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.)
Sicario
Last and First Men movie review: a sobering message from the future (EIFF 2020)
A mesmerizing, haunting contemplation of the headiest issues we ever confront: evolution and extinction, the depths of time, the meaning of life. Screams with ominous alarm for the human future.
Hell or High Water movie review: there will be blood
Alongside plenty of heist-movie humor and suspense is a bleak fatalism grounded in depressing reality and resignation to the miserable necessity it demands.
my predictions for Oscars 2016 (88th Academy Awards for 2015’s films)
Now updated with all the winners…
Cartel Land documentary review: the war on drugs can have no winners
A real-life action thriller, a terrifying companion piece to Sicario. Do we want the wild West in the 21st century? Because that’s what we’ve got.
AWFJ 2015 EDA Awards winners announced
Spotlight takes four awards, including Best Film…
why does the Sicario Region 1 DVD cover art make it look like Benicio Del Toro is the star of the film?
In a year when badass women are obviously doing very well for Hollywood, this is no explanation for this beyond unthinking, reflexive sexism.
OFCS 2015 awards winners announced
Mad Max: Fury Road gets a lot of love…
Where Are the Women? Sicario
The female protagonist is smart and competent, wields authority like a total badass, and is an intriguingly conflicted, wonderfully awful mess.
Sicario movie review: lies, injustice, and the American way
The “War on Drugs” has never felt more like an actual war in this brutal, scathing condemnation of the lawlessness of the battle… on the “good guys” side.
