Author Archives: Eric Thirteen

Bullitt + The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Eric Thirteen
Bullitt + The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Double Feature takes a trip to San Francisco to welcome its newest resident. Two films taking place in the city by the bay. Taking on the plot of Bullitt instead of spending twenty minutes talking about the edit of that infamous chase scene. Flying over the SF hills. The bizarre people people Bullitt. What The Last Black Man in San Francisco says about the city. Gentrification as a universal human issue. The ever-changing face of the golden city. The Paris of the West! Fog City, Gay Mecca, The City that Knows How, seriously, how many more of these could one want? American cinema would have you believe all its citizens live on farms and honestly it’s garbage. Continue reading →

No Country for Old Men + Yellow Rose

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Eric Thirteen
No Country for Old Men + Yellow Rose

Double Feature says goodbye to Texas! Two films with differing takes on Texas. Keeping the film community together. No Country for Old Men and the ever changing world in which we live in. Yellow Rose is a very modern Austin. On the ground insight. Continue reading →

Grave of the Fireflies + Kubo and the Two Strings

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Eric Thirteen
Grave of the Fireflies + Kubo and the Two Strings

Studio Ghibli meet back up with stop motion! If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned, if you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish. Seriously, stop looking at your phone. Goddamnit, did you hear none of that? Go back and re-read it. Ok, but you can’t let your eyes de-focus. Just one time, try to take in the words. One fucking time. Please. Continue reading →

Birdman + Punch-Drunk Love

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Eric Thirteen
Birdman + Punch-Drunk Love

Actors breaking free from their shackles. Keaton is back in the rumor mill, and this time it isn’t a Beetlejuice remake. Whether he’s going to play Batman again or not, he will certainly always be the Birdman. Michael Koester insists on calling the 2014 film Birdman “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).” Why would you start the parenthetical after the word “or”? Shouldn’t it be Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)? The single take and how to solve the problem of scene tempo. Adam Sandler, also doing whatever the Adam Sandler version of Beetlejuice 2 is. Punch-Drunk Love is also a weird film for Paul Thomas Anderson. Continue reading →

Cooties + Little Monsters

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Eric Thirteen
Cooties + Little Monsters

Spontaneous tiny humans zombie double feature. The secret indie film pitch deck. How to see the lookbook for Cooties. The cast and that timing and the reaction. How films with kids can achieve an extra level of subversion. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion are HONEST. Little Monsters, but not the one that two people are expected to spend 20 minutes breaking down. What is Little Monsters actually about. The pandemic catches up to Double Feature. Being alive is still hard (and it’s not even 2020 anymore). Continue reading →

Horse Girl + Possessor

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Eric Thirteen
Horse Girl + Possessor

Sneaking in two final movies on the last day of 2020. Prepare for intense rides! It’s time to enter someone else’s mind, and it begins with Horse Girl. Determining how much is real and how much is artistic license. Using the performance of an actor as a tool to sell something in the plot that wouldn’t work otherwise. The level message at the fucked up end of Horse Girl. Possessor, a shock as seen by people who who are new to Brandon Cronenberg. The unexpected delivery. The highest compliment you can pay a film. Searching for an undiscovered sex act. Or really just anything in a film that no one has seen before. The surprising end to 2020: it only takes two movies to discover hope for a year many wrote off. Continue reading →

Mank + The Assistant

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Eric Thirteen
Mank + The Assistant

Time is running out for 2020. The invisible authority and the roman à clef. David Fincher and Netflix. What the film Mank says it’s about vs what it is actually about. Imagining the story of Mank just 25 years ago. A film torn from today’s headlines, masquerading as a story from the 30s. No one else wants to talk about how gross classic Hollywood was. Why are we still romanticizing this old way of thinking? Nine Inch Nails also released a Ghosts double album this year: [HALO 33] Ghosts V: Together and [HALO 34] Ghosts VI: Locusts. The Assistant as an example of film à clef. When social injustice becomes a cliche. Finding a unique vantage point into a story the audience knows. How long before the whistleblower can blow the whistle? Continue reading →

White Girl + King of New York

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Eric Thirteen
White Girl + King of New York

Celebrating New York with a random sampling of New York drug crime. Half of Double Feature explores a brand new city! Starting on the streets with White Girl. A disagreement over the privilege of White Girl when also considering she’s the victim of various sex crimes, assault and harassment. Still, look who’s not in jail! The unique position of having to do more of the crime that got you in trouble in order to get out of trouble for that crime. King of New York provides that perfect contrasty 90s NYC mood. Who can believe Christopher Walken, Steve Buschemi, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, it’s really just crazy town in here. A city with so much crime, only the criminals can stop it. Continue reading →

L.A. Story + Under the Silver Lake

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Eric Thirteen
L.A. Story + Under the Silver Lake

Double Feature takes a look at Los Angeles, old and new. Vibes. Eric makes an announcement about the immediate future of 50% of Double Feature. Magic adventures through Hollywood, DTLA, Silver Lake, and not The San Fernando Valley. The personal automobile: the festish Los Angeles just can’t quit. What do people do in the city? Go out to eat and drive around in their car. The most infuriatingly true part of L.A. Story: this thing you’re making isn’t wacky enough! Michael, a guy who didn’t love It Follows, thinks Under the Silver Lake is the best film of the year. The question of personal autonomy. Los Angeles in your twenties. Awful men, drifting through life. Continue reading →

Whiskey Mountain + Two Thousand Maniacs

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Eric Thirteen
Whiskey Mountain + Two Thousand Maniacs

Another look at exploitation. Newcomer William Grefé meets returning champion Herschell Gordon Lewis. How does southern-fried exploitation film feel after America’s 2020 swing back toward democracy?