Reviews of the Bosch

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...

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...

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...

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...

There are few horror movies in recent years that ended on a more exhilarating note than Ready or Not , a relatively cheap film combining violent tension and humour and just generally punching way above its weight. That image of Samara Weaving, drenched in blood after the Satanic family she almost married into exploded in validation of their cultish beliefs, sitting on the steps of their mansion coldly smoking a cigarette has to be one of the great moments of modern horror. The punch-line she delivers to arriving officers is a perfect punctuation as well. But because Ready or Not  was such an unexpected hit, eventually we arrive at the obligatory sequel, odiously titled Ready or Not 2: Here I Come . Seven years later, it brings back the original directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett -who in the interim revived the Scream  franchise for two movies and made a good vampire film equivalent of Ready or Not  called Abigail . Additionally Fox Searchlight more than dou...

Andy Weir is very respected for his detailed hard science-fiction storytelling -as in the concepts and technology and general science of his stories holds up to scrutiny and authenticity with regards to his premises. And it is actually a very compelling method of relating the high concepts he explores. The Martian  is enthralling because of this -what would it realistically take to survive on Mars? Add in a bit of tension and humour, and a device with which to essentially educate the audience and it becomes something like a fun theoretical experiment in a science class. There is less of that in Project Hail Mary , which does at times veer more into the implausible than The Martian  -perhaps due to it dealing with the subject of aliens. But it is still intriguing via Drew Goddard’s adaptation, and what it loses in some of the ingenuity to its technical character it makes up for in a significant strength of psychological character. This is a movie about a lonely, insecure man -s...