I’m happy enough to sneak a terrible-on-purpose play on Shakespeare into my review of Maya Forbes’ very good The Polka King that I don’t mind my reference to Phanuel being cut from the final copy. Take that bad with the good, or maybe in this case the bad with the very bad. Whatever. I don’t know. … Continue reading
2017 has visited a flood of Stephen King adaptations upon us, most of them good (It! Gerald’s Game!), one of them less so (you can connect the dots from here!). Now we’ve got 1922 on our hands courtesy of those wacky non-advertising types over at Netflix. It’s good! It’s really good, in fact! It might be the … Continue reading
Everyone knows that I hated, hated, hated Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall. What my take on David France’s new film, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, presupposes is that, maybe you shouldn’t make terrible biopics about real-life events while supplanting the real-life struggling minorities at their center with clean-cut white boys? …so, yeah, I guess that doesn’t … Continue reading
And just in time for the scariest month on the calendar (save for November during fucking election years): This new, shiny piece I’ve got up at The Hollywood Reporter (which, being a few days old, no longer quite qualifies as either “new” or “shiny,” but shaddup), about Mike Flanagan and his new film, Gerald’s Game. If you’re … Continue reading
Maybe I’m the wrong person to write about superhero stuff in 2017. Guys, really: I just can’t watch superhero things without finding big philosophical flaws in their makeup and intent. I’m afraid to sit through the second season of Jessica Jones when it airs next year, even, though then again, Jessica is the best thing about The Defenders, … Continue reading
I know it is unfashionable for men to talk about sex and arousal in context with pop culture, but I’m a big dummy who doesn’t know what’s good for him, so I went ahead and did exactly that for The Playlist’s Bingeworthy Breakdown feature, in which I say a bunch of smart stuff, and smartass … Continue reading
Tramps, to me, represents the double-edged sword of Netflix; with it, filmmakers like Adam Leon get to work, but they also don’t get to show their movies in actual theaters. I don’t know how I feel about that. (Wait: Yes I do! Bad. I feel bad about that.) If that’s the trade-off for Leon making … Continue reading
I can’t stop reviewing The Get Down! Actually, no: That’s a lie. I can. And I have. Sad face. Well, c’mon, you didn’t think the show would go on forever, did you? Granted, Netflix split the first season into two halves, which kinda gave the show a sense of unnatural longevity, but we all knew it … Continue reading
Every year for the last five years, springtime has provoked a transformation of sorts in me, or maybe more accurately provoked my unabashed and kinda obnoxious excitement. If you’ve been keeping up, you can probably guess why: Spring in Boston means Independent Film Festival Boston, which means that for a week or so, Andy gets … Continue reading
There is no poster for Deidra & Laney Rob a Train (at least not one that I’ve found via multiple Google image searches). There should be a poster for Deidra & Laney Rob a Train. Is this going to be a thing for movies that debut on Netflix (or any streaming service) instead of premiering in theaters? … Continue reading
It’s a thing in the entertainment biz that if a movie about subject A is released into the pop cultural wilds, inevitably another movie about the same subject will be released shortly thereafter. To wit: Andrew Neel’s Goat opened in theaters last September, detailing the intimate particulars of fraternity hazing rituals and rites of initiation. It’s … Continue reading
A couple years back, I wrote a review of Justin Simien’s awesome feature debut, Dear White People, and assholes on the Internet decided that the best response to a film so named was to drop a bunch of racist-as-fuck comments in the comments section, without really reading the review (or seeing the movie, obviously). My editor … Continue reading
Remember all those times I reviewed Jessica Jones? Have you been missing those times? Miss no longer! Now I’m reviewing Luke Cage, aka “the best screen thing Marvel has ever put their name on,” which is maybe just a smidge hyperbolic but, well, I don’t care. Luke Cage is great. It also has vaulted Marvel’s Netflix and television … Continue reading
Everyone went nuts over Stranger Things, and now nobody is going nuts over The Get Down. I guess that makes sense to me, even if I happen to like The Get Down more. Stranger Things speaks to anybody who grew up in the 80’s or grew up on 80’s pop culture. The Get Down speaks to anybody who loves the … Continue reading
My latest for The Playlist: Phantom Boy, Alain Gagnol & Jean-Loup Felicioli’s follow-up to the excellent A Cat in Paris. (FYI: If you haven’t seen that one, it’s on Netflix Instant.) Phantom Boy lets the duo continue indulging their love of noir to an extent, but mostly the movie is all about superheroes and comic book movies. It’s an … Continue reading
…so, I’m trying something new here. Bear with me. I like hearing from my readers. I also like having readers, and I know factually that keeping you guys engaged goes beyond just posting my clips and writing original content here. It isn’t enough for me to talk about myself. I want to create a space where … Continue reading
“Daredevil and Jessica Jones: One of these things is not like the other. You’d expect there to be a shared mentality between these two shows as far as action is concerned; they’re Marvel’s first two moves in the ever-expanding Netflix sandbox, and the building blocks of their “street-level” comic book brand, which will continue building … Continue reading
“There are two integral components to any review ofBeasts of No Nation: Its identity as a piece of art and its identity as a product of an industry experiencing post-millennial growing pains. “Netflix presents a Netflix original film,” the credits tell us before ticking off requisite hat tips to the project’s other participating bodies. Strictly … Continue reading
An important bit of news from me to you about the future of A Constant Visual Feast, my connection to Go, See, Talk!, and what you can look forward to in the coming months. Continue reading
Welcome to the first entry in what I intend to fashion into a weekly series. As the name suggests, the focus here is Criterion Collection films, the classics and masterpieces and unequivocal essentials that hold sway in cinematic canon. My goal? Grab two random entries from off of my shelf, or stream them through Netflix … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 