Category: Film
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The Boss Baby: A wee bit childish
Maybe there’s something to be said for putting a baby in a suit, if only as a critique of capitalist avarice. The Boss Baby was probably sold on its conceit, Alec Baldwin from Glengarry as a baby. It was sold to us on that premise too, there’ve gotta been trailers for this one playing for…
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Saban’s Power Rangers: Chewing the cud
If Saban’s Power Rangers smacks of anything, it’s shame. Like, they can barely force the words Power Rangers out of their young actors’ straight faces. You know they gotta go on to say ‘Morphin” and ‘Megazord’ and all that other nonsense, at that point you’re scripting something impossible. John Gatins had what he must have…
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The Time of Their Lives: Old and white
Goddamn old people and their shitty movies. The Time of Their Lives is a wastebag of a film, as poor as the photoshopping on that dreadful poster. Perhaps it’s not their fault they are no longer able to have orginal ideas, that they are so inured to the way things used to be that the furthest…
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Elle: A rape comedy
I’m not sure why Cyanide Games was up for this. I mean, they’re a French studio, the film’s a French, Danish, German, British coproduction, I guess Paul Verhoeven has some nerd credit given his sci-fi work throughout the nineties. They ain’t a very big developer, perhaps they thought it might be some good publicity. Someone…
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Personal Shopper: Do you fear ghosts, or the void?
I recall this anecdote about the making of The Shining. Kubrick was in conversation with King about ghost stories, trying to get a sense his beliefs to aid in the adaptation process. When King pressed back Kubrick stated he was not afraid of ghosts, even fictional ones, to be afraid of ghosts you have to…
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Get Out: Scary funny
Daniel Kaluuya has been in his early twenties for like 10 years now. I guess he’s the sort of actor who you’d look at them online and be surprised to find out they’re actually thirty something. Turns out he’s only twenty seven which makes me feel real small cos that means he was seventeen when…
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Beauty and the Beast: Classic remake, or remade classic?
This gotta be the shortest delay for a Disney live action remake right? I mean we had Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty by any other name) followed by Branagh’s Cinderella, then Favreau’s The Jungle Book and David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon; but Pete’s Dragon came out in ’77 and never really hung about in the public consciousness. Beauty…
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Kong: Skull Island – A better Sahara
Did you ever watch Sahara? I don’t think many people did, it’s not that good. I think it’s one of the contenders for the title of the biggest Hollywood flop. It’s the bizarre, sloppy, racist attempt to turn Matthew McConaughey into the action star he never was. Part of the joy of the thing is…
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The Student: An uncomfortable film
Seems like there was some internal disagreement on how to translate the title of The Student. The poster in the cinema’s foyer read student, the film’s subtitles meanwhile chose to interpret it as The Disciple. Reading online the transliterated original would have been (M)Uchenik which also adds a pun in there involving the word Martyr.…
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Certain Women: A film with resolve
If Certain Women feels empty it is almost certainly by design. What better way to ring in Women’s History month than with this collection of stories regarding the diminishing effect the patriarchy has in the modern age? Kelly Reichardt is one of modern cinema’s leading formalists, exploring the place of women in society within her…
A Grand Quiet 