film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
With its melancholy regret and bittersweet nostalgia, this is far superior to the 1986 blockbuster. But as the sun goes down on American imperialism here, the last-gasp celebration of it unsettles.
Damian Chazelle finds a dreamlike reverie amidst rocket-powered mechanical brawn. As wonderfully, nerve-wrackingly exhausting as it is movingly intimate.
An essential documentary look at yet another example of historical feminism that should never have been forgotten: the first American in space might have and probably should have been a woman.
The it’s-about-damn-time true story that puts paid to the notion that only white men had the Right Stuff. Often funny, ultimately feel-good, hugely exhilarating.
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but there’s all that sighing and sulking and brooding over your immortal undead lover to do, and that’s just exhausting. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you … more…
