in praise of folly

movies, music, art, geekery

Why The Movies Will Never Feel The Same Again

August 27, 2025August 28, 2025 by ciono

This video essay really resonated with me, and I thought folks would enjoy the deep dive. Bonus content while I keep writing the other stuff.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird, 2008 - ★★★★
I saw someone refer to this as a ‘kimchi western’ in the vein of the ‘spaghetti westerns’ of Sergio Leone (and others) and I find it a pretty apt description. Kim Jee-woon takes this Italian recipe - itself an adaptation of the US westerns - and applies a uniquely Korean flare to it, all while […]
The Sting, 1973 - ★★★★½
Fantastic film - Robert Redford and Paul Newman at their absolute best, just a few years after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. George Roy Hill, who directed both Butch Cassidy and this film, obviously knew how to direct the two actors, and would win the best director Oscar for his work. In fact, the […]
The Little Mermaid, 1989 - ★★★★
We finally got all the way through The Little Mermaid with Poppy. I’m surprised it took as long as it did, since Poppy loves mermaids, but attention spans being what they are…This was one of my favorite soundtracks as a child, and the music still absolutely slaps. That intro song - Fathoms Below - is […]
Mary Poppins, 1964 - ★★★★½
Spring Break Day 1 😳
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 1988 - ★★★★
I got to revisit this last night for the first time in years, and certainly the first time since seeing Chinatown. Having that comparison makes so much of the action in Roger Rabbit even funnier. I appreciate that WFRR doesn’t follow the Noir playbook, outside of the ‘hardened detective’ pastiche, and the subversion of the […]