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FlickFilosopher.com

film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997

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John Boyega

Naked Singularity movie review: New York misery

Thu, Aug 19, 2021
3 comments

A very good cast makes a valiant go of it, but a hugely ambitious experimental novel has been boiled down to a tepid mishmash of genres: social-justice drama + black-comedy heist + sci-fi mind-bender.

| 3 Comments

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker movie review: the galaxy isn’t far far away, it’s just very small

Thu, Jan 09, 2020
no comments yet

Kudos to J.J. Abrams for doing something extraordinary: he has made me not care about Star Wars for the first time ever. I’m kind of relieved that it’s over, because it has stopped being fun.

| Leave a comment

Pacific Rim: Uprising movie review: robot smash

Mon, Mar 26, 2018
7 comments

Enormously likable characters make this feel like a big friendly rambunctious dog that you can’t help but get a kick out of, but it fundamentally misunderstands the appeal of its predecessor movie.

| 7 Comments

Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie review: a great disturbance in the Force

Mon, Dec 18, 2017
228 comments

Upends expectations, demythologizes the mythos, and takes an iconic series in a bold new direction with a story full of humor, courage, and dazzling imagery.

| 228 Comments

Detroit movie review: racism 101 for white people

Thu, Aug 31, 2017
29 comments

Tense, gripping, enraging, but only about things that black Americans already know. This is a primer about racism for white people, and we must pay attention.

| 29 Comments

from Facebook: John Boyega plays Star Wars with a 5-year-old cancer patient (updated)

Tue, Mar 15, 2016
1 comment

[This post is not behind the paywall.]

| 1 Comment

from Facebook: John Boyega is happier (and more suave) than you

Sun, Feb 14, 2016
no comments yet

[This post is not behind the paywall.]

| Leave a comment

Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie review: a new hope

Thu, Dec 17, 2015
99 comments

Charts a path to a future that refuses to get mired in nostalgia. Yet all the Star Wars notes are here, remixed into a glorious new arrangement.

| 99 Comments

the Force is with white men, and hardly anyone else [update]

Wed, Apr 30, 2014
104 comments

Star Wars is stuck “a long time ago”: in a 1950s mindset that was already outmoded when the first film was released in 1977.

| 104 Comments

Half of a Yellow Sun review: history with a romantic flourish

Fri, Apr 11, 2014
3 comments

Oh what a lovely film! As romance and history, this is by turns funny and tragic, suspenseful and celebratory, and never less than solidly entertaining.

| 3 Comments
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