It's Pete's Blog
UPDATE: August 2026 Last year, the British Film Institute released its decennial list of The Greatest Films of All Time, as decided by a survey of over 1,600 critics and scholars. This year, as something of a New Years Resolution, I’m going to try to watch all 100 of these movies, and write a little…
(Slight spoilers ahead.) C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a nameless drone at a Manhattan insurance company, one among many in an sea of desks that stretches as far as the eye can see (literally; it’s one of the clever visual tricks Wilder employs). Partly by accident, and partly to garner favor for a promotion, he…
Well, I kind of dropped the ball on this project. Some three years ago, I challenged myself to watch all 100 of the films on Sight & Sound magazine’s decennial “best movies” critic poll, and to write a personal blog post about each one. I got off to a good start, I think, but then,…
Hello! I recently went to Japan for two weeks with my wife! It was a lot of fun, and I took a lot of pictures. Instead of a social media post, I thought I’d post them here and write a little about what I did and saw. (Although, if you follow my Instagram stories at…
Is “SUNSET BLVD” a horror movie that’s funny, or a comedy that’s scary? Both, neither, it doesn’t matter.
David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” opens with a dreamlike collage of suburban idyll and wholesome Americana. Then, a man collapses doing yard work behind his picket fence and the camera leads us underground, where writing black beetles churn beneath the manicured lawn. It’s a masterful and unsettling introduction to a film about the dark side of…