Reviews of the Bosch

Living  is less a remake of Ikiru than it is a translation. It’s as though screenwriter and internationally acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro just took the 1952 Kurosawa masterpiece and sketched over the Japanese characters with British ones, the Japanese dialogue with English. It could perhaps be criticized for skewing too close, for attempting so vividly to recreate, in some cases down to the set dressing and shot compositions, a movie that to many is untouchable. And I can’t say I don’t partly share that sentiment. Ikiru  is such a precious film, one that fully deserves its place in the canon of the greatest of all time -it is one of the most soulful, most beautiful, most blisteringly life-affirming movie experiences, how could anyone presume to repurpose it? But watching Living  I realized just how out of time and place  Ikiru  is -it feels legitimately like a story that has always existed, and thus one that deserves to be retold. It’s more versatile than I ...

Irma la Douce  is not much at all like The Apartment . I feel that should be emphasized if anyone, like me, is drawn to it because of the fact it is a reunion of that films’ lead stars and director. But Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon were a pair established through several movies by this point and the title character was originally written for none other than Marilyn Monroe -meaning this was conceived as more of a Some Like It Hot reunion. But tragically, Monroe would not live to partake in it, so Wilder cast Shirley MacLaine instead, and I expect the part was tweaked somewhat to better suit MacLaine’s sensibilities. Curiously though, Irma seems like both an extension of the kind of parts MacLaine had been playing, but also unlike anything she’d done yet. Compared to Fran Kubelik of The Apartment , then and arguably still her most acclaimed role, Irma is similarly defined by adulterous sexual activity, but far more open and proud than the sad and emotionally unfulfilled Fran. She is ...

After The Rise of the Skywalker hit in 2019 I figured I was pretty much done with Star Wars . It had been a brand I’d loved since childhood, but a mixture of things from the horrifyingly toxic trajectory of the fandom, especially after The Last Jedi came out, coupled with very mediocre returns from   Solo  and The Mandalorian  had me losing investment in this series -and J.J. Abrams’ incompetent hack-job just about killed whatever was left. The franchise was becoming increasingly more boring to me, more interested in playing with Star Wars  toys as it were, then exploring that universe in any meaningful way. The Rise of  Skywalker  just seemed to confirm that mission statement going forward, as it tossed out everything intrepid and bold about the direction its’ predecessor had laid out in favour of bringing back Palpatine and Lando and several figures forgettable to all but the most passionate Star Wars  nerds. I was sure that nothing, certainly unde...

I don’t think Florian Zeller expected his film adaptation of The Father to be so successful. Sure he had the prestige writing partnership of Christopher Hampton and a cast led by great talents like Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. But it’s a small movie, confined to a fairly simple setting, and though it incorporates some vivid technical proficiency, it’s not flashy at all in this. I suspect the enormous acclaim came as a shock, to say nothing of the Oscar wins for his and Hampton’s screenplay and Hopkins’ devastating performance. But he welcomed it, and on winning his Oscar confirmed that he was working on an adaptation of his spiritual sequel play The Son (for whatever reason passing over The Mother which was produced between the two). Like The Father , The Son is a family drama that explores a relationship tested by a severe ailment. Unlike The Father though, it is not in any way interesting. A film much more expensive and straightforward in its’ artistic approach, The Son r...

There are several moments in A Man Called Otto  that distinctly betray the story’s non-American origins. It’s based of course on the acclaimed Swedish novel A Man Called Ove  by Fredrik Backman, already adapted into a successful Oscar-nominated film in its’ home country. And it seems that Tom Hanks’ family was the driving force behind this U.S. remake, as the film starring Hanks is produced by him and Rita Wilson through his production company Playtone and co-stars as a younger version of the title character Tom and Rita’s son Truman. I’m honestly surprised Hanks didn’t direct it himself, that role falling instead to veteran Hollywood journeyman Marc Forster. The heart that they collectively poured into the film definitely comes across, and yet it doesn’t quite translate right. The script by David Magee (reunited with Forster from Finding Neverland ) works hard to adapt this story’s mix of bleakness, comedy, and tragedy –the effort is more than a little awkward, particula...