Spontaneity in cinema is important. At least I think it is. Film as a medium has many weaknesses, and the inability to surprise the viewer is one of its most crippling. This becomes more apparent with each film you watch - you’ll slowly begin to realize that not only are most movies awful, but most of them aren’t surprising. Every gesture becomes recognizable and every moment can be traced back to some other film that “did it better.” Cinema through…

"If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first person in the history of the world."

This will probably remain the greatest American film of the 21st century solely for the fact that it eloquently meditates on the very question that's lingered in the mind of post-War American society - what does freedom mean? Filled with thoughtful reflections on the dynamics of…

Fincher's "attention to detail" gimmickry reveals itself to be just that - a gimmick. With Mank he proves that he's not only an awful filmmaker, but a wholly dishonest one. Kael's mythologizing anti-history of the production of Citizen Kane is arguably the worst piece of film criticism the United States has ever produced. So it only makes sense that Fincher would make a film that perpetuates Kael's hideousness. And it’s not even a full endorsement of Kael's vitriol towards Welles.…