenby

(I wrote this late last year but, while looking over old pieces to repost over here, I realized this would make a good Scene Dissection. With Martha’s blessing, I’m reposting it here.) Jurassic Park has many great and tense scenes … Continue reading Scene Dissection: Jurassic Park-T-Rex rampage

Scene Dissection by Richard Killjoy III, Sea Boy In which we discuss a deleted scene from the Jim Jarmusch movie Dead Man… Here is the scene: DIALOGUE: Conway Twill: Anyhow, getting back to the beginning of the story, my grandaddy came … Continue reading Scene Dissection: Dead Man – Deleted Scene

Face/Off is what I will call an unironically iconic film. Released 20 years ago, it is the epitome of John Woo’s directorial style; a flashy, hyper-stylized, over-the-top action film with tons of symbolism. This film is an onion; it has … Continue reading Scene Dissections: Face/Off – Prison Riot/Escape