Travis Bickle is a Vietnam vet turned night shift taxi driver, turned almost presidential candidate assassin, turned prostitute protector. He’s an insomniac with PTSD and poor social skills. He has an obsessive personality and really skewed ideas of what it means to be a hero.
Read More
The adaptation of books into films can go sideways hard and fast. But in this case, I think the film version of this story is a beautiful compliment to the story that James Baldwin was telling with his novel.
Read More
Prior to taking a dive into the work of Cindy Evans, I had only heard of the movie Temple Grandin. I didn’t have any particular desire to watch it, and didn’t even know what it was about really. But after watching it and then falling into a rabbit hole of research about the amazing woman that this story focuses on, I was kind of obsessed.
Read More
I must admit that I’m not familiar with too many films featuring Owen Wilson because he tends to star in comedies, and comedies aren’t usually my thing. And while this movie fits into the category of a romance comedy, It also checks some other boxes like period film, set in Paris and featuring the likes of Marion Cotillard and Kathy Bates, that makes it a film right up my alley.
Read More
I walked a long winding road to this review, remix and rendering. I’ll explain. I’d watched Legend (2015) about the Kray twins and there was this beautiful mini dress that Francis (Emily Browning) wore on her first date with Reg (Tom Hardy).
Read More
This sci-fi extravaganza includes all the things you might expect in a sci-fi film. There’s a plague that kills most of the world, time travel, a post-apocalyptic subterranean dystopia, lots of scrap metal, plastic, wire and dirt. Oh, and there’s Brad Pitt with a wonky eye to make him look crazy and not hot. Spoiler alert: He still looks hot.
Read More
REVIEW
Normally I start off with a synopsis. But I think we’ve done this story so many times that there’s no need for me to beat it in the head any more. In fact, it’s because this story has been done and redone and re-fucking-done so many times that I was SURE I would hate it. Brandy Norwood is forever my Cinderella. Whitney Houston is forever my Fairy Godmother…that is of course until Fab G strolled onto the scene. Billy Porter as Fab G raised this dead horse from the dead and gave it everlasting life!
Read More
It’s 1947 and there’s an English professor named Humbert Humbert (full stop: I should have just turned off the TV here). He’s just moved to the states and is looking for a place to stay while he teaches. He meets a woman renting out a room in her house, Charlotte Haze, and is basically ready to run out of there (Charlotte is annoying and thirsty) until he sees her 14-year-old daughter, Dolores “Lo” Haze. He describes her as a nymphette and decides to stay just so he can be around her. (full stop: Sir, you’re saying that this little girl is actually a baby seductress?!)
Read More
Here’s a quickie little synopsis before I get into my review.
Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!
We’re in 1950s Pittsburg where we meet husband and wife, Troy and Rose Maxson. Troy is a factory worker who has a penchant for drinking and cheating on his wife. Rose, is the hard working long suffering wife and mother of their teen son Corey. Troy has an older son, Lyons, from a previous relationship, who is lazy and trifling. This negro don’t know the meaning of work.
Read More
The Craft is one of those movies that holds a weird and special place in the hearts of any girl who was a teen in the 90’s. Because I’m black, my fave witch was and always will be Rachel True’s character, Rochelle. I coveted her hair. I coveted her skin. And most of all, I coveted her clothes. Thank you Deborah Everton!
Read More
Confessions of a Shopaholic, designed by the amazing Patricia Field, is what some folks call a ‘fashion movie.’ Much like Sex & The City (also designed by PF), Confessions of a Shopaholic is a feature length fashion show. It follows Rebecca, the titular shopaholic who ruins nearly every aspect of a girl whose shopping addition nearly ruins all aspects of her life. I’m most fascinated by her label whoring. She doesn’t necessarily go for style…just the name attached to the garment. Patricia Fields did an exquisite job making Rebecca’s looks be really cute and bubbly, like her personality, but also just a smidge off (also like her personality).
Read More
Lookit, we all know that I love and revere the great Ruth E. Carter. The reason why I have studied her design so closely is because she is the reason why I decided to take this leap and switch careers this late in the race. And I think that The Butler is one of the many examples of the greatness she is capable of. There are so many beautiful pieces I could have chosen from this film to remix. But I was most fascinated by the matching outfits worn by Cecil (Forrest Whittaker) and Gloria (Oprah Winfrey). I think I read somewhere that Ruth was inspired by a mail order ad from the period that advertised outfits similar to these. I swear if hubby and I lived during this time period we’d totally have us some matching jumpsuits…but I digress.
Read More
Eve’s Bayou is a lovely mash up of new actors and seasoned thespians. Meagan Good and Jurnee and Jake Smollett hold their own against heavy hitters like Diahann Carroll, Lynn Whitfield and Debbi Morgan. I take issue with a lot of the plot points like making a child out to be a liar about sexual abuse. But that aside, I love the overall feel of the film. And the costumes! Miss Karyn Wagner, you are a delight.
Read More
Big Fish is one of those films that I saw once and didn’t appreciate it until my second walk through. I think I love the juxtaposition between the present day reality and the fairytale vibe of the father’s stories. What Colleen Atwood created was magical…it was perfection.
Read More
I’m generally not one for slapstick humor, and I also don’t like satire or parody. But I’m Gonna Git You Sucka is the exception. I can, and have, watch this movie over and over again. It’s so wonderfully ridiculous. And it shows us so many actors in the infancy of their careers. I love how Ruth Carter leans into the ludicrousness of the storyline and goes off on the absurdity.
Read More
When I was a kid, my dad worked in sales in NYC. He commuted to Manhattan from New Jersey every day. He was part of the bridge and tunnel crowd. He often brought my sister and I in with him to the office. We would dress up like little business women with dresses and stockings and patent leather shoes. And I remember thinking, why TF can’t I wear slouch socks and sneakers like every other lady on the bus? It was the commuter uniform of all corporate ladies in the 80’s.
Read More
Robin Williams was an American treasure and even though this film was panned, it’s one of my favorites of his. There are so many amazing costumes from this film, like literally everything that Joan Cusack wears. (Thank you Albert Wolsky for your dedication to all things camp.) But I loved Leland’s bright camo fatigues. I found a camo that was unconventional but not too crazy and decided to give a subdued spin on his outfit.
Read More
Moulin Rouge is chock full of so many gorgeous costumes. I’m in love with literally everything that Nicole Kidman’s Satine wears. Her headpieces for the show within the show are particularly beautiful. But there was something about Zidler’s character that really drew me in. As the MC, he was basically the ringmaster for the cirque that was the Moulin Rouge. And who doesn’t love a sassy ringmaster. That said, I wanted to recreate his read jacket. By the by, Catherine Martin, the amazing entity that design this film, is also an incomparable production designer…IJS.
Read More