Morning Reel

"Big Eyes" is Tim Burton's passion project about artists Walter and Margaret Keane but more primarily on Margaret for she is a pioneer in modern art of the time with her paintings that have the signature "big eyes" on the subjects. It's a fairly written film about standing up for yourself especially when it's stuff that's be distributed all around the world. I just personally felt that the acting...

"Beautiful Boy", a dramatic bio film based on David and Nic Sheff's memoirs about meth addiction. The film looks into it, bringing the true story to life in a character-driven way with the swells of music that adds to emotions of the film. It's harsh take on reality especially to those who struggle with addiction. It's a really good, the actors do a great job portraying a family that really does c...

"Saving Private Ryan" is the perfect war film directed by Steven Spielberg that even today still stands strong due to all kinds of aspects that the man visioned and set in stone. I talk about those aspects such as direction, cinematography, acting and even screenwriting. Even if it wasn't visually pleasing, the screenplay could carry it, it's written that well. I love the film for its dissection o...

Yasujirō Ozu's "Tokyo Story" is considered one of the best--IF NOT--the best film of all time. THE BEST FILM OF ALL TIME. Like, if Stranger Things went on 20 more seasons, "Tokyo Story" would be still probably the best film of all time and I don't explain that but I explain what it does to the human psyche. It asks ourselves very important questions that every human in society goes through and if...

Wong Kar-wai could be your introduction to Hong Kong cinema and his "Chungking Express" is the keys to it. If you dig crime and romance with quirky moods, this is the film. I briefly explain how Kar-wai sets mood with music and visuals such as rolling back shutter angle, something simple that can be set on your camera. Imagine that? It's incredible to see a film like this because it really didn't...

XG joins me on this episode reviewing "Brokeback Mountain" directed by Ang Lee, a LGBTQ/romance masterpiece. It almost felt like I was watching Wong Kar-wai's "Happy Together" where the complexities of same-sex relationships hits the heart. XG and I discuss the impact of this film because of its story-telling, how tame it really is compared to cinema today when it comes to sex and relationships, a...

Dan Mazer gives us his version of the trials and tribulation of marriage especially in the first year of it. "I Give It A Year" is written and directed by Mazer. I gave it a chance and I did enjoy it and as much as I enjoyed it, I wouldn't say I would do the things these characters do in this film but MAN they do give great performances. I wish I can say the same about the screenplay overall. The...

In this episode, Eric Bobo and I talk about Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash" about a college student's dedication of achieving success in his jazz program lead by a perfectionist of a band leader. He gives, blood, sweat, and tears and sometimes that's not enough. Perhaps your dignity? Bobo gives us insight of the road a musician can possibly go journy through and it's never an easy one. This film in p...

Pedro Almodovar's "Parallel Mothers" is the Mother's Day treat because it highly puts representation of motherhood between two generations. It shows no matter at what age you are, mother instincts kick in, some more than others. I dug the writing and how the characters brought it out so well it makes you feel like you're in the scenes. The use of red as always is so good. The mixture of the concep...

Federico Fellini's "8½" is the perfect film that was requested by Luis from the suggestions that I have offered to anyone who listens to this podcast. To briefly describe it here, I enjoyed the film very much to the point where I call it "the perfect film". I could have said so much about the film that I forgot to talk about my favorite shot about the film. There's so much to learn about live and...

Estevan Oriol put Los Angeles hip hop on the map with this documentary called "Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain". What I mean by that really is that from the generation he participated during, he documented Los Angeles culture. In this doc, he reflects his time during touring and managing Cypress Hill and their impact in Hip Hop. He does very visually with archives of different kinds of mediums,...

"Nightcrawler" is the perfect film and the perfect neo-noir film as well with it's exciting plot and its hilarious way it goes about especially Jake Gyllenhaal's character of Louis who is determined to not only go broke but to give perfection and what more motivation do you need. Even though it was written & directed by Dan Gilroy, this is the film that Michael Mann would have made because it does...

