Grandma movie review: the wisdoms of age and youth
Wonderfully, aggressively feminist, a rare crossgenerational portrait of two women getting to know each other amidst a crisis. Smart and acerbically funny.
Month: March 2016
Where Are the Women? The D Train (aka Bad Bromance)
Women are present here only to reassure men that they are wanted, desired, and looked after, no matter how miserable or lacking in self-esteem they are.
The D Train (aka Bad Bromance) movie review: when idiot men can do no wrong
Woefully bad feint at a dramedy in which everyone agrees the “hero” is a terrible excuse for a man… and he gets the message that he is awesome anyway.
Where Are the Women? Dope
All of the women here function solely as support for the male protagonist: as a happily helpful friend, as an object of lust, as an understanding mother.
Dope movie review: not your typical high-school comedy
Not without its problems, but mostly a smart, engaging, bigotry-busting escapade with a hugely appealing young cast and an unflaggingly cheerful optimism.
The Mermaid (Mei ren yu) movie review: the biggest movie on the planet you haven’t heard of
A wacky fantasy lark, half screwball comedy, half Looney Tunes. Chinese audiences have thrown half a billion dollars at it. Prepare for Hollywood imitators.
The Here After (Efterskalv) movie review: what price forgiveness?
Brutally chilling in the banality of its examination of justice and forgiveness. A deeply unsettling film that challenges the empathy it carefully constructs.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant movie review: walled in by reality
A disappointing downfall from the previous films, the appealing metaphor for nonconformity giving way to dull good-vs-evil battle and dumb plot conundrums.
Where Are the Women? Aloha
As is all too typical in cinematic depictions of men and women, women come fully formed, and only men have room to grow and change.
Aloha movie review: hello, and good-bye
A mess of a romantic dramedy full of colonialistic offensiveness, forced quirkiness, implausible emotion, and oblivious masculine self-centeredness.
