This Week in Film (8/12/13 - 8/17/13)

Worried you might have missed out on all the substandard reviewing that I have to question why you're reading over the reviews of some legitimate film site? Well, fear no more! Here is the latest Master Post for the week that collects all the writings from the blog. I go a little deeper than I have in the past few weeks digging into some older films, but there's also newer releases as well to balance things out for those of you who aren't the would-be cinephile I am. Let's tally it up:

Breaking Bad: "Blood Money" - The midseason premiere to the final season of this acclaimed television drama picks up after the shocking cliffhanger of "Gliding Over All", and doesn't waste any time to kick things into high gear. An assured, thrilling start to the last stretch of episodes. 

Roman Holiday (1953) - Audrey Hepburn's debut performance is an exercise in how to charm the pants off of everyone. The all time classic romantic comedy has a lot of silliness, as rom coms so often do, but you have to be a robot to not be laughing, and generally finding yourself delighted, at Roman Holiday's screwy princess out of water premise.

Elysium (2013) - Neill Blomkamp's follow up to his excellent sci-fi allegory District 9 amps up the metaphors with insulting heavy handedness. The action is entertaining and packs a gritty punch, but it's surrounded by incredibly unsubtle storytelling and ideas it seems to have no real interest in exploring. 

The Bank Dick (1940) - There's no good way to describe this W.C. Field film which is pure anarchy and a lot of fun if you give it a chance. Field's essentially plays himself, as he did in so many of his films, a drunken, mumbling hedonist who quips and bumbles his way through one scene after another.

L' Atalante (1934) - Jean Vigo's only feature film is the naturalistic and lyrical story of honeymooners living on a barge. Its glimpse into the everyday is deeply humanistic and warm, and filled with minor flights of fancy that are entrancing. It's a gorgeous, rich little film.

Prince Avalanche (2013) - Joseph Gordon Green's latest film moves past his recent stoner comedy efforts and back to his indie roots, blending buddy comedy and existential contemplation with pleasing results. Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch play opposite each other as mismatched road-workers painting the yellow lines on a long stretch of Texas road and generally getting on each other's nerves in equal parts melancholy and funny.

Days of Heaven (1978) - Terrence Mallick's second film carries much of the narration, naturalness, and cinematographic beauty of his debut Badlands (1973), but is even more concerned with the vastness and resplendence of nature. The story, seen through the eyes of a kid, is stripped back in favor of a voice-over that is haunting, poetic and lacks the full understanding of the implications of the devastating love triangle she witnesses when no one realizes she has.