Baker is more interested in questions of fantasy versus reality, and in subverting cliche "save the prostitute" themes in fiction, than he is with a thorough analysis of class and what it means for sex workers.
It's a movie partly about the utility of sex scenes in movies. There are few films that manage to consistently use sex scenes to drive the plot and character development. Basic Instinct, a film which is hard to call feminist, does this. There each…
It seems the movies are back for the 6th or 7th time in 2 or 3 years.
One of my main notes about this is that we've all forgotten that Ariana Grande's origins are in comedic acting, and she is incredibly funny in this. It's crucial to the character that her privileged insensitivity is made endearing by her well-intentioned ditzy-ness. Cynthia Erivo plays the ugly duckling witch character like she was a Disney princess; hitting monumental high notes while gesturing…
Scorsese made an entire career out of depicting morally ambiguous figures. Often these characters are bad people who happen to be charismatic (Goodfellas, Wolf of Wall Street), and often they are characters who strive to be morally good yet find themselves in situations where they must betray their principles in order to do the right thing (The Departed, Silence, Cape Fear).
The Searchers is a film Scorsese frequently defends, and you can see why. John Wayne is playing an Ahab-like…
Very important.
I'm glad I saw this with someone who could explain the Buffy references and resonances to me. Schoenbrun's previous film was a brilliant exploration of the smallness of American suburban life. This country is supposedly based on the promise of giving opportunities to our children, but our idea of what those opportunities are is very narrow. When you are a young person who is not excited about the future that has been tacitly planned for you, there are…
