film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
The chill zen and goofy charm of GenX’s philosopher-fools remains intact, but their latest adventure is too familiar a retelling. Still, “Be excellent to each other” won’t ever not be worth heeding.
How very kind of Tom Hanks to lend his gravitas and inescapable likability to a bunch of WWII naval reenactors on their weekend-getaway “crossing the north Atlantic in 1942 dodging U-boats” campaign.
A “family” comedy about nuclear terrorism, the incompetent CIA agent on the case, and his 9-year-old sidekick. Desperately unfunny, thoroughly misjudged. We are in the worst and the dumbest timeline.
Acknowledges the powerful fraternity of soldiers without being jingoistic, and depicts the intensity and adrenaline of a battlefield without being pornographic.
When I look at my watch during a movie, it’s because I’m checking to see if my guess about where in the runtime we are coincides with what just happened onscreen. This book is what makes that possible.
Stuff my followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ saw today…
It’s movies like this one that make me despair. Because it is going to make a bazillion bucks at the box office around the world, and there’s absolute nothing here that warrants such success.
Results via a totally unscientific poll conducted on Facebook…
Ray Bradbury, who died yesterday at age 91, inspired, both directly and indirectly, generations of filmmakers. Stephen Hawking’s ideas inform both Battleship and Prometheus this summer. What other thinkers should storytellers be looking to for inspiration?
Or will the industry double-down and take even bigger gambles with $500 million movies in coming years?
