Aster’s new film is so jam-packed with ideas and observations about 2020 that they spill out of the screenplay, like the blood that eventually soaks the sands of Eddington, New Mexico. It’s not hard to figure out where Aster is going with the movie — the tone is pitch-black satire — but it’s the repetition of the material that becomes its stumbling block. I’ve seen at least one take that this reiteration is intentional, meant to imitate the experience of scrolling through social media and seeing the same faces flood your device with opinions. Even if that’s true, the film would have been better as a tighter, more targeted critique of our preoccupations during a bewildering era.
Read MoreOn a meta level, Gunn’s movie is an announcement of its own. He and his newly reset DC Universe of movies and TV shows need a standard-bearer, and that role naturally falls to the so-called Big Blue: the most powerful hero in the lineup and the one mainstream audiences know the best. And as certain toxic fans out there will be quick to tell you, Gunn wants everything about this new era of stories to be different. He wants a brighter, more uplifting tone (at least for Superman) and less grungy realism compared to the DC Comics-inspired movies of the last 20-odd years. By wiping the slate clean and starting again, there’s a lot to set up, and much of that falls on the shoulders of this new movie.
Read MoreThe ironic thing about the now four movies in the World sub-series is that by building the movies around these implausible man-made beasts, it robs the stories of the thrills of the original Jurassic Park. We don’t need gimmicks. We can still be awed by creatures that roamed the planet millions of years ago. The filmmakers just need to spend a little more time on the humans we’re meant to care about.
Read MoreLike so many I Think You Should Leave characters, Craig is like an eager-to-please robot with a corrupted software update. Basic structures of human connection elude him, and while he can perceive when he’s done something wrong, his reaction is often to dig in his heels, obfuscate or distract, rather than apologize. There’s a specific quality that Robinson’s voice takes on when this happens; a raspy, guttural sound entirely his own that I find intensely funny.
Read MoreNearly every time I watch a musician biopic, I can’t help but apply a weird test to the movie that I’ve used for the last 18 years - what I like to call the Walk Hard Test. Because in 2007, star John C. Reilly and director Jake Kasdan released what I consider to be the definitive satire of the genre, a decades-spanning commentary on how the movie industry tells stories about performers and the tropes used to make their complicated lives more digestible.
Read MoreBizarrely, Joker: Folie à Deux seems embarrassed to be a movie about the Joker. Every time it gets close to letting the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) drift into twisted, dream-like musical sequences, the movie does it in a halting, tuneless way, exacerbated by Phoenix’s ear-stabbing vocal performance.
Read MoreAs a Canadian, I live close enough to the United States that I feel somewhat invested in what happens there, given how similar our cultures are. But I also don’t feel the sort of dread that would come with something like this happening in my backyard. I’m able to dissociate and view a theoretical conflict from a remove. Maybe that’s why American reactions to Civil War are as polarized as the events in the movie itself.
Read MoreVilleneuve’s script makes it obvious that no matter how much free will Paul attempts to display, his fate is preordained. He will rise up to lead the Fremen, even if that means setting off a chain reaction of events that begets ever more bloodshed. It’s proof of Villeneuve’s skill and the abilities of the cast that we’re hardly ever in the dark about the characters’ feelings – they don’t get lost amid the larger, bombastic action setpieces happening around them.
Read MoreBeing a Marvel effort, the closing scenes take pains to establish that no ending is permanent. The characters will still be available for future filmmakers to take off the shelf and drop into a story every so often. But I can’t get over the feeling that even if the Guardians reappear later on, I’m not inclined to rush out to see them. Vol. 3 feels like as good a time as any to bid the Marvel Cinematic Universe adieu for a while.
Read MoreWithout a consistent writer or director with a tangible style (a James Gunn or a Taika Waititi, perhaps), watching the movie is an exercise in identifying all the familiar screenwriting parts as they’re pulled from the shelf. Meanwhile, we wait patiently (or not) for Holland’s character to acquire the lived-in quality that propelled the games’ strong reputation.
Read MoreThe movie obviously revels in depicting the mayhem of a GTA-style game, and constructs elaborate set pieces around game physics, ridiculous weapons and items, and the grinding that some players undertake to level up. But there’s roughly a 80/20 accuracy split; the bulk of the observations line up, but every so often there’s a painfully awkward trope.
Read MoreTo be fair, Luca isn’t up there with Pixar’s recent list-topping achievements like Up, Inside Out or Coco. It takes some of the premise of The Little Mermaid, pairs it with a mid-20th century Italian setting, and renders it with their characteristic industry-leading visuals. It may not leave you sobbing, but it’s still an easy recommendation.
Read MoreHe’s a world-class solder, a quick thinker with a quicker trigger and the ability to process minutiae really fast and spit it out as exposition to the audience. He’s fun to watch but difficult to relate to, and at the end gets lost in a massive library of action heroes who we remember by the name of the actor who portrayed them and not the character themselves.
Read MoreIt’s meant as a bitter commentary about the nexus between capitalism, ambition, and the way we treat our elders. But the bitterness is so intense that it lingers after the credits roll, causing you to wonder if the movie accomplished much at all, besides its stylish presentation and strong performances.
Read MoreWhat Ruben desperately wants is a fix to his hearing loss - not unlike the other kind of fix he used to depend on. The grief he feels for the life he’s lost comes in waves. But in an echo of his past efforts to get clean, Ruben gradually adjusts to the strictures of the program and makes new friends. Unfortunately, he also offsets his progress…
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