curated cinema: the madness and genius of Brian Wilson
2015’s Love & Mercy is on Prime and Apple TV+ on both sides of the Atlantic.
John Cusack
question of the weekend: what terrible movie do you love enthusiastically?
My choice has got to be Roland Emmerich’s disaster of a disaster flick, 2012. Honestly, I never tire of how stupendously, entertainingly awful it is.
Chi-Raq movie review: sex as a weapon of peace
Furious, funny, and deadly serious, this is an audacious, searing satire that swells into a raw, electrifying fantasy about how we might put aside savagery.
Love & Mercy movie review: strange vibrations
Intense, unconventional, often uncomfortable portrait of Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson that transcends the typical clichés about madness and creativity.
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 movie review: time to say goodbye
Not so much a movie as a mismatched mix of dick jokes and rampant homophobia. I’m kidding: There aren’t any actual jokes here.
Boom Bust Boom documentary review: monkeys with money
From Monty Python’s Terry Jones comes an amusing, informative breakdown of just what the hell is wrong with the economy and a few ideas on how to fix it.
Maps to the Stars movie review: kill it with fire
Quite hilarious in a deeply disturbing way that you won’t want to look straight on at, lest it forever ruin you as a lover of movies.
Drive Hard movie review: end of the road
A deeply terrible would-be action comedy that looks, sounds, and feels like an 80s cheap and cheesy made-for-cable movie.
Grand Piano review: not enough notes
Builds up a good momentum of suspense only to throw it away on a rushed, unsatisfying ending, rendering all its preposterousness suddenly unforgivable.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (aka The Butler) review: civil-rights servant
A deeply moving melodrama about a subtly subversive black butler at the heart of the White House. You will need Kleenex.
