Let me tell you a little bit about my grandfather.
He was never a, shall we say, sophisticated man. He was roughspun, and rough around the edges. But he had character. When World War 2 started up, he ran away from home and lied about his age to go over to Europe to fight. He was just a kid. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for him, he ran into someone who just happened to be from his little neighborhood in Delaware over…
The White Disease is an incredible film that was fearless in its anti-war message and prescient in other ways as well. The film is based on a play by the eminent science fiction icon Karel Čapek (the creator of the word "robot"). The film was made the same year as the play, featuring most of the original cast in the same roles (including the film's director, Hugo Haas, as the star).
The film opens with a populist leader of a…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
While to some extent Companion treads very similar ground to a number of other films -- most notably Ex Machina (though it also owes a debt to the original Stepford Wives in its look at male fantasies about fulfilling relationships) -- it brings a very different vibe. It strips away some of the philosophical pondering and injects a fun blast of humor and heist-gone-wrong energy. The leads are excellent and the film is a delightful watch.
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
The 1930s Dust Bowl era of America is such a ripe and underutilized setting in fiction -- it's so distinctive, so unique, so fascinating in its potential for storytelling. The migrations, the class conflict, the environmental catastrophe, the sheer bleakness of it all. And ever since I watched HBO's criminally underwatched gem Carnivale, I've also loved the combination of the Dust Bowl with a supernatural horror tinge. Because aside from the migrations, the things I mentioned above about the era,…
In Everything Everywhere All At Once, Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn, the owner of a small (and not too successful) laundromat. Her marriage is in trouble, her disapproving father has just flown in, her daughter only calls when she needs something, and if all that weren't enough, she's being audited by the IRS. She's frustrated with her life and daydreams of success in other fields -- she wants to act, wants to sing, wants to teach, wants to write. At least,…
"Because everybody deserves a second chance."
I think it's fair to say that everyone's favorite bunch of lovable but somewhat misanthropic space misfits and fuckups have had more than just a second chance. These are characters who've all had third and maybe fourth or more chances. As Peter Quill memorably described them in the first film, they're all losers -- he meant people who've lost things, but, well, these are all heroes the wider universe would probably be apt to…
