Let me tell you: Based on the poster, I honestly expected to hate Hidden Figures with a passion. I expected it to be sappy feel-good bullshit; I expected it to do its history a series of disservices; I expected it to waste its talented leading actresses. But it doesn’t! At all! The film works! I don’t … Continue reading
The year end train continues! Over at The Playlist, I wrote a few capsules about a few of the best performances of 2016, notably the dueling works of Isabelle Huppert, who appears in both Elle and Things to Come, two very different movies where she plays very similar roles. You should maybe take a looksie, eh? … Continue reading
You’re aware, I imagine, that I am a member of BOFCA, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, and if you are aware of that, then you are also likely aware that every year, we vote, as critics groups do, to determine with authority which movies of the last 365 days were, in a word, “best.” … Continue reading
I’ve not yet stumbled upon a review of Moonlight that has found a way to associate the film’s message with the central philosophies of the Black Lives Matter movement, mostly because that movement is not germane to the film’s messages and because, I suspect, any white author writing about Barry Jenkins’ extraordinary second feature is smart … Continue reading
Much as I love Mahershala Ali, I’m kinda glad to see him go in the context of Luke Cage: He’s one villain too many, or the show just plain ol’ has one villain too many, and if one of ’em had to go, Cornell Stokes makes the most sense. (Don’t feel too bad for Ali: 2016 is … Continue reading
So: Problems! Luke Cage hits kind of a standstill during its fifth and sixth episodes, mostly because it fails to appropriately pair its hero against a suitable villain. You can see how this is almost inevitable from the start: Stokes, a mortal man with a mean streak and delusions of Robin Hood-dom, uses bullets to get … Continue reading
Every Luke Cage review I post, I wonder a little bit how many people read it who belong to that conglomerate of anti-Cagers. Are you a part of that group? How about yoooou? Well, if that’s where you’re at, then this post is just going to be a waste of your time, because it links to about a … 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
A Constant Visual Feast 