The Frame

from the pen of Jandy Stone

Posts Tagged ‘film-drama’

#93 – The Blue Angel

By Jandy • Oct 8th, 2008 • Category: Column: Watching the Lists

A straight-laced professor gets angry at his students for lusting after a sexy showgirl, but he feels a bit differently once he actually sees said showgirl. Unfortunately, her seeming reciprocation of his affections may only be an act. Early example of Marlene Dietrich’s innate magnetism.



The Savages

By Jandy • Aug 29th, 2008 • Category: Capsule Reviews

Estranged siblings Jon and Wendy Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney) are forced to care for their aging and increasingly senile father when the woman he lives with dies, leaving him without a home. This is not a particularly exciting proposition to anyone involved – both siblings are playwrights (Jon much more successfully than [...]



Vicky Cristina Barcelona

By Jandy • Aug 14th, 2008 • Category: Film Reviews

Leaving New York for London with Match Point revitalized Woody Allen’s career in 2005; now he picks up shop again, this time seeking inspiration in Spain. And again, the move does him good, as Vicky Cristina Barcelona evokes, though perhaps does not quite equal, his greatest triumphs.



Hannah Takes the Stairs

By Jandy • Jul 27th, 2008 • Category: Capsule Reviews

I’m not wholly against considering films like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno as indie films, despite the fact that they had financing from specialty divisions of major studios and clearly straddle the line between mainstream and indie, but sometimes I’m tempted to just point at films like Hannah Takes the Stairs and say “Now THIS [...]



Wristcutters: A Love Story

By Jandy • Jul 27th, 2008 • Category: Capsule Reviews

While the opening credits run, Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) slits his wrists. Soon he finds himself in a limbo-esque place, full of other suicides who all go about relatively normal lives – working dead-end (no pun intended) jobs and wandering around aimlessly. It sort of reminded me of C.S. Lewis’s hell in The Great Divorce; [...]