A Grand Quiet

Sundays are for apologising for not keeping schedules, even if they are ones you only agreed with yourself. Well that and catching some content, an opinion softball into that mitt we call the brain.

Zach Braff’s Going in Style wants so desperately to be topical but forgets to be intersectional. Remember: If your statement ain’t intersectional, it ain’t worth shit.

I know it ain’t right to criticise depictions of economic insecurity this a hard time for us all, but it noticeable how the flick sidesteps useful and important conversations in service of a surface level reading. Like Ann-Margret’s character, who in their seventies is still working minimum wage at supermarket, seemingly unable to retire; there an opportunity for discourse here, the way ‘women’s-work’ is devalued compared to men’s, the way they more likely to enter un-unionised positions when working for low wage, leading to lower economic security as they age, especially when single. Course that’s not even touched upon. >>more>>

Kelly Asbury’s Smurfs: The Lost Village tries so hard to be empowering but is undermined by the problematic source material they chose.

So, like, the past two films have been trying to make up for this. Trying to absolve the original sin of their creators. It’s why they’ve all been so Smurfette focused. Um, well, it’s sweet, I guess, that you’re trying and all, but, if y’all so concerned about positive representations in your films, why don’t you go out and make some. Don’t try and justify your sixties sexism with, ‘Okay, totally empowering now.’ Just so you can capitalise off a recognisable name. >>more>>

Daniel Espinosa’s Life struggles to find an original voice; ‘cos in space, no one can hear you scream.

It always hard to put 21st century space onto film, it seem director Daniel Espinosa being torn in too many directions here. Like, how do you go about creating a space which balances the openness and the claustrophobia of the great expanse, how do you establish a clear physical geography in a space unbound by gravity, and on top of all that how do ya film the damn thing? >>more>>

Dax Shepard’s Chips is a film that made me laugh. Problem is, I spent a whole lot of the time frowning too.

They gotta team up to take down the corruption in the force. Which is, for the most part a pointedly depoliticised corruption, carried out by a diverse, multicultural collection of officers, just in case you were getting any ideas. >>more>>

Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro forced me to confront that I’d heard of James Baldwin, I’d just never actually considered him.

I wonder now which social philosophers I am currently ignoring. I am never as well read as I wish to be, but in truth I only have myself to blame in that regard. My 22 year old intolerances, I am sure, will shock an older me; I imagine even more so when I discover a contemporary writer, years ahead of their time. >>more>>

‎Julia Ducournau’s Raw briefly left me speechless.

Holy shit. Holy shit y’all. Holy shit. >>more>>

This coming week we got some more cold takes, The Lost City of Z and Ghost in the Shell; an article about a character development in the latest episode of The Adventure Zone; and a full review of The Fate of the Furious. I know this because I’ve got those written up in advance, just like a proper human. There’ll be more though.

And again, your weekly thanks for reading this. It’s so lovely to see my work being read. If you have enjoyed anything I’ve written, anything at all, please retweet, like, reblog, I appreciate anything you can do to get it in front of more eyes so, so much.

With love,
-E

Oh, and this week I’ve been listening to Kasemi Washington’s The Epic  it has been the soundtrack to my tapping fingers.