Hollywood Actually Loves Violence, When It Suits Them: On Will Smith, The Slap, The Oscars, and Some Really Bad Takes
Let’s break this whole thing down into four parts. 1. The Slap I don’t have a ton to say about the act itself. It was definitely unpleasant and I’m sure the people in the room didn’t like it. I’m sure Chris Rock didn’t like it. Frankly, given his own reaction afterwards, I don’t think Will […]
“Lost Angel” Ruminates on Loss and the Afterlife (Review)
I am a believer. To be clear, I am not someone who goes to church on Sundays, or even holidays. I don’t associate with any religion in particular, or what one may consider a fanatic. But I do believe in something. I believe our presence in this universe is more than a coincidental collision, something […]
Why Is This Holocaust Survior Story Different from All Other Holocaust Survivor Stories? A Discussion of “I Am Here”
What makes this movie different from all other movies is Ella Blumenthal, the extraordinary and irresistibly vivacious 98 year old subject and star of director Jordy Sank’s I Am Here. Sank successfully captured both the profound horrors Blumenthal has faced and the incredible lightness of her unbreakable spirit. Blumenthal urges us to listen to her, […]
Riddle Me This… Is “The Batman” the Greatest Dark Knight Film of All? (Review)
Matt Reeves has long been a director of note for me. Cloverfield is the finest example of the “found footage” genre, while Let Me In is one of the very best of the turn of the millennium wave of horror remakes and reboots. His two Apes films, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and […]
The Original Texas Chain Saw Massacre Still Holds Up
One of my favorite pieces of trivia about 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is that director Tobe Hooper hoped for the film to get a PG rating — with the PG-13 not yet in existence, there was no bridge between PG and R. Of course, the sheer sense of terror and brutal violence (and, […]
Deathloop Is the Best Movie I’ve Played in Years
I’m an impatient gamer. I recoil at long cutscenes. I resent being forced to approach an NPC with a speech bubble floating over their head just so they can give me a convoluted backstory to another side quest. I zealously mash buttons to skip through dialogue when the option presents itself on-screen, and grumble when […]
Fragile Heroism: Farhadi’s A Hero Crackles with Moral Complexity (Review)
Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi, Zero Day) is in a debtors’ prison in Shiraz, Iran, when his girlfriend finds a purse filled with gold coins. When Rahim is freed for a two-day furlough, he and his girlfriend agree to sell the coins to pay off the debt, secure his freedom, and get married. Upon realizing that […]
Cobra Kai Season 4: A Game Return to Form for Netflix’s Nostalgia Fueled Karate Show
Like most people in their mid-to-late 30s, The Karate Kid was an important film in my youth. Mr. Miyagi’s mentoring musings and Johnny Lawrence’s villainous tactics are ingrained in my mind. Curiosity and nostalgia drove me to subscribe to the now defunct YouTube Red to try out the Cobra Kai reboot when the show first […]
Spider-Man: No Way Home – An Unexpected Tribute to the Public Defender Worldview
SPOILERS! This column contains discussion of the entire plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home. When I went to go watch Spider-Man: No Way Home at my local theater I was expecting the usual elite popcorn entertainment that comes from comic book movies. A chance to escape the sometimes crushing burdens of the real world into […]
Banish A Few Good Men (Essay)
While listening to a recent episode of Final Review, I couldn’t help but ask myself the question “How many young men born in the late 60’s and early 70’s wound up becoming archeologists after seeing Raiders of the Lost Arc?” While I can’t say I know the answer for sure, my guess is “not very […]