Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022). Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund’s initial inspiration for the film Triangle of Sadness was the world of fashion, as reflected by the title’s reference to the furrowed brow that earns a male model (Harris Dickinson) … Continue reading Then Playing — Triangle of Sadness; The Whale; Black Adam
Perhaps the blame starts with Joyce Carol Oates. The prolific author of soullessly precise prose wrote the engine block–sized novel that writer director Andrew Dominik adapted into the film Blonde. Oates’s book of the same name is a fictionalized telling … Continue reading The Unwatchables — Blonde
To Leslie (Michael Morris, 2022). The feature directorial debut of Michael Morris (who has a formidable number of prestige television helming credits to his name) plays like a throwback to the pre-Tarantino era of independent American cinema, when there was … Continue reading Then Playing — To Leslie; Bodies Bodies Bodies; Women Talking
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, 2022). In a welcome return to a more small-scale drama, Jennifer Lawrence plays Lynsey, a soldier who returns to her home city of New Orleans after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while deployed in Afghanistan. Lawrence is … Continue reading Then Playing — Causeway; All Quiet on the Western Front; Remember My Name
Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987). It’s amusing now to see that Kathryn Bigelow filled her solo directorial debut with actors imported from Aliens, the action sequel made the previous years by her future husband, James Cameron. Especially since Cameron has … Continue reading Then Playing — Near Dark; Elvis; Amsterdam
White Noise (Noah Baumbach, 2022). The only way this film can reasonable be deemed a success is by subscribing to the wholly unsupported premise that writer-director Noah Baumbach set out to prove that Don DeLillo’s landmark 1985 novel was accurately … Continue reading Then Playing — White Noise; Resurrection; The Eternal Daughter
Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook, 2022). Working from a script he co-wrote with Jeong Seo-kyeong, Park Chan-Wook meticulous crafts a sly modern noir. Jang Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) is a police detective with a keen dedication to his work and a … Continue reading Then Playing — Decision to Leave; The Wonder; Fun with Dick and Jane
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, 2022). It’s seem a fine idea for Guillermo del Toro to channel his enduring fascinating for grim fairy tales into a stop-motion animation take on the little wooden boy created … Continue reading Then Playing — Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Violent Night; The Fabelmans
She Said (Maria Schrader, 2022). This journalism procedural is adapted from Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s book of the same name which recounted their pursuit of the blockbuster New York Times story that exposed years of sexual predation by producer … Continue reading Then Playing — She Said; The Corn Is Green; Aftersun
I truly believe Rian Johnson has found the character he could writer and direct exclusively for the remainder of his days and be satsisfied all the way. Johnson’s 2019 feature, Knives Out, introduced Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a master detective … Continue reading Now Playing — Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Coffee for Two 