weekend watchlist: a sci-fi mood piece of eeriness, ookiness, and dread
Plus a snarky heist, a two-century-old energy crisis, and more. (First published August 27th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Chris Hemsworth
Extraction movie review: meet the sociopathic white savior
Who are we rooting for in this accidental parody of the empty absurdity of modern action films? Everyone is awful, or a human macguffin. This is soulless technical wankery bereft of humor or humanity.
Men in Black: International movie review: it is its own neuralyzer
Performs a complete charmectomy on its usually hugely charismatic stars, leaves them to flounder about with a bizarrely inept script, and actually seems to be trolling us with its pseudo feminism.
Avengers: Endgame movie review: with a bang *and* a whimper
A miraculous blend of grief and humor. Big, bold, brash, then sneakily meta. I am only starting to get my head around the emotional and creative right-hook of it. A fitting end (for now) to the MCU.
Bad Times at the El Royale movie review: bad times indeed
A self-indulgent, faux-woke mashup of noir crime, black comedy, and Tarantino-esque ultraviolence. Some great performances, including a spectacular feature debut from Cynthia Erivo; shame they’re so wasted.
Avengers: Infinity War movie review: it’s all been leading to this
Ten years of Marvel superheroism culminates in a battle for the universe itself. Exhausting, bitterly humorous, and gripped in a stunning finality, it’s almost too much to take in, yet somehow not enough.
12 Strong movie review: America enters the “graveyard of empires”
Tense but never sensationalized action adventure about the first post–9/11 US foray into Afghanistan, an extraordinary culture clash and mashup of medieval and modern technologies.
Thor: Ragnarok movie review: it’s only the end of the world
Breezy, jokey, crammed with clever sci-fi ideas; the funniest MCU flick yet. Director Taika Waititi brings a new geeky verve we didn’t realize the series needed.
curated: ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is ruined for me already
WHAT HAPPENED TO THOR’S GLORIOUS HAIR?!
Ghostbusters movie review: boo yeah!
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.
