Category: Reviews

Black Panther

Ryan Coogler’s film represents a watershed moment for Marvel, for blockbusters and for black cinema.

Black Panther PosterMarvel movies have been disposable. They’ve been designed to be the same. And even the best ones have only shown glimmers of the personality behind the camera. All that changes with “Black Panther.” In fact, so much has changed with this film. It signals not just a new step forward for Marvel, but a shift in the modern blockbuster’s ability to be political and current, and it’s an absolute leap forward in what we should demand from black cinema.

That’s in part because this very clearly is a Ryan Coogler film. “Black Panther” starts and ends in Oakland in the early ‘90s, as personal a setting as you could get from Coogler. And though Black Panther’s native African nation of Wakanda may not be real, the story Coogler is telling is certainly rooted in reality. Continue reading “Black Panther”

The Disaster Artist

James Franco’s “The Disaster Artist” doesn’t have the personality and vision of Greg Sestero’s book or Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room.”

The Disaster Artist Poster
A24

“You can be called Mark, like that guy from that movie, Mark Damon.” That’s Tommy Wiseau telling his friend Greg Sestero his vision for the best/worst movie ever made, “The Room.”

In Sestero’s book “The Disaster Artist,” which tells the story of how Greg met Tommy and came to make “The Room,” there’s a wonderful chapter in which Greg takes Tommy to see “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” The movie is about an enchanting fraud, a mysterious guy who poses as one identity and seduces his way into becoming a close friend to the protagonist, only for things to turn violent and deadly when he’s exposed as a phony and a shell of a real person. Tommy sees the movie and is inspired, and he goes on to write “The Room.” But Greg sees it and thinks, Ripley IS Tommy.

Tommy Wiseau is an elusive, strange figure. His inscrutable Eastern European accent and broken English, his unruly jet black hair and his bizarre fashion sense of vests, jangly keys and studded black belts just scratch the surface of his mystique. He made the worst movie ever made and has become a cult sensation for it, but is he a genius or a lunatic?

Sestero’s “The Disaster Artist” plays into Tommy’s mystique and never gives you all the answers about him. It jumps around from before and after they started making “The Room,” and as a result, you see the disaster unfolding before you. Continue reading “The Disaster Artist”

Passengers

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt can’t save “Passengers” from being a mightily dumb romance with an unfortunate action movie tacked on.

Passengers PosterWhat’s 90 years destined to die alone when you have a space yacht, virtual reality dance battles, a sage British robot bartender and cosmic bungee jumping all to yourself?

The mightily dumb “Passengers” was touted as a sexy slick star vehicle for Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as two literally star-crossed lovers awoken from hypersleep who form a romance while saving their vessel from peril. So it’s not as if we should’ve expected some thoughtful, existential story, but we’re left with the idea that eternity isn’t so bad when you have some pretty views, good food and a buddy to share it with. Continue reading “Passengers”

Marshall

Chadwick Boseman just can’t find a solid prestige picture

Marshall PosterPoor Chadwick Boseman. First he played Jackie Robinson. Then he portrayed James Brown. Now he’s NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall. This is the third prominent figure of 20th Century African American history he’s gotten the chance to play. And yet in each case, the movie he’s stuck in is a bland, insipid and worst of all whitewashed prestige picture.

Apparently Thurgood Marshall’s crowning achievement worthy of a biopic isn’t a story of how he became a lawyer or the racism he faced in his career. Reginald Hudlin’s “Marshall” cluelessly focuses on the one story in which Marshall is forced to be silent and cede his courtroom victory were it not for the one white man who stood up to save the day. Continue reading “Marshall”

The Trip to Spain

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan are still hilarious three movies later, the most consistent comedy franchise ever

The Trip to Spain PosterIf you’ve seen one of “The Trip” movies, you know what you’re in for: celebrity impressions, driving through the gorgeous European countryside, a bit of carpool karaoke, and lots of food porn. With “The Trip to Spain,” Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom have refined that formula even further. You have to wonder, what could possibly stop this franchise?

Well, they found it, in a hilarious gag to close out “The Trip to Spain” that might be about the only plausible capper to this delightful series. Because there’s nothing new to report about “The Trip to Spain,” it’s just more of what works.

They do Mick Jagger talking about public schools, Marlon Brando doing Monty Python’s “Spanish Inquisition,” and do Roger Moore for just about forever. The difference is that these routines have some narrative built into them. Brydon does his Roger Moore impression long after it has become annoying to his co-stars, and you can feel the awkward tension just adding to the humor. Or when they revert back to their James Bond play acting, you genuinely want to see how this make believe exchange ends, with Brydon’s fork quivering as it comes up to his mouth as though he’s about to be poisoned to death.

Part of the charm of “The Trip” movies is that Coogan and Brydon are somewhat insufferable. In the first film it was clear they did not like each other, and that’s gone away. And “The Trip to Italy” might still have the most emotional heft. But it’s been replaced with playful one-upsmanship of Coogan constantly reminding he has two Oscar nominations for “Philomena.” “The Trip” movies in many ways are about masculinity, with their impressions and sarcastic one-liners a means of asserting themselves.

