Monthly Archives: September 2017

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

American Made (2017) Movie Review

One thing that American Made is not is moral. Whether it is political, however, is a different question entirely.

The Doug Liman-directed, Gary Spinelli-penned film tells the pseudo-real life story of pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), who is tapped by the CIA and, eventually, the Pablo Escobar drug cartel, to run product between the U.S. and Nicaragua in the early 1980s.

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The film weaves the conspiratorial story of excess and escalating stakes through Cruise’s charming persona, which feels Continue reading American Made (2017) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Brad’s Status (2017) Movie Review

All of Brad’s (Ben Stiller) friends from college went on to do great things. Craig (Michael Sheen) has created a television career out of his time working in the White House. Billy (Jemaine Clement) sold his company and retired by 40. Jason (Luke Wilson) manages a hedge fund. Nick (Mike White, who also directs) is living it up the Los Angeles way as a Hollywood director. Brad, well…he runs a non-profit.

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Now that Brad’s son Troy (Austin Abrams) is looking forward to college, Brad is faced with Continue reading Brad’s Status (2017) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews

The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966) Movie Review

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s film The Hawks and the Sparrows begins in one of the most extravagant and astounding ways possible: with the opening credits being song triumphantly by singer Domenico Modugno. The film is a religio-political comedy, but this opening song sets it up, quite tongue-in-cheek, as a travel epic.

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The film follows a father (played by famed clown Toto) and his son (Ninetto Davoli), who are laborers on their family farm. The film immediately feels like a sibling film to Pasolini’s Accattone, as both contemplate Continue reading The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

I Stand Alone (1998) Movie Review

This review of Gaspar Noe’s I Stand Alone is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Rage is a palpable force in I Stand Alone, the first feature film from Gaspar Noe. It is a rage against French society. Philippe Nahon’s The Butcher displaces this rage, his inner monologue tearing apart anyone in his path. What results is a protagonist that comes off as sexist, racist, homophobic, and overall nihilistic.

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But The Butcher is also a sad man. All he wants is to Continue reading I Stand Alone (1998) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Indie Films, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Romance (1999) Movie Review

This review of Catherine Breillat’s Romance is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

“You don’t deserve my faithfulness”

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The complicated sexuality of Romance is problematic. Not entirely so, as the film explores a side of sexuality that is often left unexplored. But the screenplay reduces sexual philosophy to a binary matter. Even when the shoe is on the opposite foot, entering the perspective of Continue reading Romance (1999) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) Movie Review

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is, like its predecessor Kingsman: The Secret Service, a violence-obsessed take on the James Bond formula. In the same Bond vein, the plot revolves around a megalomaniac’s scheme to decimate the world population and the spies who follow the convoluted path to stop the evil plan in time.

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The evil plan involves the chipper and sociopathic leader of a drug cartel (Julianne Moore) whose latest batch of drugs infects its users with Continue reading Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Horror, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) Movie Review

“The bourgeoisie has never hesitated to kill its children”

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As drenched in infamy as it is, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final film Salo remains a dedicated feature of film criticism, with articles written to this day about the film’s place in the canon of cinema.

Quite possibly the most debauched film in history, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, is a narrative of Continue reading Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

First They Killed My Father (2017) Movie Review

First They Killed My Father opens in the most blatant, contrived way possible: with a montage of political heads that include Richard Nixon discussing broken foreign relations while the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil” plays over the top.

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What this montage does is set the period and the atmosphere. It is 1975; we are in Cambodia at the onset of the Khmer Rouge. The anti-Western mindset used as a means of oppression, director Angelina Jolie nevertheless reminds us that Continue reading First They Killed My Father (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

American Assassin (2017) Movie Review

American Assassin opens on Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien), our handsome action hero, proposing to his girlfriend (Charlotte Vega) on a beach in Spain. Because we need Rapp to become a grizzled action hero with a chip on his shoulder, decked out in a scraggly beard so that we know he’s in grief, his girlfriend has to die in a random act of violence.

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Enter the CIA in the form of the dueling ideologies of Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) and Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). They recruit Rapp in an elite anti-terrorism unit, a unit so cutthroat that it Continue reading American Assassin (2017) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Frontier(s) (2008) Movie Review

This review of Xavier Gens’ Frontier(s) is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Xavier Gens’ Frontier(s) begins similarly to Mathieu Kassovitz’ 1995 drama La Haine. Both begin by mixing real and documentary footage of riots in the streets of France. In both cases they are riots over an intense distrust of the government. For Frontier(s) it is a distrust over a newly elected right-wing government.

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In a way, it feels like Gens is trying to pick up where Kassovitz left off, beginning with an Continue reading Frontier(s) (2008) Movie Review →