film criticism by maryann johanson | 25 years: 1997–2022
Do you have any particularly good — or bad — memories of the experience, perhaps of certain films you got to see that you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, or of the overall vibe? Would you attend again, or have you?
And the winners are…
And the winners are…
Absolutely delightful and utterly original, with its lovingly crafted stop-motion animation bursting with sweetness but also with a winking mockery. I have just a few caveats…
Relentlessly dull. A tour of a strange world and “characters” little more than their “peculiar” abilities isn’t enough to whip up fantastical excitement.
Kate McKinnon’s gleefully reckless physicist is brainy comic mayhem, unlike any female character we’ve seen before. And there are more reasons to cheer.
Goes right up to the bleeding edge of cinema to tell a story that is strapping yet simple, and hugely appealing. Disney found a good reason to redo an old film.
A mess of a romantic dramedy full of colonialistic offensiveness, forced quirkiness, implausible emotion, and oblivious masculine self-centeredness.
From a mean ex to a hooker with a heart of gold, women exist in this world only for what they can do for — or to — the male protagonist.
Behold Bill Murray as the white savior barreling into a foreign land and teaching the ignorant natives how to be better people. Obnoxious and tone deaf.
