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FlickFilosopher.com

film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022

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Disney

loaded question: does Disney animation belong in the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

Mon, Jan 10, 2022
6 comments

And if it is going to appear there, does the museum have an obligation to engage in robust criticism of it (not necessarily negative, just analytical) to avoid it feeling like, as a New York Times critic termed it, “a sponsored content post”?

| 6 Comments

Cinderella (2021) movie review: from the ashes…

Sat, Sep 04, 2021
10 comments

Fairy tale goes jukebox musical with a feminist, gender-fluid spin. Throws irony and sarcasm at heterosexuality, patriarchy, even monarchy. Pretty darn fun, with a sweetly spunky Ella in Cabello.

| 10 Comments

Jungle Cruise movie review: raiders of the recent swashbucklers

Fri, Jul 30, 2021
14 comments

Wonderfully escapist, dripping with magnificently congenial charm thanks to the comic chemistry of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Plus it’s sure to enrage people who use “woke” as an insult. Yay!

| 14 Comments

Raya and the Last Dragon movie review: warrior princess

Sun, Mar 28, 2021
no comments yet

The Disney paradigm is hard at play again here, its familiarity offset by its inspiration in Southeast Asian culture and mythology. Sweepingly told, gorgeously animated, and audaciously optimistic.

| Leave a comment

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm movie review: punching way the hell up

Thu, Oct 22, 2020
3 comments

A work of breathtaking audacity. This is as perilous as comedy gets, and it’s very, very funny, often shockingly so. Sacha Baron Cohen’s scathing cultural strikes land like extinction-level asteroids.

| 3 Comments

Mulan (2020) movie review: girl (and film) at war with the world

Fri, Sep 11, 2020
11 comments

Acceptably inoffensive, if less than wholly engaging. At least Liu’s strong, stately Mulan is a wonderful role model for girls who aren’t much interested in conformity and adhering to expectations.

| 11 Comments

Artemis Fowl movie review: falls foul of itself

Sun, Jun 14, 2020
5 comments

A disaster of a kids’ fantasy caper; feels like it’s making up the plot as it goes. A mishmash of manufactured wonder: characters barely sketched, action seemingly setting up future DisneyWorld rides.

| 5 Comments

Onward movie review: the Pixar road goes ever on

Fri, Mar 06, 2020
no comments yet

Don’t let the Pixar curve throw you: familiar this quest may be, but it’s full of magic and wonder and humor and melancholy, and set in a fully realized fantasy world. Not a masterpiece but very good.

| Leave a comment

The Call of the Wild movie review: a very good boi (mostly)

Wed, Feb 19, 2020
no comments yet

An old-fashioned kiddie adventure, sweetly earnest, equal parts scary, funny, exciting, sad, and happy, with only a bit of uncanny valley in its CGI doggo star. Definitely had something in my eye.

| Leave a comment

The Rescue movie review: China’s Coast Guard at action-thriller work

Fri, Jan 24, 2020
no comments yet

This Michael Bay–esque love letter to China Rescue & Salvage may be propaganda, but its enjoyably bonkers melodrama and grippingly engaging action are a lot less obnoxious than any film Bay has made.

| Leave a comment
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