True story: On first hearing of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I wrote it off and put it out of my memory, thinking, “this sounds like a pretty naked excuse to put a bunch of different Spider-Man variations into a single movie for the purpose of moving lots of ancillary product, and also most Marvel movies aren’t … Continue reading
Joe Swanberg did a thing, and I liked the thing that Joe Swanberg did. This is not unusual. I have liked Joe Swanberg things in the past. I have also not liked Joe Swanberg things in the past, because improvisational filmmaking has its ups as well as its downs, the former being the life that … Continue reading
“With another year comes another Joe Swanberg joint about middle-class ennui. There are any number of reasons to roll one’s eyes at the prolific indie filmmaker’s latest, Digging For Fire—its blatant heteronormativity, adherence to traditional gender roles, unscripted moments of marble-mouthed philosophizing, and severely unlikable characters. But in the department of good news, Swanberg’s go-to … Continue reading
“Jurassic World marks the fourth entry in its paleontological franchise, but it’s probably more important as the second chapter in the story of Chris Pratt’s unexpected ascent to movie stardom. Pratt, seemingly born to make a career out of playing lovable doofuses, made his goofy tenor work for him in last year’sGuardians of the Galaxy. … Continue reading
With fifteen directing credits under his belt since 2005, and almost twice that number of acting gigs, Joe Swanberg is nothing if not prolific. He’s also intensely divisive, having long ago earned the dubious honor of serving as a lightning rod for the critical community; as one of the mumblecore film movement’s most prominent non-Duplass … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 