A little game I play while watching very bad movies is imagining the joy I will have during the later conversation that I will have about it with John Wilson, Founder and Head Berry of the Golden Raspberry Awards Foundation during our annual interview. The Razzies, as their award is known, even has a special… Read More »
X
What we have here with X is a good, old-fashioned slice-’em-up homage to 1970s grindhouse flicks. Specifically, 1979, wherein we find Maxine (Mia Goth), she of the constellation of a birthmark over one eye, determined to escape the drab life of a stripper in the even drabber boondocks of Texas. Thanks to her boyfriend Wayne… Read More »
THE BATMAN
One thing you can say about THE BATMAN without fear of contradiction is that there is a lot of it. Clocking in at three hours or so, it packs in enough plot for a trilogy, as though all concerned fretted that this might be their only shot at the rebooted DC franchise. Fear not, though.… Read More »
THE ABANDON
One of the most intriguing sub-genres of sci-fi/horror cinema is that which is accomplished with few, if any, special effects. The best of these, such as COHERENCE or THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE, to name but two, are so thoughtfully conceived and intelligently crafted that the addition of gizmos, gadgets, or those ci-mentioned special effects would… Read More »
SCREAM
In a film that is dedicated to self-reference and meta self-awareness, my favorite snippet of SCREAM is a throwaway reference to “that guy who directed KNIVES OUT”. That, of course, is Rian Johnson, who had previously worked on THE LAST JEDI, thereby drawing the wrath of a section of Star Wars fans of all persuasions,… Read More »
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
It is as though Denzel Washington wanted his performance as the title character in Joel Coen’s THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH were conceived and executed as a tribute to the famous sleepwalking scene played by Lady Macbeth. He speaks the lines not trippingly from the tongue, but rather mumbled with little emotional affect, albeit with admirable… Read More »
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Flames are never far from Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), starting with those lapping near, but not too near, his heels as he exits the house that he’s just set alight over the body he’s deposited beneath the floorboards. In Guillermo del Toro’s oneiric vision of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel, NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Notice, too, the… Read More »
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
There are many things to laud to the high heavens about Edgar Wright’s LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, an ingenious take on the ghost story set in the present and in 1960s London that endlessly surprises and delights. Let’s start, though, with the genius of casting three icons of that era: Rita Tushingham, Diana Rigg, and Terrence Stamp in significant roles. It’s emblematic of just how brilliantly thought out this homage to the Swinging 60s is.
ANTLERS
I don’t know that I subscribe to the idea that there are some works of prose that are “unfilmable.” This is not to say that a successsful translation from one art form to another doesn’t require a certain amount of compromise around the source material. Prose, while relying on the eyes in order to absorb… Read More »
TITANE
What to make of TITANE. a sprawling study of female rage meeting toxic masculinity? Certainly filmmaker Julia Ducournau presents it in all visceral glory, eschewing the depiction of few bodily functions as she explores gender identity and the overwhelming need for affection in a world where making the wrong choice about either can be fatal.… Read More »
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