Cinephile Files is my daily journal of every film, short film, TV episode, and web video I watched the previous day, along with my brief thoughts on each title that I watched. I love a wide variety of media including almost every genre, medium, and type of story including a lot of niche and lesser known content so expect the unexpected in these daily journals. If you enjoy these review journals and you are interested in watching a title I reviewed, buying or renting it via the included Amazon links is a great way to support this blog. It costs you nothing extra and a small portion of the proceeds goes to us to keep this blog running.
Have or know of a title you think I would enjoy watching (especially something similar to the titles I enjoyed today)? Feel free to leave a comment on this post or contact me. As I always have a lot of titles I’m planning on watching soon, I can’t guarantee it’s inclusion in these daily journals but as long as it intrigues me I will likely get around to reviewing it at some point (or will at least add it to my list of titles to get to eventually).
<- Yesterday’s Cinephile Files Post
The Big Picture (1989, Directed by Christopher Guest, PG-13, 101 Minutes):
Unless this is just another case of Hollywood loving films about Hollywood, I really want to know how The Big Picture has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. I personally thought a lot of the film’s attempts at comedy fell flat which helped make for a very dull movie. While it is still watchable, it certainly doesn’t deserve the nearly universal acclaim from critics that it got.
Part of The 6 Degrees Collection release put out by Mill Creek Entertainment a week ago (review coming soon), The Big Picture stars Kevin Bacon as student director Nick Chapman. As the winner of a prestigious student film contest, Nick quickly finds himself a hot commodity in Hollywood and makes a deal to make his dream movie. However, Hollywood quickly grabs a hold of Nick and he becomes disillusioned by the creative compromises he has to make. His instant success also changes him for the worst and strains his old relationships, especially with his girlfriend Susan. The Big Picture feels like it was meant as a film to let young filmmakers know that Hollywood isn’t always the glamorous, perfect place they hope it is. I would say that this film does a solid job of that if it indeed was part of its purpose but it definitely isn’t the hilarious lampooning of Hollywood it was hoping to be.
The biggest problem with The Big Picture is that it is overly long and quite dull. I’m not even sure if there was an hour of interesting content in this story. The main reason why The Big Picture is so dull is that most of the comedy just doesn’t work for a non-Hollywood person like me. I can see how Hollywood types would get some laughs out of a film like this but it doesn’t really work for other viewers who are less aware of these things. As I am a Midwesterner who has never been within a thousand miles of California, it’s definitely possible I just didn’t “get” the jokes but I really didn’t think many were funny.
Pretty much the only scenes I found funny in The Big Picture were the “scenes from Nick’s film” and how they would change based on the new ideas from the executives. By far the funniest moment is “Abe and the Babe” (a buddy film featuring Abraham Lincoln and Babe Ruth pitched to Nick). This brief minute or so joke was the only moment to make me laugh out loud. Also, I totally want to see that film be made now.
Most of the rest of the “jokes” are mediocre at best, annoying and obnoxious at worst. I know we are supposed to be making fun of these superficial, egotistical, and pretentious Hollywood people but that also means we have to put up with them for 101 minutes. Even Nick turns into an unlikable character in the middle of the film. Really the only two characters I cared for at all were Nick’s girlfriend Susan and his friend (and cinematographer) Emmet. Considering both of them are very minor characters, that leaves unlikable characters in the forefront for the majority of the film.
I’m pretty sure The Big Picture is only rated highly by critics because of their love for films about Hollywood. The audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes (44%) and the film’s IMDB score (6.3) are much more fitting for this film (though I think they are still too high). Really the only people I would recommend The Big Picture to are wannabee film directors.
Rating: 2/5
Watch The Big Picture: Blu-ray, DVD, Amazon Video
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S5.E14 “The Devil Complex” (March 23, 2018 TV Episode, TV-14, Directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado, 42 Minutes) and
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S5.E15 “Rise and Shine” (March 30, 2018 TV Episode, TV-14, Directed by Jesse Bochco, 43 Minutes):
Hopefully these are the episodes that turn this mediocre season around. The first episode (“The Devil Complex”) featured some amazing acting from Iain De Caestecker and Chloe Bennet as well as a heartbreaking ending to the episode. Fitz has always been my favorite character on this show and I’ve always though his acting was underrated. It’s a shame that he will never even be considered for the Emmy’s, I personally think he should be nominated at some point and this episode was among his best performances. Getting the chance to play the evil Hydra Fitz from the Framework again (though there is a twist there and not the one you would expect) gave him some great material to work with and he knocked it out of the park yet again. Chloe Bennet also performed admirably, especially at the end of the episode. This was definitely a step up from episode 13 especially due to the patented Whedon stab to the heart at the end. I both love and hate how the Whedon family likes to toy with your hearts.
