Cloud Atlas (Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, and Lilly Wachowski, 2012). Based on the dense, woven basket David Mitchell novel of the same name, Cloud Atlas is an escalating dare as cinema. The film freely intercuts between six different plots, spanning … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up —Cloud Atlas; Margaret; Venom
The Greatest Showman (Michael Gracey, 2017). The unexpected — and slow-building — success of this big screen musical at least provides gratifying evidence that modern audiences remain hungry for original material, no matter how desperately studio executives treat their production … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Greatest Showman; At Eternity’s Gate; Brute Force
Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher, 2018). This biography of Freddie Mercury, concentrating on his time as the frontman of Queen, is almost startling in its ineptitude. Put aside that it treats the basic chronology of the band’s history … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Bohemian Rhapsody; Birds of Passage; Ralph Breaks the Internet
L7: Pretend We’re Dead (Sarah Price, 2016). A nifty video scrapbook posing as documentary, this film traces the career of the L.A. hard rock band L7. Largely avoiding details of personal entanglements, L7: Pretend We’re Dead dutifully ticks off the … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — L7: Pretend We’re Dead; Cold War; Green Book
Tully (Jason Reitman, 2018). Working with a script by Diablo Cody, the writer behind two of his best outings, and a compelling, vanity-free performance by Charlize Theron, director Jason Reitman creates a film that is almost jarring in its bleak … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Tully; Can You Ever Forgive Me; The Smart Studios Story
Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018). This documentary traces a guerilla attempt at filmmaking by a group of teenagers and their somewhat skeevy teacher in Singapore, in the early nineteen-nineties. Essentially a cinematic memoir of embitterment and gradual self-discovery by Sandi Tan, … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Shirkers; I Feel Pretty; First Reformed
Andre the Giant (Jason Hehir, 2018). A veteran of ESPN’s acclaimed 30 for 30 series of sports documentaries, Jason Hehir brings a studious steadiness to this recounting of the life and career of the professional wrestler born André René Roussimoff. … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Andre the Giant; The Wife; Life of the Party
Rampage (Brad Peyton, 2018). I fully understand the wisdom in calibrating expectations accordingly for a movie adaptation of a 1986 video game that was little more than giant monsters knocking down buildings. Basic coherence isn’t too much to ask for, … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Rampage; What’s Up, Doc?; River of No Return
The Endless (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, 2018). The directing team behind the cleverly subversive horror film Spring train their storytelling on a strange commune in the hills that beckons back a pair of brothers (as if not busy enough, Justin … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Endless; Crazy Rich Asians; Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1963). I’m not sure where the stereotype about smothering Swedish gloom originated, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover the precise genesis point resides somewhere within the frames of Winter Light. In the characteristically … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Winter Light; Blockers; Eighth Grade
Coffee for Two 