Some twenty-eight years later, Kevin Smith has brought the characters of Randal and Dante back for a third movie. They now own the convenience store but look mostly the same. They still play hockey on the roof and still have signs up assuring you they’re open and asking to be alerted if you plan on shoplifting. Jay and Silent Bob are still hanging out in front of the video store (they run) but now they sell weed from it, with only slightly more legitimacy. The movie is, like a bag of Cheetos or a can of Red Bull or a lukewarm flauta, empty calories, unnecessary but completely comforting.
TIFF 2022: Bros and My Policeman take contrasting approaches to gay love stories
Brief reviews of films that made their debuts at the Toronto international film festival: Bros and My Policeman
See How They Run Fell Achingly Short of a Hit
A play within a film within a story within a farce, this whodunnit is a maze of silliness and murder. Set in London’s West End in the 50’s, Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap has just hit its 100th stage performance and a film deal is solidly in the works. It’s these actors, writers, directors and film folks that attend the post-performance party in appreciation for the milestone. Narrated in the words of the future film director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody) who is most hated by all guests in attendance and who also happens to be the victim, the scene is set for a murder most foul. Soon Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) are on the case and their investigation goes sideways, upside down, and backwards with bouts of insanity, slapstick, and confusing murder mystery shenanigans. In the end, we find ourselves at the Christie residence a la Clue as all are gathered to reveal the identity of the murderer.
TIFF 2022: The cinema of dedication with The Eternal Daughter and The Good Nurse
Brief reviews of three films that made their debuts at the Toronto international film festival: TIFF 2022: More Quick Dispatches from Toronto The Eternal Daughter, My Policeman, and The Good Nurse.
TIFF 2022: Quick Reactions from opening weekend in Toronto (Sidney, The Woman King, Butcher’s Crossing)
Quick reviews of Butcher’s Crossing, The Woman King, and Sidney.
Telluride 2022: Aftersun, Close, One Fine Morning
Three stories of loss and longing on the last days of the Telluride Film Festival: Aftersun, Close, and One Fine Morning
Telluride 2022: The Wonder, Bones and All
Two esteemed international directors brought stories of hunger and horror to the Telluride Film Festival in the form of a World Premiere for Sebastián Lelio’s gothic mystery The Wonder and a US premiere for Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal love story Bones and All
Telluride 2022: Empire of Light and Armageddon Time
The nineteen eighties were in the air at Telluride, with new films from Sam Mendes and James Gray revisiting a tumultuous year of personal histories in England and New York, respectively.
Telluride 2022: Women Talking, Icarus: the Aftermath, and Broker
The opening day of Telluride saw premieres of Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, Bryan Fogel’s sequel to Icarus, and Kore-eda’s Broker.
A megachurch navigates a crisis in Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
Adamma Ebo’s film about a disgraced prosperity gospel preacher (Sterling K. Brown) and the church’s stand-by-your man “First Lady” (Regina Hall) on the precipice of an Easter resurrection, it plays like satire. It has the conceits of a mockumentary, with its oblivious subjects still under the impression that they can reshape their image through force of will and the power of positive projection.