The Vessel is more plot-heavy than any of Malick’s recent films, but it is also concerned with “spiritual” matters, deeply rooted in a “real” context, sprinkled over with narration, and shot in that now-characteristic floating steady-cam style making use of natural light.
Wood and her crew have crafted a modern fairy tale that manages to weave together complex social themes into a world where each moment constantly resets perceptions. Wood isn’t misanthropic. In fact, she clearly has compassion and empathy for every one of these characters.
The question becomes, then, is this a story this generation needs to hear? Is the story worth retelling? To me, a story about retributive justice seems out of place today, or it should. At the very least it’s calloused, in light of the world we actually live in.
Between the multiple shots of a plane burning and crashing into buildings and the skyline views of New York City, Eastwood likely intends to evoke the horrors of 9/11. There are several scenes where New York citizens, petrified and mouths agape, witness the plane descend toward the Hudson.
Kubo and the Two Strings is an innovative, original, imaginative, hand-crafted (literally), morally-compelling film with a narrative arc that is truly redemptive in the theologically-rich, Christian sense of the word.
I enjoyed Don’t Think Twice, and I’m surprised to say that, because I don’t typically like movies in which personal ambition and innate competency are key themes. Imposter Syndrome is real, and I don’t like seeing it fictional characters any more than I like seeing it in the mirror staring back at me.
The difference between Lo and Behold and Herzog’s earlier works is so great that I wonder how seriously to take him. These people enthuse about sending a colony to Mars and robots playing soccer, but maybe Herzog intends to make fun of them?
Greater certainly tries to baptize its kind of faith in the Christian faith. I mean that literally – an opening scene in the film shows Brandon being baptized; his most prized possession is his copy of Pilgrim’s Progress; “I’ll Fly Away” dominates the soundtrack.
Southside With You is a gently fictionalized recounting of Michelle and Barack Obama’s first date back in 1989 when they were working together for the summer at a Chicago law firm. She was a junior associate. He was an intern from Harvard. They walk and talk and fall in love.
Westward Expansion has long since ended. Now we’re facing Western Recession.
Under the Shadow is pregnant with thematic material. It touches on women’s struggles to form identities in Iran, the special horror of a never-ending war, the place of traditions in contemporary society, and what obligations, if any, neighbors have to one another. But the film is only pregnant with these themes. It never births them fully.
Suicide Squad does give us a story of a very diverse group of people whose lives do not orbit around doing bad and getting caught by the “good” guy.
The United States government is up to their old tricks (again) crafting black ops programs. When Bourne blips on their omnipresent screens, they get worried, thinking he’s out to expose them (again), so they try to chase him down and catch or kill him (again).
Could you do worse at the theater this weekend? Absolutely. The Legend of Tarzan doesn’t treat you as if you are stupid.
De Palma comes off as a natural conversation full of humor, pathos, poignancy, and introspection. It’s no doubt that just listening to the man speak would’ve been intriguing enough – there’s a sincere homeliness about him that screams “grandpa” over “primo voyeur of the 20th century.”
The BFG is a perfect summer movie, because rather than blasting our ear drums with surround sound explosions and blinding our eyes with lens flares, it invites us to slow down, breathe, and hear and see the simple, old magic all around us in the simple, old creation God made many, many years ago.
The Alchemist Cookbook captures the fear of a slow mental breakdown in its negative space. Paranoia is peppered throughout, pressing down upon Sean from every which way. The horror of the unknown and a lurking evil (which here is very real) soaks the brown-leaved frames with dread.
The whole film leans on and into Kate. As she presses into Christine’s life, Christine seems to press into her. The film finds its rhythms in its lead actress, and as Kate succumbs to the character she’s to play, she’s like an apparition that looms over the town which seems to have forgotten Christine.
Finding Dory is honest about this aspect of mental illness as well. The film is as much about learning to value the unique gifts of “broken” members of communities as it is about the importance of family.
The core longing of the film is that Sunny would find a respite from whatever strange place she’s come from. She is clearly a victim of some sort of abuse, be it emotionally, physically, or sexually, or possibly all three. So she finds solace in imagining life with another, with one who may need her
Popstar’s satire is relevent and biting, while still being downright silly. It functions as a cohesive collection of everything The Lonely Island has done to this point, while also demonstrating a new maturation into smart cultural satire that may mean a bright future for this trio.