So it’s wrong to think these are just trivial comedies. Three movies in, it’s hard to find another comedy trilogy that has been so consistent, funny and even thoughtful. I have a feeling Winterbottom could still yet revive “The Trip” for a fourth film, and whatever joke they have to bridge the gap between movies will be hysterical. But if this really is the end, I’ll miss hearing how Michael Caine’s voice has gotten even more broken up. “She was only 15 years old!”

3 ½ stars

Cries From Syria

The HBO Documentary puts America’s own political climate in 2017 into an important context

Cries From Syria PosterIt almost goes without saying that the Syrian refugee crisis and Civil War is Bad with a capital B. Evgeny Afineevsky’s HBO documentary “Cries From Syria” is broken up into four chapters. It starts with the birth of the revolution in the Arab Spring, then the start of the Syrian Civil War, the rescue efforts as the situation worsens, and finally the ongoing escape efforts from the regime. It’s a film about how revolution spreads and what it’s like to live under constant turmoil and oppression.

And the imagery Afineevsky cobbles together from raw, handheld footage from many civilians and freedom fighters on the ground are grim and horrifying. “Cries from Syria” opens with a toddler lying dead face down on a beach, the waves washing over his body. A 6-year-old has a hole in his face where a sniper bullet has pierced through his cheek. The aftermath of a chemical weapon attack in 2013 resembles Holocaust imagery. Former prisoners recount how everyone among them was raped, beaten and tortured. And in their testimonials, Syrian civilians remember how wrong they were when they thought things couldn’t get any worse.

But it’s that last bit that stuck with me most of all. “We thought that was the worst that could happen.” Continue reading “Cries From Syria”

mother!

No explainer article can fully capture how truly crazy and demented Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” is to just watch.

MotherPosterIt’s a creation myth! It’s about how men gaslight women! It’s about climate change! It’s a bizarre human comedy! It’s a crazed mix of Luis Bunuel, Rosemary’s Baby, Black Swan and a dash of La La Land! Whatever mother! is, don’t forget those exclamation points.

I’ve already read way too much about Darren Aronofsky’s mother!, and if you’ve seen the film, you know I’m right. It’s best to go in relatively cold. Because every explainer and analysis that tries to paint it as a divine Biblical allegory isn’t wrong, but it never fully captures how flat out, bat shit crazy this movie is. Continue reading “mother!”

Logan Lucky

“Logan Lucky” is Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s 7/11,” a sly heist movie with a hilarious Southern drawl and character that makes it a true surprise.

Logan Lucky PosterI was tinkering with an expression like “Backwater Ocean’s Eleven” or “Blue Collar Ocean’s Eleven” to describe Logan Lucky, but then sure enough, Steven Soderbergh, self-aware as ever, comes up with “Ocean’s 7/11.” It may look stupid and quaint, but just like the characters in this movie, it’s actually a lot smarter than you.

Logan Lucky is a pure heist movie, but set in Appalachia with a group of Good ‘Ol Boys subbing in for George Clooney and Brad Pitt. They’re planning quickly, we’re learning the stages of the heist on the fly, and just as in Soderbergh’s Ocean’s, the film slyly withholds the twist details of how they dunnit until everyone’s in the clear. But listening to these hicks talk and strategize, it’s as if they’re all stuck in molasses. It’s a hilarious departure from the Rat Pack slick act. Continue reading “Logan Lucky”

Columbus

The debut film from online video essay editor Kogonada, the lush and cinematic “Columbus” is a true surprise beyond its academic aspirations.

Columbus Movie PosterLet me get out of the way the one thing you’ll read in every review of Columbus. This is the debut film of Kogonada, a Korean film critic who specializes in making thoughtful video essays for the web. Critics adore his work because he makes meticulously edited pieces of criticism that break down how a film works and why it matters.

Columbus has the same academic construction and attention to film theory that critics like myself adore. At one point it seemingly argues for the value of slow cinema, and its economical framing and lush cinematography would be catnip to anyone who has been to film school or, better yet, watched one of Kogonada’s videos. But Columbus has heart and intimacy far beyond its pretentions, and it’s one of the better surprises of the year. Continue reading “Columbus”

The Beguiled

Sofia Coppola’s minimalist take on sexuality and power is more thoughtful than the Clint Eastwood original but far less fun.

The Beguiled Poster The original Clint Eastwood adaptation of “The Beguiled” was a crazed, pulpy drama of sex and temptation. It’s a bit too nuts to take it truly seriously. That’s where Sofia Coppola comes in, whose gifts with minimalism can take even the wildest of subject matter and rope it into something contemplative and profound.

In her take on “The Beguiled,” Coppola has given the Civil War story a dusky air of dignity and style. She’s reframed it as a woman’s story of pent up frustration and emotion and how people cling to certain ways of life, rather than a man’s revenge tale against, as Colin Farrell puts it in the film, “vengeful bitches.”

That’s all well and good, but I like the crazy-eyed sexiness of the Don Siegel/Eastwood version. Coppola’s film has the themes and drama in the right place, but does her “Beguiled” have to be so buttoned up? Continue reading “The Beguiled”