loaded question: how do we reinvent cinema in the streaming age?
What might reinvented cinema look like? What kinds of stories might cinema tell that it hasn’t been in recent years, or ever? Where do we go from here?
new Flick Filosopher strand: 21st-century science fiction
I’ve been teasing this for a while, and it’s finally here: a new section at Flick Filosopher examining science fiction films of the 21st century and what the genre has to say about humanity now that we’re living in science-fictional times.
The Creator movie review: meat versus metal
Looks great, but the plot falls apart if you poke it and makes no attempt to grapple with AI’s potential. Instead it renders its robot people as a racialized Other in a clunky metaphor for bigotry.
loaded question: what young actor (of any gender) working today could be the next great action star?
I honestly cannot think of anyone who could carry on the tradition of the 80s stars. The babies of the current crop of whom we might consider up-and-coming action stars are not that young…
daily stream: a robot who wants to be a real boy
2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence is on Paramount+ on both sides of the Atlantic.
daily stream: TFW the ETs are just kinda annoying and in the way
2009’s District 9 is on Max in the US, Netflix in the UK…
daily stream: is this the way the world ends?
2006’s Children of Men leaves UK iPlayer on October 4th; on Prime in the US.
daily stream: a girl and her alien robot car
2018’s Bumblebee leaves UK Prime very soon; on Paramount+ in the US.
Brother movie review: who gets away with being reckless
A pall of dread, of terrible suspense, hangs over this powerfully empathetic drama about what it means to be a Black man navigating a racist world. Beautifully performed and structurally intriguing.
daily stream: discovering humanity in the face of aliens
2016’s Arrival is new on US Netflix, but leaves UK Netflix at the end of September.
