Before Sunset Is Top-of-The-Line Romantic Drama Cinema

It took me six years, but I've finally watched all three of Richard Linklater's Before movies. I inadvertently decided to watch these in an order that is guaranteed to understandably make many people's skin crawl as I first watched Before Midnight in its initial theatrical back in July 2013 before finally getting around to Before Sunrise just last August and then finally coming around to Before Sunset on Valentine's Day 2019. This wasn't my long-game attempt to create some kind of Machete Order for viewing these three movies, it was merely my inability to watch the original two movies before seeing Before Midnight combined with me taking forever to get around to watching its two predecessors. 

Before Sunrise Kicked Off A Sprawling Intimate Story Excellently

I believe I have to turn in my Film Critic Badge for saying this, but I saw Before Midnight in its summer 2013 theatrical run without having seen either of its two predecessors. I know, I'm a heathen for doing so, but even without knowledge of the prior films, I still loved Before Midnight, it was easily one of my favorite movies of 2013 and it got me hooked on Richard Linklater, one of my all-time favorite directors, as a filmmaker. Five years after watching Before Midnight, I felt it was high time to finally watch the two movies that preceded Linklater's 2013 gem, because I'm timely like that, a mission I would kick off with an inaugural viewing of the 1995 motion picture Before Sunrise.

George Lucas Took Moviegoers For A Spin Through The Past In American Graffiti

George Lucas has become highly synonymous with Star Wars, to the point that he hasn't directed a motion picture that wasn't set in the Star Wars universe in 45 years (this isn't counting how he was apparently the director of reshoots for the Lucasfilm drama Red Tails). But not only did he direct two non-Star Wars movies, his last feature film prior to the original Star Wars was a pop culture behemoth in its own right. That movie was American Graffiti, a dialogue-driven comedy that feels like a precursor to certain Richard Linklater movies like Dazed And Confused, a sharp contrast to the cosmic VFX-heavy productions that Lucas would commit himself to in the years ahead.

Avengers: Infinity War Goes Big, Very Big, To Highly Enjoyable Success

Note: No spoilers are detailed in this review, but a barebones outline for the first third-ish of the plot is contained within. Due to the overwhelming secrecy surrounding this film, this may be considered spoiler territory for some so caution is advised if that's the case for you.

Avengers: Infinity War is a lot to take in. I don't mean that in a hyperbolic sense, I mean, objectively, this is a whole heck of a lot of cinema to process. Numerous storylines spanning everywhere from Scotland to the deepest far reaches of Space crop up with various corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe getting explored, each with their distinct tones intact. Holding everything together as connective tissue is the constant presence of the villainous Thanos (Josh Brolin), but this is still an expansive story in scope. In handling such a vast story, Avengers: Infinity War comes up short compared to other recent MCU movies (it's no Black Panther, that's for sure) but it manages to juggle all these plates in the air remarkably well. The fact that a movie with this much on its agenda manages to be far more exhilarating than exhausting does feel like a total victory.

Unimportant Events Makes For Thoroughly Engaging Storytelling In The Band's Visit

Trips tend to never go as planned but for Lt. Col. Tawfiq Zacharaya (Sasson Gabai), things have been going particularly troublesome for himself and his fellow band members. They have come to Egypt to perform some music at an important local ceremony, but the scheduled ride meant to transport them to where they need to go never came. Thus, they're now trapped in a foreign land with no transportation, no shelter and very little money to speak of. Those alone are all troublesome elements but the fact that there's some turmoil going on amidst the various band members, particularly between Zacharaya and the younger and rebellious Khaled (Saleh Bakri), are only adding to the tension.

Profane Dialogue Can Only Go So Far For Clerks

With Kevin Smith's newest film, Yoga Hosers, bowing in theaters today (hopefully I'll have a review for that 2016 motion picture up by the end of the weekend), I thought it was high time I dug into the motion picture that kicked off the directing career of Mr. Smith, a 1994 film called Clerks that bowed at that year's Sundance Film Festival and became a cult classic in no time. Living up to its title, Clerks focuses on a day in the life of two clerks, Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), the former working at a convenience store and the latter spending his days at a video rental store.

Everybody Wants Some!! Is A Joyride Through The 80's Steered By Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater is absolutely in the zone with Everybody Wants Some!!, his newest directorial effort that has him setting his sights on the culture of the 1980's in the same way he thoroughly examined the 1970's in his landmark motion picture Dazed & Confused. And just like that 1993 film, human beings bouncing off each other in an academic environment is the name of the game, though in Everybody Wants Some!! the environment has shifted from the high school domicile of Dazed & Confused to college, specifically the weekend before one freshman's first college classes (and by default, a new chapter of his life) begins.

Dazed And Confused Review (Classic Write-Up)

At this point, the rise of a new breed of indie filmmaker in the early 90's is practically a legend itself, with the rise of individuals like Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino ushering in a new age of cinema at the dawn of the final decade of the 20th century. Just as the likes of Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen shifted the paradigm of filmmaking in the 70's, these storytellers were changing everything as far as indie cinema, and even film in general, and among those directors altering the movie landscape at this time was a guy by the name of Richard Linklater. Emerging from Austin, Texas, his debut film, Slacker, had actually inspired fellow early 90's indie cinema auteur Kevin Smith to become a director.