Well, I did it. I survived my first Boston Calling, which is my first music festival (covered as a member of the press), and also the second festival I’ve covered this year (of three festivals total, the third one being a beer fest coming up this July). There’s a lot to say about Boston Calling, … Continue reading
You’ve probably read this blog for long enough that you know well my distaste for prequels that senselessly construct backstory for elements of narrative that don’t actually demand a fucking backstory. So if you’ve seen Solo: A Star Wars Story, you can probably guess that I hated, hated, hated the script’s decision to tell us how, exactly, … Continue reading
Don’t ask me why the header image for this review is so small. Instead, ask me why it took planet Earth so long to make a documentary about the life of eminently fascinating human being André Leon Talley, who I was first introduced to during the period of my life where I watched America’s Next Top Model. … Continue reading
Rawwrrarrrgg, grrghghgggg, ggwwwghh, aaararrrgwwwh, wwwwwwwgggghhhrrrw. Translated from Shyriiwook, that roughly comes out to, “For Thrillist, I had a conversation with Joonas Suotamo, the delightfully Finnish actor who plays Chewbacca in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi about how gosh darn hot it gets in that Wookie suit.” I hope that helps! (And please … Continue reading
I remember dealing with a lot of bullshit and nonsense growing up as a child, from emotional growing pains to literal growing pains, but at least I didn’t have to live with the specter of AIDS hanging over me, which the protagonist of Carla Simón’s superb feature debut, Summer 1993, does. The film is startlingly lovely considering … Continue reading
This month, we didn’t report on five movies directed by women currently in theaters or available at home. We reported on seven. Grant that two of them, The Rider and Let the Sunshine In, expanded in May but originally came out in April; we’re sort of cheating on this one. But if they’ve only just expanded, that means you … Continue reading
So: I’m writing about music now, too. Don’t give me that look. I know you ostensibly “visit my blog” to “read about movies and television,” and that “my brand is all over the fucking place,” but the reality is this: Freelancing about the movies is great, but really hard, because every asshole who’s sat through a … Continue reading
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, so please, have another “100 best” list. This time: It’s hilarious. Comedy being the most subjective genre, I have a bunch of personal ordering gripes here, most of them being “nothing ranked after What’s Up, Doc? is actually fucking funnier than What’s Up, Doc?, especially all of the movies made in the last five … Continue reading
I’m wondering if Michael Pearce’s very good Beast is dropping at an inopportune cultural moment; we’re talking a lot about why kids shoot up schools, and there’s a percentage of nimrods trotting out usual excuses like “they were bullied” and “they watch too much violent media.” Beast isn’t quite about either of those, and it’s not about … Continue reading
Michael B. Jordan, right? What an actor. What a fire starter, too. The guy loves burning shit. It’s almost his bread and butter, at least in 2018, where his two biggest roles play literally and metaphorically with fire (and sometimes both). See: Black Panther and Fahrenheit 451. (Actually see Black Panther, too. Don’t just consider it as evidence. … Continue reading
I wrote this piece about Lynne Ramsay’s second film, Morvern Callar, around the time that her latest film, You Were Never Really Here, opened in theaters. What I didn’t do was push hard enough to get it published. If you’re the type to lose interest in things mere days after they’ve become available to you, well, first, … Continue reading
For a movie with such a cheery, upbeat title, Let the Sunshine In is determinedly melancholic. Check the director’s name and that makes sense: Claire Denis doesn’t really make straightforwardly upbeat movies, from Trouble Every Day to White Material, so naturally she’d make a romantic comedy dripping in sadness. But it’s a good kind of sadness founded on a real … Continue reading
In the words of Michael David Cummings, everybody needs a little vengeance, especially rape victims, and then especially rape victims left for dead in the desert by their married boyfriend and their boyfriends’ friends (one of whom is the rapist). That’s the set-up for Coralie Fargeat’s excellent debut, Revenge, a French genre exercise that’s as gory and … Continue reading
The good news is, my wrap-up of this year’s Independent Film Festival Boston is now online for your reading pleasure at Northshore Magazine. The bad news is, that means Independent Film Festival Boston is over, and you’re going to have to wait another 350 something days before we get to fest again. (And by “we” I mean … Continue reading
I struggled to put my thoughts about Masaaki Yuasa’s Lu Over the Wall into words, which is really bad, because putting thoughts into words is sort of my thing. It’s not that I don’t like Lu Over the Wall, but rather that Lu Over the Wall is what I imagine your run of the mill psychedelic drug trip looks like … Continue reading
I’m increasingly finding it difficult to find ways to introduce Criterion round-ups! I don’t know what’s wrong with me. (It’s probably a matter of only seeing one or two of the movies on each slate.) That being said: This one’s worth it just for Oktay Ege Kozak’s bit about The Awful Truth, plus Dom Sinacola’s words … Continue reading
There are times, many in fact, when I sit back, look at what I’ve accomplished in my years coming up in the culture writing biz, and think to myself, “Yeah. That’s pretty good.” (Okay: “Many” is putting it strongly. I do not routinely bask in my own output. It happens only as often as Donald … Continue reading
While you all are talkin’ about your “Infinity wars,” I’m talkin’ about Iron Man, the movie that really actually started it all, even if everyone likes to say the Marvel Cinematic Universe really began with The Avengers. I guess it did, in a way. But Iron Man put the MCU in motion in the first place. Ten years … Continue reading
…so, I probably should have shared this review ahead of this year’s IFFBoston run, because while the review is out of Tribeca, the movie happens to have also played on Thursday night at IFFB. And it’s a pretty good movie. I allude to two other non-traditional docs built on recreation and reenactment, Kate Plays Christine and Nuts!, in my review, but I … Continue reading
Nothing like watching a weird-ass movie adaptation of one of your favorite books that is nigh-unrecognizable from the book, am I right? I doubt Serge Bozon wants me to be mad about Mrs. Hyde; I doubt he made the movie expecting it’d actually make anyone mad. Without a doubt, though, I can say that the movie did … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 