weekend watchlist: an all man-(and woman)-versus-beast(s), all both-sides-of-the-pond special
In honor of the silly glory that is Idris Elba punching a lion in Beast. (First published September 4th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Tokyo
Bullet Train movie review: total derailment
The cast is, on paper, terrific, but there’s nothing engaging in their bloody savagery. A misfire of a supposed action comedy, this mind-numbing mess is by turns grating, tedious, and infuriating.
“wait, aren’t you poor?”
I got an email yesterday from a reader, in response to my #LockdownDailyWalk posts, who was all, “Hey, I thought you couldn’t afford to live in the cool parts of London, what’s up?”
Family Romance, LLC. movie review: coming to your emotional rescue
A marvelously strange and perplexing meta meditation on human connection and ritual, on fact and fiction, on emotional truth. An existential cinematic rabbit hole as only Werner Herzog can deliver.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Nov 01
Kasi Lemmons cowrites and directs Harriet, starring Cynthia Enrivo; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
movies by or about women opening US/Can from Fri Mar 02
Lots of female characters (albeit in films with only tiny releases), and so many of them are being menaced, threatened, and violently attacked. Damn.
movies by or about women opening US/Can from Wed Feb 14
Zosia Mamet, Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson, Maika Monroe, Ellen Burstyn, and Catherine Keener are all starring in new movies this week… but good luck finding them on a screen near you.
Geostorm movie review: weather bomb
Almost hilariously terrible: absurd plot machinations, dubious politics, not a single character to care about. And it doesn’t even give good disaster porn.
Shin Godzilla (aka Godzilla Resurgence) movie review: big in Japan
Toho’s reboot of its most famous kaiju is, amidst intense monster action, a bitter satire on bureaucracy and a cautionary tale about humanity’s collective folly.
2015 Sundance Film Festival Award-Winning Shorts review: the best of the best
The highlight is the absolutely astonishing “World of Tomorrow,” which crams in more SF ideas than you’ll find in a decade’s worth of summer blockbusters.
