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The 84th Oscars recap through tweets …

2012/02/292020/03/26 Jared Mobarak

@jaredmobarak • Shut up Ryan Seacrest … Like the studio isn’t going to reimburse you. Cry about it #Oscars12 And with a little Bisquick, the 84th Annual Academy Awards show began before the camera even entered the Kodak “Chapter 11” Theatre. The is he or isn’t he banned from the show star of The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen, did what he does best by getting interviewed in character and causing a scene. Ryan Seacrest appeared to be enjoying the joke of it all and remained quite amiable until the comedian…

REVIEW: The Maltese Falcon [1941]

2011/05/272014/06/06 Jared Mobarak

“You’re a good man, sister” Based on pure coincidence from a conversation that had nothing to do with John Huston’s classic debut The Maltese Falcon, watching Rian Johnson’s Brick later in the same night couldn’t have been more perfect. The latter a modern noir described as Dashiell Hammett in high school, the parallels were hitting me left and right without my realizing that the scribe who inspired it actually wrote the novel the former was based upon. Exchanges are mirrored in Brick—like the lead detectives confronting the law in a…

REVIEW: Casablanca [1943]

2011/02/122014/06/07 Jared Mobarak

“Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.” This is doubtfully a remark to make my case, but although I remembered very little about Casablanca from my first viewing years ago—besides Sam the piano player starting “As Time Goes By” at Ilsa’s request to procure Rick from the other room of his café—it really is one of the best films ever made. From Michael Curtiz’s direction, to Max Steiner’s score, to Arthur Edeson’s gorgeous black and white, to the cast’s ability to infuse humor into a very…

REVIEW: Peeping Tom [1960]

2010/02/052011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“He won’t be doing the crossword tonight” The Criterion Collection has always been at the forefront of delivering the general masses with contemporary classics for years now. Some may question the selection process and a few mainstream hits being graced with the askew ‘C’, but I do believe they should be given the benefit of the doubt. When it comes to Michael Powell’s psychological horror film Peeping Tom, I do think they have chosen a piece of work that, while it may not be great cinema, is important to the…

REVIEW: M [1931]

2008/12/022011/08/24 Jared Mobarak

“The man in black will soon be here” Can a film that was made in 1931 be seen in 2008 and feel not only relevant, but also like it could have been made yesterday? I’m not sure if I would have really believed it until finally watching Fritz Lang’s masterpiece M. One could say that cinema has been copying it throughout the decades, helping to give an illusion of innovation and contemporary feel, and that would not be wrong. With impeccable cinematography—save one very odd and disturbing shot of Inspector…