POP FILTER VS. THE CLASSICS OF 1979 MANHATTAN For this installment of PopFilter versus the classics, we present 1979’s Manhattan, co-written, directed, and staring Woody Allen. It also stars Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, and Muriel Hemmingway. Now, pretty much any film student or any pretentious butt-munch at the independent coffee house loves to [...]
POP FILTER VS. THE CLASSICS OF 1979 THE BLACK STALLION Maybe I’m just traumatized from reading The Red Pony in elementary school, but horses in movies make me nervous. Film or otherwise, stories about horses so often bear a price tag of tragedy–if the quadruped isn’t abused or dying, someone else is, as in Black [...]
POP FILTER VS. THE CLASSICS OF 1979 LIFE OF BRIAN How could you not be offended by Life of Brian? Well…I mean, I wasn’t, but that’s because I haven’t believed in a power higher than me since I was old enough to look in the mirror and whisper “Fuck that.” You weren’t, because you’re smarter [...]
POP FILTER VS. A SHOT IN THE DARK This used to be a comedy. I use the past tense, but it is extremely frustrating to watch, and makes one filled with rage rather than giggles. “A Shot in the Dark” is a sequel to The Pink Panther featuring Inspector Jacques Clouseau, played by Peter [...]
POP FILTER VS. SHE DONE HIM WRONG Right as I am about to press play, my phone rings, it’s my ma. We chit chat and she asks me what my plans are for the evening, and I tell her I’m watching a Mae West movie. “Oh, god, why would do a thing like that? Do [...]
POP FILTER VS. AUNTIE MAME It’s the saddest story that Hollywood loves to exploit for comedic fodder, and for good reason. Minor child gets orphaned and goes to live with eccentric relatives is a cliché that still produces some of the best fish-out-of-water stories, especially when you totally gloss over the tragedy of a [...]
POP FILTER VS. LA STRADA Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between simple movies, where familiar characters and storylines are used to tell an allegory about things that are much more important than the plot, and hacky shit, where unoriginal characters and storylines are used to tell a story that is spoon fed [...]
Pop Filter vs. All About Eve Let’s get the plot out of the way as quickly as possible. All About Eve starts at an theater awards ceremony in New York, right before Eve is announced to win for Best Actress I guess. They never say that’s what the award is, but it’s the equivalent of [...]
POPFILTER VS. GONE WITH THE WIND To say that this movie is a ‘classic’ is, much like the end of this sentence, a bit of an understatement. This is a sweeping epic of unbelievable magnitude. It is an opus of a love story to a South that will never again be. It is masterfully [...]
POP FILTER VS. HAROLD AND MAUDE I have a soft spot for cult classics and this one has been on my must see list for so long it’s embarrassing. So thank you powers that be at Pop Filter HQ for forcing me to finally take it off my shelf! Yes I own [many] DVD’s I’ve [...]
Pop Filter Vs. Arsenic and Old Lace What does a black & white movie from 1944 have do with our lives today? Nothing. That being said, if really like over-acted plays-turned-into movies, antiquated cultural references and forced dialogue, then you might really like this “timeless classic”. If you’ve seen Arsenic & Old Lace, then you [...]
POP FILTER VS On the Waterfront When you review something it’s important to put it in its proper place and time. Being old isn’t an excuse to be bad, but it’s still worth noting that Star Wars wouldn’t have been such a dumb movie if George Lucas had been able to put giant shitty [...]
POP FILTER VS. SLEEPER When I started watching Sleeper I suddenly realized that I had never actually sat through a Woody Allen film. It’s probably the only major gap in my film knowledge so I was glad to finally get this out of the way. While I’m glad I finally watched something of his [...]
POP FILTER VS NOSFERATU Last time we were together as a class, we talked about Man With a Movie Camera. We discussed how much responsibility you have, as the viewer, to contextualize the 90 year-old film that you are watching, or if that’s bullshit and the movie should stand on it’s own. [...]
POP FILTER VS RAGING BULL Clocking in at 129 minutes, Raging Bull is the longest pro-domestic violence propaganda film of all time. Actually it might be making a statement AGAINST domestic violence. I can’t honestly tell. All I know is that it’s a long movie about boxing where you probably see equal number [...]
POP FILTER VS THE GRAPES OF WRATH I’ve always struggled with reading John Steinbeck. His style is intentionally lazy and meandering and his subjects are always depressing as fuck. Still, with as much trouble as I have with him, reading his work is infinitely preferable to watching it play out on screen. To summarize this [...]
POP FILTER VS. BONNIE AND CLYDE “All I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend- down to ride till the very end is me and my boyfriend” – Jay-Z and Beyonce. I’m terrible at knowing cool outlaws and the only thing I really knew about Bonnie and Clyde was from the [...]
POP FILTER VS. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST SPOILER ALERT: I’m going to spoil the ending of the movie in this write up so watch it beforehand if you care about such things. When I started watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest I realized that I had seen at least the beginning before [...]
POP FILTER VS. THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA One of the most difficult things about watching, and attempting to review, a “classic” film, is trying to figure out what your responsibility is before and while you watch it. How much are you supposed to understand, or not take for granted, the year or [...]
POP FILTER VS. THE SEVEN SAMURAI I’ve never heard of The Seven Samurai, but everyone I talked to said it was such a great movie. I turned on this movie SOO excited to see some killing! Japanese people like fucked up things; Battle Royal and Neon Genesis Evangelion rock my world all kinds of [...]
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