“Rise and Shine” is also a pretty good episode and an interesting and very unique one as it focuses almost entirely on Hydra and General Hale. That’s something we haven’t seen before. Add in some very welcome character returns (Daniel Whitehall in a flashback, Glenn Talbot, even the teenage version of Sitwell) and this is a solid episode. There were even three very funny moments in this episode (Talbot telling a box of Cap’n Crunch he still outranks it, Coulson’s harsh Yelp review of the Hydra facilities, and of course Fitz’ irrational hatred of Deke).
Rating: Both 3.5/5
Watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S5.E14 “The Devil Complex” and S5.E15 “Rise and Shine”: Amazon Video
Today’s Stats:
- Watch Time: 3:06
- Total Titles Watched: 3
- Films Watched: 1
- Short Films Watched: 0
- TV Episodes Watched: 2
- Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched: 0
- Total Stars: 9
- Average Rating of Titles: 3.00
Monthly Stats:
- April 2018 Watch Time: 0:08:22 (+03:06)
- April 2018 Total Titles Watched: 9 (+3)
- April 2018 Films Watched: 3 (+1)
- April 2018 Short Films Watched: 2 (+0)
- April 2018 TV Episodes Watched: 3 (+2)
- April 2018 TV Seasons Completed: 0 (+0)
- April 2018 Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched: 1 (+0)
- April 2018 Total Stars: 28 (+9)
- April 2018 Average Rating of Titles: 3.11 (-0.06)
Yearly Stats:
- 2018 Watch Time: 0:08:22 (+03:06)
- 2018 Total Titles Watched: 9 (+3)
- 2018 Films Watched: 3 (+1)
- 2018 Short Films Watched: 2 (+0)
- 2018 TV Episodes Watched: 3 (+2)
- 2018 TV Seasons Completed: 0 (+0)
- 2018 Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched: 1 (+0)
- 2018 Total Stars: 28 (+9)
- 2018 Average Rating of Titles: 3.11 (-0.06)
All-Time Stats:
- Total Days Recorded: 3 (Logging started on April 6, 2018)
- Total Posts in This Series: 3
- Total Watch Time: 0:08:22 (+03:06)
- Average Watch Time Per Day: 02:47 (+00:09)
- Total Titles Watched: 9 (+3)
- Average Titles Watched Per Day: 3 (+0.00)
- Total Films Watched: 3 (+1)
- Average Films Watched Per Day: 1 (+0.00)
- Total Short Films Watched: 2 (+0)
- Average Short Films Watched Per Day: 0.67 (-0.33)
- Total TV Episodes Watched: 3 (+2)
- Average TV Episodes Watched Per Day: 1.0 (+0.50)
- Total Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched: 1 (+0)
- Average Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched Per Day: 0.33 (-0.17)
- Total Stars: 28 (+9)
- Total Average Rating of Titles: 3.11 (-0.06)
Daily Records:
- Highest Watch Time in a Day: 03:06 (April 8, 2018)
- Most Total Titles Watched in a Day: 3 (April 6, 2018)
- Most Films Watched in a Day: 1 (April 6, 2018)
- Most Short Films Watched in a Day: 2 (April 6, 2018)
- Most TV Episodes Watched in a Day: 2 (April 8, 2018)
- Most Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched in a Day: 1 (April 7, 2018)
- Most Total Stars Given Out in a Day: 10.5 (April 6, 2018)
- Highest Average Rating in a Day (Minimum of 3+ Titles): 3.5 (April 6, 2018)
- Lowest Average Rating in a Day (Minimum of 3+ Titles): 2.83 (April 7, 2018)
Monthly Records:
- Highest Watch Time in a Month: 0:08:22 (April 2018)
- Most Total Titles Watched in a Month: 9 (April 2018)
- Most Films Watched in a Month: 3 (April 2018)
- Most Short Films Watched in a Month: 2 (April 2018)
- Most TV Episodes Watched in a Month: 3 (April 2018)
- Most TV Seasons Completed in a Month: 0 (TBA)
- Most Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched in a Month: 1 (April 2018)
- Most Total Stars Given Out in a Month: 28 (April 2018)
- Highest Average Rating in a Month: 3.11 (April 2018)
- Lowest Average Rating in a Month: 3.11 (April 2018)
Yearly Records:
- Highest Watch Time in a Year: 0:08:22 (2018)
- Most Total Titles Watched in a Year: 9 (2018)
- Most Films Watched in a Year: 3 (2018)
- Most Short Films Watched in a Year: 2 (2018)
- Most TV Episodes Watched in a Year: 3 (2018)
- Most TV Seasons Completed in a Year: 0 (2018)
- Most Web Series Episodes and Videos Watched in a Year: 1 (2018)
- Most Total Stars Given Out in a Year: 28 (2018)
All-Time Records:
- Longest Film Ever Watched: Breathe (2017) (1:58, April 6, 2018)
- Longest TV Episode Ever Watched: TBA “TBA” (00:00, TBA)
