Kin (2018)
There’s no reason Kin couldn’t have used its sci-fi hook to examine the degradation of the American working class.
‘You’re Tearing Me Apart’s of Darkness: James Franco’s The Disaster Artist
James Franco’s The Disaster Artist clearly intends us to laugh at The Room’s Tommy Wiseau, but it also wants us to recognise his twisted genius.
Suicide Squad is a Sugar Rush and Sugar Crash All at Once
Suicide Squad is a feature length trailer. It’s structured like a videogame and plotted like a D&D campaign where everyone’s roleplaying chaotic evil. Anyway, I kinda liked it.
Goat’s Facile Take on Toxic Frat Culture
I’ll give Goat this – it’s at least well-intentioned. So, fraternities are bad, right? The hazing they do is kinda gross and maybe dangerous, yeah? This is essentially the gist of Goat, which offers an unflinching criticism of frat culture but fails to find anything interesting to say along the way. The first fifteen minutes…
The Interview (2015)
Remember the last low-brow comedy to centre on the attempted assassination of a world leader? I’m of course talking about Zoolander, where Ben Stiller’s empty-headed male model was brainwashed to murder the prime minister of Malaysia. Roger Ebert took issue with the subplot – “Didn’t it strike anybody connected with this movie that it was…
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is finally – finally! – available on Australian DVD today, so it seems as good a time as any to look back on the classic high school sitcom (a label that sits a little funny nowadays, but we’ll get to that). It’s customary when looking back on a show this old (if…
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
It’s possibly unfair to complain about the predictability of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Is it the filmmaker’s fault that the trailer prominently includes the climactic showdown between revolutionary, super-intelligent apes and police? Probably not. But when the predictability of the narrative is informed by a familiarity with Planet of the Apes or,…
The 86th Academy Awards – Predictions and Thoughts
I’m not really that interested in getting too caught up in the Oscars fol-de-rol that consumes the critical community around this time of year. I read a lot about the Academy Awards because, well, it’s people getting passionate about film! People arguing emphatically about which film is better and the industry, about who will win…
American Hustle (2013)
American Hustle reminded me of a scene from another, very different 2013 movie. About halfway through Spring Breakers, gangster-rapper (emphasis on the former) Alien, played by James Franco, bursts into a memorable, consumerist rant. “Look at my shit!” he cries, roving around his expensive bedroom, festooned with gold-plated guns and a television playing Scarface on…
Extended Cut: Lovelace (2013)
It’s hard to deny its cultural import of Deep Throat, a porno that managed to achieve the kind of cultural saturation normally reserved for towering icons like The Godfather or Citizen Kane – by which I mean it’s been referenced and parodied so many times, you don’t need to have seen it to be familiar…
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