loaded question: what movie are you dying to see?
What is your ideal film that doesn’t already exist, however you define that?
Year: 2022
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent movie review: Cage, staged
Amusing but instantly forgettable, fueled by a self-congratulatory smugness and self-reference. The best bits are the sincere stuff: a scene-stealing Pedro Pascal and a sweetly vulnerable Nic(k) Cage.
loaded question: how much longer can the superhero paradigm dominate movies… and what’s next?
The teaser trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder landed today… and my response was, well, somewhat mixed. Where, when, and how does the current superhero cycle of cinema end?
Theirs Is the Kingdom documentary review: art is not a luxury
Lovely, gentle look at an artwork honoring the marginalized. A compassionate challenge to cultural assumptions, including those that decenter the poor and insist that art is a luxury, not a necessity.
Navalny documentary review: celebrating the biggest pain in Putin’s ass
Spectacularly entertaining. As gripping, as suspenseful as a finely wrought fictional thriller; a sheer delight as a portrait of the man himself. Films don’t get much more daring or crucial than this.
loaded question: what’s the best movie ever about magic?
Define magic however you like: could be supernatural magic, stage magic, or any other definition of the word you can defend.
The Bad Guys movie review: criminally fun
A snappy, snarky, never-ever sentimental concoction of cartoon chaos meets hip heist flick. Its breezy swagger extends to the delightful animation, organic and mellow, hot and cool at the same time.
loaded question: what does film criticism mean to you in 2022?
What are you looking for in film criticism now… and are you finding it? Do critics still matter, and if so, in what ways?
Ambulance movie review: dead on arrival
A screaming deluge of metal and rubber devoid of drama, suspense, and elegance. Instead it’s random vehicular chaos enacted with the same energy of a four-year-old smashing his toys into one another.
loaded question: what’s your favorite Oscar Best Picture?
I haven’t even seen this year’s winner, CODA, yet, so that one can’t be my answer…
