Basket of Kisses

Blow-Up (1966) 1966 was the year that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) discarded the outdated Hayes code and enforced a new ratings system for new releases.  It had become obvious to MPAA president Jack Valenti that  the current film and cultural environment was becoming less family friendly and more emotionally and sexually intense.  [...]

Friends with Kids (2012) 8/10 Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) are best friends, single, and with problematic dating lives, who decide to have a baby together instead of waiting for “the one.” Their married friends (two couples play by Maya Rudolph & Chris O’Dowd, and Jon Hamm & Kristen Wiig) are not comfortable [...]

This is an open thread to discuss the Oscars broadcast (tonight, 7pm Eastern), the films, and of course, the red carpet. Nine movies have been nominated for Best Picture this year, in a new system that weights votes so that there can be anywhere from five to ten nominated pictures. Here are my thoughts: The [...]

Guest post by Nathaniel R: Mad Men at the Movies ran at The Film Experience and is being posted here for the first time since it ran oh, so long ago. Mad Men at the Movies investigates the film references in the Emmy winning series. Episode 2.3 “The Benefactor” Two film moments in this episode. [...]

Tully (2000) 9/10 Tully Coates, Jr. (Anson Mount) and his brother Earl (Glenn Fitzgerald) work the family farm with their father (Bob Burrus). When an unexpected letter arrives, family secrets are revealed. Tully is why people watch “small” movies. There is nothing spectacular going on in this movie. It is two young farmers and their [...]

Hugo (2011) 8/10 Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is an orphan secretly living in the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930s, where he maintains the clocks. He becomes involved with Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) and her “grandpa” Georges (Ben Kingsley), who has a secret of his own. Directed by Martin Scorsese in 3D. Hugo is [...]

Swedish Auto (2006) 5/10 Lonely, isolated auto mechanic Carter (Lukas Haas) meets lonely, isolated diner waitress Darla (January Jones). One time, Arthur and I sat down to watch The Gay Divorcee. Arthur and I love Fred and Ginger, but it became increasingly intolerable to realize the “romantic” plot had to do with Fred stalking Ginger [...]

I took down the post I had scheduled for this morning because I thought we’d all prefer this! Jump in! Best Picture Nominees: “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, [...]

At some point in my Southern California teen years, a guy on a field trip told my class what the term “silver screen” meant. In the early days of motion pictures, he said, the screens onto which films were projected were often literally silver: a reflective (often aluminum) coating helped fabric screens catch the low-power [...]

The Descendants (2011) 6/10 Elizabeth King is in a coma. Her husband, Matt (George Clooney) must cope with her illness, his two difficult daughters, and the impending sale of a massive piece of property entrusted to his family and worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Directed by Alexander Payne. The Descendants is on Roger Ebert’s [...]

During our Basket of Kisses Fundraiser (woo!) we’re walking through some of our blog’s features and seasons and cool stuff like that. Today I thought we could stroll through a few of the many movie reviews we’ve published. Some reviews are of movies featuring Mad Men stars, like Jon Hamm in The Town and Howl, [...]

Stolen (2009) 6/10 Police sergeant Tom Adkins (Jon Hamm) is searching for his missing son, who disappeared 8 years ago. When the body of a boy Tommy’s age is found, Adkins is called in, but this child died in the 1950s. Stolen is presented in elegant parallel. Cutting between 2008 and 1958, we learn the [...]

While its reputation has grown considerably in the thirty years since its release, I was and still am lukewarm on John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). Basically rubber puppets doused in egg whites, I thought that the special effects were cool but not particularly scary (even by 1982 standards). And the characters, as is often the case  [...]