I've gone on and on about what the ideal "Kubrick film" should feel like—to paraphrase: haunting, alien, sinister, and monumentally fascinating—but for some reason, I have never considered his Lolita a fit for that category.
After reading Vladimir Nabokov's book in an attempt to get to the real taboo juice of Lolita, I came back to this film adaptation with a new appreciation. Things Nabokov spells out explicitly: Humbert's boiling lust for the pubescent Dolly, his jealousy and paranoia as…
There is brilliance coursing through almost every vein of this modern Busby Berkeley extravaganza. It’s as perfectly staged as any musical I’ve ever seen, acted within an inch of its life by an exquisitely curated cast, and overflowing with charm, wit, and the most theatrical theatrics ever seen outside of the theatre. Everything about The Pirates of Penzance is incredible… except the music.
There is one, count it, one memorable melody in the whole two hours of singing. Even though the arrangements are spectacular, the songs just never register. It’s almost fatal for a movie that otherwise delighted every bone in my body.
Get out.
The more I think about this vile piece of gleefully hateful race-based fear-mongering, the more disgusted I am with the swaths of people who praise it as some kind of step forward for social good. Get Out is a movie that feeds on people’s primal tribal hate. “Fuck that ‘love thy neighbor’ bullshit. They’re evil and I want blood”. Righteous violence is in vogue. It wins you Oscars and sycophantic adoration. Foundational Christian ideals like humility, tolerance and…
A Critic's Wet Dream. A Filmgoer's Worst Nightmare. Moonlight is Woke and Broke. The Most Overrated Movie Ever Made.
I cannot think of a movie as comprehensively championed as Moonlight. A 99 metacritic score, a best picture win, sure to be on the very top of dozens of 'Best of the Decade' lists, and nary a single voice of dissent on the internet. It’s career suicide for a critic to bash it, and reputation suicide for anyone else to do…
