Ari Aster’s EDDINGTON will confirm your worst fears and provoke a few new reasons for anxiety about how the world really works. This brilliant use of microcosm as macrocosm is a brutal satire that does not permit the surcease of even nervous laughter or the respite of supernatural forces at work. No, this hell on… Read More »
JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX
And so with JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX, we return to the tragedy that is Arthur Fleck and his abuse at the hands of a social safety net that failed him. As refracted through the prism of Arthur’s fractured psyche, and that of his alter ego, Joker, the world of Gotham City is a violent place… Read More »
JOKER
It is, perhaps, a truism that every generation gets the Batman or Superman that they need/deserve. With Todd Philips’ JOKER, though, we get more than a cultural gloss of the zeitgeist. We get a funhouse mirror that lurks deep within a house of horrors that is an extrapolation of what happens when the 1% of… Read More »
A Philosophical IRRATIONAL MAN
Some of Woody Allen’s best films deal with the problem of absolute ethics in a world that is full of moral ambiguity. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS beings the epitome of his musings on the subject, with lesser, but no less satisfying efforts such as MATCH POINT continuing the dialogue. In IRRATIONAL MAN, Allen has crafted another… Read More »
I’M STILL HERE — THE LOST YEARS OF JOAQUIN PHOENIX
IM STILL HERE: THE LOST YEARS OF JOAQUIN PHOENIX begins as yet another chronicle of celebrity excess and self-indulgence and ends in jaw-dropping excursion into the self-destruction of a once-respected artist. Its one that is all-access, with brother-in-law Casey Affleck recording the pivotal moments of a year in turmoil, the year Phoenix announced his retirement… Read More »
BROTHER BEAR
You can’t fault Disneys latest animated film, BROTHER BEAR, for the message it wants to send to all the kiddies out there. That would be a philosophy of respect for all nature’s creatures and of taking responsibility for your own actions are both worthy lessons. Alas, the execution is 90% generic and 100% unfunny. The story… Read More »
THE VILLAGE
About fifteen minutes into the M. Night Shayamalans latest effort, THE VILLAGE, I glommed onto the nature of the beast in the woods that menaced said community. Perhaps we as an audience are supposed to figure it out before the twist is revealed so that Shyamalan can get to the meat of the film. That… Read More »