I saw "The Blind Side" a couple of days before reviewing it. I was watching it and I said to myself, why not review it. It's a pretty good film based on the life of Michael Oher who grew up troubled and was taken in by a loving and caring family who didn't really see race based on why they took him in. He was in need and they did the right thing. But they seem like the perfect family and that's on...

"Marriage Story" was all the talk of the town especially in New York and Los Angeles, respectively and I can see why as to watching it the other day. I can see how people can connect to the characters to the film whether they themselves have been married or not. I'm not a fan of Noah Baumbach but the writing in this film is great and I explain why. I also talk about the strengths of acting and how...

"Grizzly Man" is one of the those documentaries where all the evidence is in front of you and you have to do is piece it together. Over 100 hours of footage stemming years upon years, director Werner Herzog took the task to tell the story of Timothy Treadwell, a man who loved the environment (in his own way) and also grizzly bears. Me and XG and my featured guest, one half of the "We Don't Smoke t...

Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky" is his magnum opus that caught my eyes in my early 20s and after watching the film time and time again, it still holds up. I briefly discuss how soundtrack selection to set a mood for a premise is key, how films such as this that question its validity is a testament to the filmmaker's goal, and how the plot is universal to the struggles of human contact whether we dre...

Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Lost Daughter" is great a film and how about it starting her directorial debut strong. The acting, choice of actors and the cinematography is a bonus. A story about how one loses themselves while they losing children of your own. It changes and warps your livelihood. This a film that's aimed for adults and Gyllenhaal doesn't relent, she keeps it there and makes you take th...

"King Richard" is the biopic of famous and legendary Venus and Serena Williams as well as their father Richard. It's not your average biopic because it doesn't go too deep into the biographies within these characters except that it's all revolved around tennis and making it big. I mean, that is what happened, but I wished for more. I expressed this in the review as well as how great the writing in...

"Band of the Hand" is a B Movie-esque crime film where "Miami Vice" and "Scarface" meet but at six feet apart. 1986 is the time and punk-juveniles finally get their smarts straight and decide to fight crime for once in their lives and it turns out to be something being proud of about. Nice premise, impactful soundtrack and lukewarm cinematography, Stephen Carpenter aka Steftone of Deftones joins m...

"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is one of the biggest blockbuster films of all time directed by Steven Spielberg. It's one of my favorite films of all time and even though it's a blockbuster, it's much more than that. It's a film filled with purpose, hope, and unity and I briefly explain that and a bit more in this review. I also briefly talk about how this is the "perfect film" in my eyes. This is a...

Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" is a cult classic that even goths and nerds can be at peace while watching this film but it is much more than a crowd-pleaser, it's a film that gives you a perspective of looking beyond the surface and makes you scratch through it with visuals, music and production design overall. Burton shows you a different world that you wouldn't living in at least for a day....

"The 400 Blows" directed by François Truffaut is my favorite film of all time. This broke into the French New Wave genre, breaking the rules of cinema without NEEDING a budget. And because of that with is style and raw and intellectual storytelling, it's regarded one of the best films of all time. I briefly (lol) explain why it's my favorite film to where it adds to my own visual style of filmmaki...

"All the Real Girls" is probably David Gordon Green's most underrated film and one of his best if you don't count "Pineapple Express", that of course was a hit but it's a comedy and it's easier for a comedy to make it than a drama, especially like a romantic drama. It's probably one of my favorite "indie" films of all time. I explain why this film is worth the watch. This isn't your average romanc...

"Tangerine" is film directed by Sean baker set in Los Angeles almost right next to Hollywood. It follows a trans prostitute's journey to finding her pimp/lover when she was tipped off that he messing around with another prostitute of his stable. It's a wild a ride that doesn't stop from beginning to end. I talk about how the characters pushed the story, how Baker respectfully showed the representa...

"Little Nicky" was released in November of the year 2000. I was 10 years old. Next year, the world changed forever especially in filmmaking. When watching this film, you see nostalgia of course but most importantly you see culture packed into 90 minutes. PG-13 then is different to PG-13 today. Me and my guest E-Zone (We Don't Smoke the Same Podcast/High & Hungry/Dr. Greenthumb Podcast) dissect "Li...