Skip to main content

Posts

The Drama is Out of its Depth

The Drama  is designed to be controversial, to push buttons it knows a lot of people would rather not be pushed. And sometimes that is a valuable facet of movies. To force us to confront the uncomfortable and consider more deeply our thoughts and beliefs as we would not otherwise be prodded to do. In some respects, director Kristoffer Borgli succeeds quite a bit at this -the premise he gives his audience is certainly one they will be mulling over. But there is a level of responsibility that must come with being intentionally this provocative, for the point to strike as something genuinely meaningful beyond its mere ethical or thematic transgression. And Borgli has a very tough time showcasing that, or demonstrating any real care towards the severity of the subject matter and his particular choices in presenting it. In case you have forgotten, I am talking about the A24 romance movie featuring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson that has gotten some traction via its unique marketing tactic...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

The Criterion Channel Presents: Queens of Drama (2024)

“I’m warning you, you’re about to see a real hot mess.” Queens of Drama  certainly has the right title. It is one of the most bombastically over-dramatic movies I have seen and its chief characters and their extremely turbulent relationship certainly appears to be the driver of most of it. It is also about pop stardom in a distinctly 2000s style with the glitz and the glamour and the broad-sweeping musical hits ,  which feels appropriate. And it is incredibly queer, in both its story and design, likewise hinted at. Even still, I didn’t quite expect what it was. The movie is overbearing, intentionally so at times, and fairly chaotic in its satire that doesn’t gel with its earnest central precepts. But those are still engaging and powerful on their own, backed up by a hyper-saturated aesthetic that both captures the mood of its reference points and, under thoughtful direction from Alexis Langlois, looks wonderfully pretty. Some of the major disconnect comes in the framing device...
Post a Comment
Read more

The A.I. Doc is a Work of Fundamental Awareness

It is bold of Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell to call their film The A.I. Doc , as though it is the definitive statement in the documentary space on the subject of A.I. when it is merely one of many that have been produced and no doubt many more to come. But those other docs may not have the backing of the makers of Everything Everywhere All at Once  or the legitimacy (earned or not) of some of the biggest figures in the A.I. space being involved. These are the kind of things that can give it a profile, and a theatrical run so rare for a documentary (First Lady vanity project aside). And it is worth being thankful for the privileges bestowed on this film, because its subject matter is incredibly important. Which is also why it is a fortunate thing the movie handles that subject matter responsibly. The most critical thing is that for a movie about A.I., Roher and Tyrell ensured that it’s focal point was entirely human. Roher is a successful documentarian (his film Navalny ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Genre-Defying Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is Offbeat and Easygoing

We don’t get a lot of brand new genre mash-ups anymore, or genre mash-ups that feel brand new because they are executed at a scale and level of competence that we are able to notice. And when we do get them it is not always a given that they work, so it is a pleasant surprise when they do. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice , the invention of one BenDavid Grabinski, is a time travel crime movie, or a crime travel movie as I would like to coin. It marries those elements well, but more than that it has a personality to its script that accentuates beyond the sheer gimmick. There is a distinct Tarantino flare, especially around the pop culture references, but despite its violent world it does not feel as cynical or extravagant. Its storytelling and characters have some meat on their bones, some quirks that do feel distinct, and that is true of the movie’s tenor as a whole. Its title, which evokes New Hollywood classics Mikey and Nicky  and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice...
Post a Comment
Read more

They Will Kill You Doesn’t Execute Well Enough

Satanism is having a great time at the movies this March. Or rather it would be, if the movies were very good. They Will Kill You  is the second film in as many weeks to feature that theme, after Ready or Not 2 , and that is not where the similarities end with this movie that also features a horde rich people trying to kill one young woman who’s estranged sister is also a significant part of the story. It’s an unusual but not unheard of situation and They Will Kill You benefits from being an original piece not having to stack up against a well-liked predecessor. It is ultimately the better of the two movies, though it is not without significant narrative shortcomings or severe stylistic fumblings of its own. It is written and directed by one Kirill Solokov, who is clearly indebted to the grindhouse tradition of cartoonishly violent action-horror,  with which he has a sturdy grasp and valiant conceptual creativity. Yet his technique in both craft and storytelling is much more h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back to the Feature: Elmer Gantry (1960)

Sinclair Lewis really had his finger on the pulse of American Evangelical Christianity from early on.  Either he was a prophet or the grandiloquence and rhetorical tactics of faith charlatans has changed remarkably little in the century since he first wrote Elmer Gantry in 1927, a novel about a con man exploiting Christian fundamentalism in rural Kansas through charismatic displays of transparently false piety and intense fire and brimstone preachings. Give him access to the modern media and a megachurch pulpit and he would be no different than Billy Graham or Joel Osteen. Such a subject was a worthy if difficult thing for a film adaptation in 1960 -though the Production Code was slowly losing its influence it was still powerful enough, enforcing strict rules over the depiction of Christians and Christianity in Hollywood movies. It wasn't a deterrent for Richard Brooks though, who both wrote the script and ultimately directed the film. But while he allowed some concessions, includ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Swansong of Warner Bros.

At the Oscars this month , there was no big sweep of a single movie, but there was a pretty large sweep of a single studio. Warner Bros. walked away with eleven statues that night -nearly half of the total categories and in all but one of the biggest (Best Actress going to a Universal film). With One Battle After Another  and Sinners  the big winners of the night -and even Weapons winning the only Oscar it was up for, it was a capper on a really stupendous year for the studio where each of those films had been surprise successes alongside big hits like Superman , Final Destination: Bloodlines , The Conjuring: Last Rites , and A Minecraft Movie . Additionally they put out good non-hits in Mickey 17  and Companion . It was really a banner year for Warner Bros. both at the box office and in artistic quality; one that they haven’t had in decades… and will never have again. In spite of all of this success, the future for Warner Bros. looks extremely bleak. Ever since they fir...
Post a Comment
Read more