film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
Apocalyptically sorta-satirical, bone-deep terrifying slap in the face that humanity has properly earned. Formidable, intense… and funny, in a very dry way that is nevertheless difficult to laugh at.
Not a spy thriller but a story of emotional and intellectual suspense wrangling with matters of patriotism and of conscience, and of just how far journalism’s watchdog role can and should take it.
The YA dystopia is now just another fantasy setting for teen romance. We have normalized the apocalypse. Superpowered kids are being held in concentration camps, but OMG, will Ruby and Liam get together?!
The living, breathing, bleeding life of the breathtaking fight scenes cannot overcome confusingly twisty spy intrigue and multiple male gazes on the story.
The X-Men series — the entire superhero genre — has never seen a film like Logan before: raw, rageful, tormented, human. Best of the series yet.
Smart, thoughtful science fiction that’s about ideas, not spectacle, with an extra kick of cautionary-tale warning in light of current events.
This is creepy. It’s like a fantasy that came out of the world of Children of Men.
In Never Let Me Go, Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield are childhood friends destined to be organ donors in a dystopic parallel England where such things are a matter of bureaucracy and custom. This flick sprang from (among other films)…
It suddenly occurred to me when I was writing about the trailer for Never Let Me Go the other day that I was surprised that we don’t see more movies like that one these days. See, 25 years ago, when I was 15, if someone had told me, “By the time you’re 40, geeks will … more…
A homeopathic product for the relief of tinnitus — or ringing in the ears — is called Quietus… just like the legal suicide drug in Children of Men that despairing folk in a dying world take to gently off themselves from the horrors and hopelessness of everyday life. Or the name of the product could … more…
