Reviews of the Bosch

Jane Austen and Mark Twain both left their final novels unfinished. Orson Welles didn’t live to see the completion of his swansong . Bach and Beethoven and dozens of classical composers began works they never lived to see to fruition. Painters like Benjamin West and J.M.W. Turner left behind work they were only in the middle of. And ironically enough, Robert William Buss as well -a grand portrait of the figure and stories of Charles Dickens, who likewise penned a final mystery unsolved. Incomplete masterpieces are common among great artists -who die, get waylaid, or lose inspiration. And yet the value in these works is tremendous. The notion of actually finishing them a daunting one. Should someone else dare to make that attempt? Can they? That question is of tremendous importance in The Christophers , the latest movie from Steven Soderbergh, written by Ed Solomon; and one that does feel uniquely personal to both -even as it comes at a time where Soderbergh seems strangely detached fro...

It should be stated clear upfront, You, Me & Tuscany  is one of those romantic-comedies made purely to showcase hot people falling in love against a gorgeous scenic backdrop. The last movie of that variety I saw, Anyone But You , interspersed it with a loose Shakespeare adaptation, but that itself played perfectly into the standard rom-com enemies-to-lovers trope. You, Me & Tuscany , directed by Kat Coiro, doesn’t have a classic literary element to it, but engages in the tried and true fantasy of the young woman travelling to an exotic locale where she is swept off her feet by a handsome stranger. There’s nothing wrong with that premise as a generic starting block, the bones to something more. But this is a movie that doesn’t really have much more despite its efforts to carve something of a unique situation into it. Halle Bailey stars as Anna, a cook turned house-sitter in New York who meets an Italian man called Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) in a bar one night after losing...

Now that is how you make a good video game movie! With a bad Mario  film in theatres yet again, exemplifying loyalty to aesthetics of the video game medium without its actual effects, the question is once more raised of how one makes a ‘good’ video game movie that captures a semblance of the gaming experience. That interactivity, that tension of investment, solving problems and puzzles -how do you relate that to a cinematic medium? Well, even if Nintendo does not appear to be interested in that question, it is still from Japan that such innovation comes. Exit 8 , directed by Genki Kawamura, is based on the indie game of the same name -something that is not entirely apparent at first for those unaware. The game is fairly un-cinematic in design -it is more about puzzles and pattern recognition; but Kawamura finds an interesting way to translate it in a manner that is engaging, that develops a curious story for its ‘player’ character with resonating themes and ideas; and th...

It’s certainly been a minute since anyone in the industry seriously tried to make a stoner comedy. The halcyon days of the Harold and Kumar  series might as well be a hundred years ago and even Seth Rogen tapped out around Pineapple Express  in 2008. Comedies in general have had a tough time gaining a foothold in the last decade and change, why put effort into a type that is intentionally meant to be, for a lack of a better word, stupid. Well, Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney might be considered experts in stupid, and they come from an interesting background with which to approach this kind of a film. Though they have worked professionally in Hollywood for many years, as working actors and writers on Saturday Night Live , they were molded on the internet. As the sketch comedy duo BriTANicK, they amassed a pretty popular following on YouTube in particular, where there is a slightly different, distinctly deranged sensibility of humour, that you wouldn’t find in something like Dud...

Barely a single choice made in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie  is done in the service of a story, character, or thematic beat. Rather they are entirely designed to set up the next point of fan service. Even the mild pervasive ones, like Mario’s juvenile crush on Princess Peach, Bowser’s desire to reconnect with his son, and Peach’s drive to reunite with her sister Rosalina after many years, all are basically just to culminate in reference moments for the game franchise, with no worthwhile or honest integrity for their own sake. Because those sort of things don’t matter -it’s the flashiness that counts, and the number of game references that can be shoved into a single scene to distract your attention from the vapid material of the film itself. It is at least a little more story-driven than its predecessor , a film that proved the futility of loyal video game movie adaptations by simply recreating the pastiches of several Mario games but of course without the option of interactiv...

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...

“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...

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 ...

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...