The Brutalist movie review: red, white, and brutal
Stark and unsentimental, as stubborn and as challenging as its protagonist, and as monumental as his works. Adrien Brody’s performance is extraordinary, full of flinty anger and palpable melancholy.
Philadelphia
daily stream: hey, Adrian!
1976’s Rocky is streaming on Prime in the US and Netflix in the UK, but leaves both services at the end of September.
weekend watchlist: some much needed yet very realistic eco-optimism
Plus adventures in drinking, hanging out in bars, and murder. (First published August 7th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Glass movie review: superhero ’splaining
Earnest and humorless, this is a faux-intellectual Comic Book Guy ponderously well-actually-ing us about shallow superhero tropes and clichés as if those are the most intriguing bits of these stories.
Unsane movie review: is she or isn’t she?
As a piece of craft, this is a smack in the face to Hollywood’s bloated blockbusters. As a piece of pulp, it brings a sharp, smart feminist twist to familiar tropes of cinematic paranoia.
Creed movie review: the boxing ring of truth
Feels natural and organic, not forced by the dictates of movie franchises. A smart, engaging, unsentimental portrait of male friendship and male emotion.
God’s Pocket movie review: rot in the city
The cast is amazing and the film has a certain grim visual beauty. But ultimately there is little here but ugly senselessness.
Silver Linings Playbook movie review
Sometimes uncomfortable, often funny, and always electrifying. Plays like a gentle sendup of romantic comedies fueled by a restless, blunt anti-charm and irascible honesty about wants and needs.
Devil (review)
Ever drop your toast and despair to watch it land on the floor jelly side down? You know who’s responsible for such calamity, don’t you? Satan. It’s true.
is Betty Draper misunderstood?; the end of cable TV?; why never to throw away someone else’s action figures; more: leftover links
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post…
