Double Feature: Toy Story 4 and Child’s Play
Toy Story and Child’s Play were both defining films of my childhood. In very different ways, of course.
Godzilla II: King of the Monsters is a Disastrous Failure
This is a film about mega-monsters wreaking havoc at a catastrophic scale, but there’s no weight to this thing; it’s limp and incoherent.
The Family-Friendly Films of the ‘80s Are Alive in Bumblebee
Bumblebee eschews the Escherian excess and all-out warfare of Michael Bay’s films for clean compositions and comparative spatial clarity.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – the Park is Gone, and So is Any Modicum of Intelligence
Perhaps if Fallen Kingdom had nothing to do with Jurassic Park – if it were, say, titled Dinosaur Adventure – I could’ve enjoyed it. At least on the level that you enjoy an incredibly stupid film.
With Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg Turns a Bad Book into a Decent Movie
With Ready Player One, Spielberg has made a good movie out of a bad book. Shame he couldn’t have made a great one.
Stop the Presses: Spielberg, Hanks and Streep Unite for The Post
The Post’s images are undeniably potent, but in that big, obvious way that steamrolls the complexity of the issues.
Pete’s Dragon (2016)
The simplicity of Pete’s Dragon’s story and themes alike leaves it desperately reliant on fostering a sense of childlike wonder that it can’t hold onto.
The BFG (2016)
A perfectly serviceable film with excellent farting, but held back by nauseating 3D, a changed ending, and as scary as a cupcake.
Spielberg and Hanks Bridge the Incompatible Tensions of Nationalism
In 1962, Bronx lawyer and ex-Navy officer James B. Donovan negotiated a tense prisoner transfer between the United States of America, the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic. The negotiation required Donovan to enter East Germany at the behest of his country, but without any official recognition from America. Rather, Donovan was operating on…
Every Cut is a Lie: M. Night Shyamalan, Found Footage and The Visit
Not long after M. Night Shyamalan’s Sixth Sense opened in 1999, my parents dragged my brother along to the theatre to watch it because “we had to see it.” They’d seen it already, of course, and I suspect their second visit was as much motivated by analysing the construction of the film’s famous twist as…
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