‘Cultural Artifacts’ now on Kindle Unlimited
With links to try Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s all-you-can-read buffet, for free if you’re not already a subscriber…
Month: August 2021
question of the weekend: what is your seminal movie?
Define “seminal” however you like. Or perhaps you have a seminal movie experience or movie moment, not a film itself but a moviegoing experience or an association that made you fall in love with cinema.
curated: “Trailers Use Slower and Moodier New Versions of Classic Songs to Lure Viewers”
We’re not paying enough attention to trailers. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
The Last Bus movie review: middle of the road
British twee is baked into this slight travelogue. Spall’s performance is lovely, and though the film mostly avoids overt schmaltz in favor of mild sentimentality, it’s gentle to the point of inertia.
Together movie review: lockdown love-hate
Fresh, raw, wielding physical and psychological intimacy like a shiv, this is a deeply compelling, empathetic emotional roller coaster fueled by McAvoy’s and Horgan’s intense and cutting performances.
Candyman movie review: say his name… and understand its power
Strikingly original horror with a purpose: to delve into the mythologizing of the past, to explore the boundary between cultural appropriation and artistic inspiration, to heed the lessons of history.
question of the weekend: what terrible movie do you love enthusiastically?
My choice has got to be Roland Emmerich’s disaster of a disaster flick, 2012. Honestly, I never tire of how stupendously, entertainingly awful it is.
Reminiscence movie review: remembering it for you retail
A cautionary tale about getting mired in the past is itself hamstrung by what has come before: overplayed noir tropes and underbaked sci-fi ideas. The fab cast at least elevates this to the mediocre.
The Truffle Hunters documentary review: following a passion right into the ground
One of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Delightful in its simplicity and profound in its wisdom. Specific yet universal, it’s an empathetic portrait of charming subjects. It’s also really funny.
Naked Singularity movie review: New York misery
A very good cast makes a valiant go of it, but a hugely ambitious experimental novel has been boiled down to a tepid mishmash of genres: social-justice drama + black-comedy heist + sci-fi mind-bender.
