curated cinema: why Scarlett Johansson is considered (by some) an ideal AI voice
2013’s Her is on Max in the US, Prime in the UK.
Joaquin Phoenix
weekend watchlist: country twang with a Scottish accent
Plus a soothing science-fiction horror and a scathing not-at-all satire that helps explain Boris Johnson. (First published June 11th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
question of the weekend: What under-the-radar film from recent years would you recommend?
I’m thinking specifically about movies you wish more people had seen so that we — the big cultural We — could talk about it. Or even just so that you could talk to other movie fans about it.
my picks for tonight’s 92nd Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2019’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 10 out of the 24 categories, which is at least a little better than last year.
AWFJ 2019 EDA Awards winners announced
And we have winners!
OFCS 2019 awards winners announced
And we have winners!
Joker movie review: sad clown, bad clown, not at all a rad clown
Not fit to lick the boots of Martin Scorsese or Christopher Nolan, though the height of its ambition appears to be its desperation to do so. A movie as pathetically ineffectual as its protagonist.
Rocketman movie review: what makes a rock star, and what unmakes him
Joyful and rowdy, self-deprecating and vulnerable, absolutely electrifying as it deconstructs the sex-drugs-and-rock’n’-roll story. Taron Egerton is chills-inducingly good. Sheer cinematic magic.
OFCS 2018 awards winners announced
Roma wins four awards including Best Picture; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is Best Animated Feature.
Mary Magdalene movie review: the Gospel of Mary
A fiercely feminist and proudly revisionist historical drama that offers a powerful and much-needed rebuke to modern Christianity. Enrapturingly beautiful and intensely emotional.
