Elaine May, Alfred Hitchcock, Abbas “We Miss You” Kiarostami, and Norman Jewison’s unexpected tonic for “Green Book” make up the DNA of this month’s Criterion round-up. Continue reading
Posted in January 2019 …
Review: Capernaum, 2019, dir. Nadine Labaki
A film about a starving boy scrapping by to survive in Beirut isn’t the kind of film anyone’s happy to criticize. On the flip side, if you make that movie and you don’t want to be criticized, make a better movie. Continue reading
“How Netflix’s ‘Polar’ Differs From The Comics”
Brrr! Is it chilly in here, or is it just Mads Mikkelsen on a killing spree that’d put most slasher all-time body counts to shame? (It’s chilly in here. It’s January. But Mikkelsen still rocks.) Continue reading
“‘Beale Street’ and Time”
In the Baldwin novel, time is a motif, but in Jenkins’ adaptation, it’s a theme that spans his filmography all the way back to “Medicine for Melancholy.” Continue reading
“Films by Women: Five Movies to Watch in January”
Touch me not as the corpses tan, while remembering all these small moments at Rust Creek with Mike and Nicky. (Translation: Here are some movies by women available in January.) Continue reading
“The Magicians’ Fourth Season Continues To Shake Up The Rules Of Fantasy”
Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic(ians) content, you know! Never believe it’s not so (that characters on “The Magicians” have it rough)! Continue reading
“Why ‘Glass’ Twist May Feel Unsatisfying”
The big twist of M. Night Shyamalan’s capper to his homegrown superhero movie? It’s actually an obnoxiously self-satisfied deconstruction of superhero tropes. Continue reading
Review: The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, 2019, dir. Henry Dunham
Seven men. Six innocent. One guilty. One location. One night to sort it all out. One really long movie title. But hey, it gets the point across! Continue reading
“Terry Crews In Brooklyn Nine-Nine Is Modern Masculinity At Its Best”
Terry Crews isn’t the star of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” but he’s pretty much the show’s heart and soul. And its muscle. And its fretting grandma. Continue reading
“What Is the Solera Brewing Method?”
Everyone knows that aging beer in oak barrels is a gateway to deliciousness. What they might not know is that if you do math and fractionally blend your barrel aged beers, “deliciousness” goes to a whole new level. Continue reading
Review: Buffalo Boys, 2019, dir. Mike Wiluan
Of buffaloes, and boys, and western / martial arts revenge tropes. Also they have a grenade launcher. Take it from me, this one’s pretty wild. Continue reading
“Vox Lux, A Star Is Born, And Bohemian Rhapsody All Challenged The Pop Persona In 2018”
2018 had pop stardom on its mind, but the best pop star movie of the year is the one that bothers being honest about how we talk pop culture in the first place. Continue reading
“How ‘Bird Box’ Tweaked the Book’s Ending”
You have questions about the ending of BIRD BOX. We have answers. (Actually, I have questions, and I have answers, plus residual anxiety that Netflix will green-light a totally unnecessary sequel to this thing.) Continue reading
“‘Escape Room’ and the Comfort of a Predictable Formula”
I generally avoid describing movies as “formulaic”*, except as a matter of fact; I neither consider formula a positive nor a negative. Formulas have their place. Good movies rely on formula. Bad movies rely on formula. Movies in between the two, the movies that comprise the majority of the bricks in the cinematic pyramid, also … Continue reading
“Here Are 40 Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies, Ranked From Worst To Best”
I watched just about every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie ever for this list, boys and girls and also adult men and women; you’re welcome. I did it, after all, for you, and also because yes, I like movies and specifically I like movies that have Arnold Schwarzenegger in them. (I’m not saying that Schwarzenegger movies are my lane; … Continue reading
Andy’s Best Things, 2018 Edition
Hi. I’m late writing this up. I had other plans for ringing in 2019. Honestly, snowboarding and beer are only part of it. If I think about it for a second, I don’t really have a lot to say about 2018; I’m sans a unifying statement to reconcile all of the pop culture I digested … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 