I’m on BBC World Service’s “The Arts Hour” again this Saturday, June 13th
Topics include new movies The High Note and Radioactive, and a lot more.
Year: 2020
Shirley movie review: lost girls gone mad
A beautiful-ugly film, a work of domestic gothic grotesquerie, of women’s suffocation and sacrifice, pain and isolation. Elisabeth Moss’s performance is next-level glorious in its wackadoo intensity.
2040 documentary review: can we remake the world in 20 years? (spoiler: yes)
A dash of eco-optimism to counter global-warming doom and gloom. Gameau is an enormously engaging fact-based dreamer offering a much-needed mindset refresh and proactive actions we can engage in now.
13th documentary review: American slavery never ended; here are the receipts
Brutal, necessary watch for all who want to understand why America operates with impunity re its horrendous treatment of Black people. Incisive and shocking, moreso now than when it debuted in 2016.
The Vast of Night movie review: and vast of perspective
Striking sci-fi mood piece, all eeriness and ookiness, wonder and dread. Explicitly Twilight Zone–esque, summoning a midcentury-America innocence in order to shatter its narrowness (and our own).
The Lovebirds movie review: breaking up on the run
The hugely appealing Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani share terrific comic and romantic chemistry and work their everywoman and -man charm to the max. Go-to goofy escapism for, say, a pandemic lockdown.
$1 and $3 Patreon tiers to be retired on June 1st (but join now and you can stay at that level)
Wouldn’t you like to join my Patreon? I know you would…
flash fiction update: ebook coming soon, free to all Patreon patrons — join now!
And there’s an extra incentive to get you to pledge to my Patreon before June 1st.
Inheritance movie review: ill fortune
Nothing works in this ludicrous thriller, which fails to compel us with its roster of monstrous characters. Lily Collins is woefully miscast; Patrick Warburton and Simon Pegg are criminally wasted.
Lucky Grandma movie review: brittle old lady
Wild sass, gentle comedy, shivs of poignancy, and instantly vivid characters add up to a wonderful riff on mob movies as a Chinatown granny faces off against gangsters. Tsai Chin is an absolute hoot.
