daily stream: a marginalized rapper goes home and goes big
2020’s Mogul Mowgli is on HBO Max in the US, BBC iPlayer in the UK.
Riz Ahmed
my picks for tonight’s 93rd Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2020’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 11 out of the 24 23 categories, which is slightly better than last year.
OFCS 2020 awards winners announced
And the winners are…
AWFJ 2020 EDA Awards winners announced
And the winners are…
Mogul Mowgli movie review: Riz Ahmed goes home and goes big (LFF 2020)
An uneasy jolt of (pop) culture clash and assimilation angst. Unsettling and electrifying; near-nightmarish and absolutely mesmerizing. Riz Ahmed oozes sweat and rage, pride and power.
Venom movie review: no teeth, no bite
A dull, dated comic-book clunker that is somehow even smaller and lesser than the sum of its noisy, junky, clichéd bits. So perfunctory that it saps even its excellent cast of all their charisma.
City of Tiny Lights movie review: mushy modern noir
Doesn’t hit all the noir tropes so much as it wrings all the gloomy joy from them, and the mystery is underwhelming and unmysterious, but still: Riz Ahmed.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie review: the high price of hope
There’s genuine fun here, but the humor is cynical, the heroics are tinged with regret, and it’s all delivered with a cold smack of — yes — political relevance.
Jason Bourne movie review: Bourne again, but why?
Everything looks great on paper here: Damon’s brawny presence; the smartly staged action, etc. And it’s not unfun. But it feels less black ops than old hat.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist mini review
A provocative, ambitious drama about the unconsidered assumptions that power our cultures, for good or ill.
