Mike Goes To Movies

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) The Coen brother's Inside Llewyn Davis may be one of the filmmakers' most underrated gems. The story of Greenwich Village folk singer, Llewyn Davis, never seems overly profound or layered, however, under the surface of the film lies a poetic folk tale about one man's struggle to break out of the cyclical struggle of his life and also about the momentous shifting of the world of folk music in the early 1960's. It would not be surprising for many viewers to be slightly put-off by the film's underhanded nature but this classical tall tale (a common theme throughout Coen brothers filmography) is rife for dissection, enjoyment and multiple viewings and listenings.  The story of Llewyn Davis (portrayed marvellously by Oscar Isaac) unfolds organically; he is a talented folk singer who had a string of hits with his former singer partner but, at the start of the film, he is down on his luck and trying to restart/maintain his career. The pie...

Drive (2011) Recently rewatching Danish director, Nicolas Winding Refn's, Drive was an interesting experience for me. I had not seen it in quite a while (possibly since its release), however, I recalled quite clearly, that I absolutely loved the film when I saw it in theatres. Now, I still very much enjoyed the film upon this rewatch and, in fact, since beginning film school there are aspects of the film that I likely appreciated more now than I did the first time. However, there were a few notable issues I had with the film. Drive centres around the well-used 'Man With No Name' trope a la Clint Eastwood in Leone's 'Dollars Trilogy" or even Stephen King's Gunslinger in the Dark Tower series. As such, the audience is given very little information about Ryan Gosling's character other than he is an exceptionally cool and capable individual, foremost when it comes to driving. We know nothing about Gosling's background or his motivations other than...