Now You See Me is about magicians that perform a complicated “trick” we are asked to “solve,” although we can’t because of movie trickery. In other words, it’s the embodiment of T. S. Eliot’s objective correlative concerning illusion, generally. –March 31, 2022
Tag: Entertaining – Disposable
Titanic
“She hits the berg on the starboard side, right? She kind of bumps along, punching holes like Morse code, dit dit dit, along the side, below the water line. Then the forward compartments start to flood.” –December 31, 2021
Alita: Battle Angel
Alita: Battle Angel is the sum of its parts (Rollerball, Robocop, Elysium, and Avatar, just for starters), which means it’s not good, exactly, but it isn’t bad either. –November 30, 2021
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Tom Holland inhabits the title role well in Spider-Man: Far From Home. When the dust settles, though, and the Gyllenhaal machine is put to rest, you may realize that Spidey’s adventures, when not attached to the Avengers, are small stakes threats from a bully. Meaning: so what? –December 31, 2021
Cold Mountain
Any re-telling of old stories rests on the adaptor’s imagination. To wit, Cold Mountain is “The Odyssey” formed to fit Southern white people inside the Confederacy. Doesn’t hurt any that Jude Law and Nicole Kidman star. –November 30, 2021
Down with Love
Add Ewan McGregor to Renee Zellweger and what do you get? Manhattan in the 1960s, or Down with Love, a shiny revisionist story of upset gender norms that nonetheless works. –October 31, 2021
Nobody
Combine The Raid, Atomic Blonde, The Equalizer, and John Wick with a quaff of suburban anomie, and you get Nobody, in which Bob Odenkirk makes public buses safe for everyone.Swearengen drink brandy. It’s adrenalized nonsense. Can’t wait for chapter 4. –June 30, 2021
Star Trek Beyond
When the Beastie Boys below “Sabotage” from a spaceship disrupting a fleet of drones, Star Trek Beyond settles into nostalgic schizophrenia about a past-present-future Enterprise crew saving the galaxy, and no one, I mean, no one will keep from tapping a foot. –January 31, 2021
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Prince Caspian is the one where Narnia looks like Germania in Gladiator, but this time we get griffins and centaurs and satyrs, too. –October 31, 2020
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
God bless Keanu. In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum he weaponizes a Central Park horse, fights alongside Halle Berry, and watches Al Swearengen drink brandy. It’s adrenalized nonsense. Can’t wait for chapter 4. –June 30, 2019
Back to School
Teen movies of the ’80s are weird. EX: Back to School. How can you explain Rodney Dangerfield’s Triple Lindy, the appearances of Oingo Boingo, Kurt Vonnegut, and Sam Kinison, and the fact RDJ hasn’t fixed his teeth? –May 31, 2019
Pitch Perfect
“I got my ticket for the long way ’round.” Boy world and girl world occupy distinct spheres of youthful activity. In the former go fruitful competition and physical vigor; in the latter rest beauty and cooperation. In Jason Moore’s 2012 fantasy Pitch Perfect the roles merge, as the boys reform through learning common courtesy while the girls… Continue reading Pitch Perfect
