Category: 3 Stars
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Charlie is afraid, in Orion and the Dark
A better title might be “Orion is Afraid”, or maybe “Charlie is Afraid”. What odd timing, for Orion and the Dark to come out so close to the similarly-themed-if-pitched-at-a-very-different-audience Beau is Afraid. Were Charlie Kaufman and Ari Aster comparing notes, over a few cups of coffee? Other than its general theme of anxiety, the unusual structure is…
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Rewatching Them! through an eerie haze of nostalgia
Gordon Douglas’ Them! (1954) is far more polished, slick, and straight-faced than its b-movie premise (and exclamation point!) would suggest. The subplot involving a traumatized orphan is genuinely distressing to watch, James Whitmore gives a rather modern haunted performance, and some of the effects are surprisingly gruesome. From a giant monster crushing a human torso…
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All Quiet on the Western Front isn’t likely to change many minds about war
Edward Berger’s lavish, gruesome All Quiet on the Western Front is very clear that war is bad, but could do more to condemn today’s warmongers.
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Robin Williams is the mumbling sailor man in Robert Altman’s slacker Popeye
Robert Altman applies his trademark style to a kids’ comic strip movie, and the results are about as strange and incongruous as you might expect.
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NYC’s indie bands survive Napster, 9/11, gentrification, and their own demons, in Meet Me in the Bathroom
Weathering turn of the century New York City with The Strokes, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, and The Moldy Peaches.
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Billy Bob Thornton’s All the Pretty Horses had everything going for it
All the Pretty Horses should have been a sure thing, but was doomed by interference from one of history’s most notorious studio executives.
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Michael Haneke’s Funny Games confronts audiences with the violence they paid for
Director Michael Haneke has made Funny Games twice, a decade apart. They are essentially the same movie: nearly shot-for-shot, with the same title, similar music and location, and at least one of the actors physically resembling one of the original cast. The few adjustments include the spoken language, updated telephone technology, and added Americanisms. So…
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture was always out of step with the times
With a release history more tangled than a TNG time travel plot, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is now finally available in its most complete form yet: a 2022 4K remaster of the 2001 Director’s Edition of the 1979 film. Got that? Engadget has the full details, but in short, don’t call it a “restoration”.…
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The Many Saints of Newark is Sopranos fanfic
As Solo and Rogue One were to Star Wars, The Many Saints of Newark is to The Sopranos: mere fanfic dressed up as a prequel. We did not need to learn how Uncle Junior hurt his back. Unpopular pop culture opinion: The Sopranos is overrated. Yes, it opened the floodgates for what came to be…
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Tommy Lee Jones doesn’t bargain or negotiate in The Fugitive
Everyone remembers Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive for Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones’ chemistry (despite rarely sharing the screen) and its iconic action pieces (especially the train and dam sequences). But all of this must hang upon a plot framework, and the lopsided movie’s momentum dissipates as it gets bogged down in the details. The…