The Virgin Macaulay Connor vs. The Chad C.K. Dexter Haven
* Ashamed of name so goes by “Mike” / Proudly owns absurd name
* Writes books / Designs yachts
* Deeply uncomfortable in posh setting / Completely comfortable showing up day before his ex-wife's wedding
* Enjoys the library / Knows “roughly” where library is because his grandfather built it
* Doesn’t bring a wedding present / Present is a model of the yacht he built for the bride for…
Lars Von Trier’s hospital-set drama/satirical workplace comedy/supernatural horror TV series; deeply inspired by Twin Peaks, it
lacks that show's earnestness (most of this is very much Lars taking the piss). But it’s quite a lot of fun, and where it shines is in its humor and its great and memorable characters.
Foremost among them is the fantastic Dr. Helmer, head physician of the neurosurgery ward, an arrogant Swede who loathes that he’s ended up in a Danish hospital, has contempt…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
“What is the artist’s intent?” Lydia Tár asks repeatedly over the course of TÁR’s running time, so it is worth asking about Todd Field’s. One archetypal #MeToo villain is the serial rapist / assaulter / harasser who preys upon those who unambiguously do not consent. Another, though, is the older, powerful, high-status figure who intermingles sex and work, pursuing affairs with younger, less powerful, less established people who are seeking to get ahead — people who are often not so…
HER is at its best in its first half, when it explores the surreality of a human falling for an A.I., posing the questions about whether she is actually conscious and “falling” for him too or just an algorithm telling him what he wants to hear, and whether he is getting happiness from the simulated “perfect girlfriend” purely because she lacks the flaws and independence of a “real” person (and whether that sort of happiness is sustainable or would ultimately…
