Duke of Burgundy: one of Berkeleyside film critic John Seal’s favorite films of 2015: one of Berkeleyside film critic John Seal’s favorite films of 2015 I estimate I watched between 500 and 600 films in 2015, but every year I miss a ton of new movies, so this article needs to include an appropriate disclaimer: […]
John Seal
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Big Screen Berkeley: ‘The Second Mother’
Second Mother In real life, the well-to-do have servants to help them count their money, weigh gold bullion, and keep the other servants in line. In the movies, the rich also have domestic help – but in films like The Servant (1963) and La Nana (The Maid, 2009), the ‘help’ quite often turns out to […]
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BIg Screen Berkeley: ‘Timbuktu,’ a film of beauty, value
Life is good for Kidane and his wife and daughteruntil jihadis seize the nearby burg, in the film Timbuktu which is nominated for an Oscar When I was a wee lad, my grandfather would describe taking a long journey as ‘going to Timbuktu’. I had no idea where Timbuktu was – in fact, I didn’t realize […]
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She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry/Before and After Films
Mansplaining: it’s something us guys do, sometimes completely unawares – heck, though I’m still not entirely clear on what it is, I’m probably doing it right now. So at the risk of mansplaining something to female readers that they already understand, I do declare that She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (opening at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Academy Award nominated shorts
White Earth, a look at North Dakota’s oil boom and how it’s affected local children, nominated for an Oscar in the short documentary category It’s time once again for me to thoroughly embarrass myself by incorrectly handicapping this year’s short subject Academy Awards, which open this Friday, Jan. 30 at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas. I think […]
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‘The Duke of Burgundy’: A stylish film, not to be missed
Duke of Burgundy: “The bottom line is I can’t recommend this film highly enough,” says our film critic John Seal Duke of Burgundy: “The bottom line is I can’t recommend this film highly enough,” says our film critic John Seal Because of a seemingly never ending litany of technical problems, I almost gave up on […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Double Indemnity
Barbara Stanwyck and tough guy Fred MacMurray in the great film noir, Double Indemnity. When it comes to leading ladies, I’m apparently a bit of a cad. I have no trouble telling my Alan Ladds from my Errol Flynns, but put headshots of (for example) Merle Oberon and Joan Fontaine in front of me, and, […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: Favorite films of 2014
The Dance of Reality: one of Berkeleyside film writer John Seal’s picks for his favorite movies of 2014. “As close to perfect as a movie got in 2014 – and probably as close to perfect as a movie ever gets,” he writes.: one of Berkeleyside film writer John Seal’s picks for his favorite movies of […]
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‘The Babadook’: Australian thriller aims to chill
Australian thriller The Babadook opens at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood on Friday, Dec. 12 Happy Halloween! Oh, I’m sorry – is my calendar off? Last week’s dabbling in the vampire genre must have got me into the seasonal mood a little late this year, because Australian thriller The Babadook is coming to Rialto Cinemas Elmwood on […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night can be described as an ‘Iranian diaspora romantic vampire drama set in the western United States’ Is A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (opening at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas on Friday, Dec. 5) truly ‘the first Iranian vampire western’, as its promotional material claims? Sadly, no – but […]
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Big Screen Berkeley: The Cranes Are Flying
The Cranes are Flying plays at Pacific Film Archive at 5:30pm on Friday, Nov. 28 as part of the series ‘Discovering Georgian Cinema’ Tbilisi is the capital city of the republic of Georgia – one of the pawns in what is now being touted by some (including Mikhail Gorbachev) as a ‘new cold war’. Previously […]
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Like Terrence Malick? Make time for ‘The Better Angels’
The Better Angels is extremely light on narrative but has a few moments of deep and enduring beauty Are you an admirer of Terrence Malick? If so, you’ll definitely want to make time for The Better Angels, a black-and-white tone poem reflecting the best and worst of the director’s style opening at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas […]