What did Tim Burton ever do that the entire machine of contemporary franchises was like, “Forget this cartoon bullshit; let’s make it realistic.” (Question withdrawn; we know what Tim Burton did.) But seriously, why the preoccupation with realism, and to what end? Why would The Lion King be better with photo-real animals? Why would the […]
Category Archives: Written Reviews
‘The French Dispatch’ Is Not Lesser Wes
Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, if history is any indicator, could be the film to pull indie cinemas out of their pandemic red. (I dearly hope so.) And yet Anderson has never fixated harder on his own muses than in his 10th film, a vignette-driven ode to European travel writing by way of ‘60s and […]
Who Can Take An Old Film, Remake It Stiltedly? [The Candyman!]
It’s unfair to call any film a layup. That does a disservice to the boundless craft, grit and good fortune that goes into a fruitful production. But I have to say, when I learned Nia DaCosta (as director) and Jordan Peele (as co-screenwriter/producer) were remaking Candyman, it sounded like found money. Here, you have a […]
‘Night House’: In The Middle Of Our Grief
In this golden age of so-called “elevated horror,” discourse often focuses on two ideas. First, there’s the foregrounding of politics, sometimes even ahead of scares, in a post-Get Out world. (That’s no fault of Get Out in my opinion, just lazy film criticism.) And second, there’s blowback from horror heads who view the Ari Asters, Luca […]
Choosing Cabin Fever In Robin Wright’s ‘Land’
Despite launching her career as an everlasting beacon of charm and innocence in The Princess Bride, Robin Wright has made antagonistic, desirous, put-upon characters her niche. From Forrest Gump to Blade Runner 2049 to Unbreakable to House of Cards, she thrives in expressing an intertwined sense of victimhood and selfishness that would send most movie […]
‘Boys State’: All Is Fair In Student Government
Like any good (read: bad) election cycle, Boys State has an underdog’s meteoric rise, a conniving puppet master, a debate stage bombshell, an electoral procedure hiccup, and a thousand questions about America’s future drowned out by the volume of its present. This A24 / AppleTV+ documentary (winner of Sundance’s 2020 Grand Jury Prize in its category) […]
‘The Hunt’ Is The Most Controversial C+ Movie You Will Still Probably Never See
The irony now surrounding The Hunt is something the movie itself could never fathom. Originally slated for release last September, it was famously (if you think film blogs create fame) postponed in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Trying to turn sour lemons into sour lemonade, the Blumhouse update […]
‘Birds of Prey’ Wants A Taste Of Real Freedom
It’s not freighted with anywhere near the same ill-gotten pathos, but Birds of Prey is just as convincing an example as Joker as to why you shouldn’t position villains as heroes just for the studio productivity of it. Not because Harley Quinn and Margot Robbie don’t deserve their shot! There’s no reason the fictional character couldn’t be a perverse […]
‘Uncut Gems’ Is One of the Best Gambling Movies Ever
Much like the Safdie Brothers, the compulsive gambler has a fascinating relationship with control. For him, it’s easier to drive the car going 100 than 25. It’s easier to exist in the jet stream of a long shot bet than with two feet on the ground. Sure, there’s the potential payoff, but to Howard Ratner […]
Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ Thoughtfully Highlights Adult Compromises
Coming out of the biographical specificity of Lady Bird (2017), it took me about an hour to accept that Greta Gerwig directs a fairly formalized piece of source material in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) will always seem 1860s-writerly in her ambitions, Marmee March (Laura Dern) will always be unconditionally affectionate, […]