Robot Dreams movie review: sighs of the machines
Immerse yourself in pure unalloyed joy with a sweet, deceptively simple carbon-silicon platonic romance. Even the poignant bittersweetness of this emotional roller coaster is affirming and uplifting.
Blade Runner
Foe movie review: scenes from an apocalyptic marriage (London Film Festival 2023)
The young cast is mesmerizing, but all this dusty dystopia has is vibes and vague metaphors. It only just barely touches on the potential of its science-fiction ideas to explore the human condition.
question of the weekend: what movie would you delete the dialogue from so you could just enjoy the visuals and music?
This might be a movie you love and want to experience on a different level. Or it might be one that would only be improved if you could delete the dialogue. (My choice is one of the latter…)
curated: why so much movie criticism, and the movies themselves, are so awful these days
“[T]he denial of mythos is everywhere in our culture, and it can partially explain why so much of our approach to everything artistic, challenging, or mysterious seems reductive, dull, and unimaginative….”
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu movie review: destined to be Legendary
Designed to cash in on the popular mobile game, this kiddie noir nevertheless sparkles with charming originality. Gentle enough for tykes but with satirical bite for grownups, too. Downright adorable.
Alita: Battle Angel movie review: ‘Rollerblade Runner’ with a Strong Female Character(TM)
Devoid of personality and soul, this hellish Frankenstein monster of processed entertainment product wallows in a stew of borrowed ideas and imagery and does absolutely nothing fresh with them.
The Titan movie review: bad science, worse science fiction
The science is ludicrous, the story is almost entirely free of drama, and the finale descends into the hoariest, most ridiculous clichés of the genre. But the future smart-house porn is lovely.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure movie review: cute boys at the end of the world
The Auto-Tuned boy-band version of the apocalypse. You will forgive that every plot point that isn’t a cliché is in fact a plot hole because the hero is so dreamy and impossibly perfect, right?
Blade Runner 2049 movie review: a rickety retro replicant
Visually, this dying future world is immersively hellish. Intellectually, though, its ideas haven’t kept up with the rapidly evolving science-fictional conversation.
Ghost in the Shell movie review: more like ghost in the meh-chine
Trite characters, very well-worn clichés of SF cinema, and a mystery that is completely transparent. All about production design, and even that is familiar.
