Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is getting a lot of acclaim and attention for being the first Marvel movie to be led by an overwhelmingly Asian cast. It’s quite cool and mostly lives up to all of that hype.
Telluride 2021: Encounter, Cyrano, the Rescue
The Telluride film festival returned yesterday, and aside from uploading proof of vaccination, providing a recent negative Covid-19 test result, and wearing masks inside, the biggest difference from recent years was that it started a day early (yay, more film!) and was marked by a series of drizzles and downpours. Every store in town was out of umbrellas and covered outdoor seating was at a premium.
Telluride is back: the SHOW goes on in 2021
After taking a year off for the pandemic, the Telluride film festival is back, in-person (during a pandemic) for 2021. Attendees are …
Candyman can scare the bejesus out of you, if you want it to
Set in the fast-gentrifying Chicago arts scene, this updated-for-2021 slasher/thriller wants you to know that it’s politics are righteous. If it provides a few thrillers, even better. Overall, I liked it, even if there were often times when the politics felt heavy-handed and took away from the scarier aspects of the thriller, even when I agree passionately with the points the filmmaker is making. Still, there was plenty of horror that came through clearly.
Together finally brings us a lockdown relationship dramedy worth our time
A snapshot of a couple in this time, captured naturally and told compellingly.
For a movie about memory, Reminiscence is certainly a memorable attempt (for better or worse) at blending science fiction with noir
An audacious directorial debut from Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy, Reminiscence drops Hugh Jackman into a science fiction-noir that is less hard boiled and more of a light simmer.
Nine Days contemplates the Great Before as the ultimate slow-burn reality competition.
So much of literature, cinema, and religion contemplate the afterlife. What happens to us when we die, where do we go, how are our lives judged? Less spiritual attention — at least in the west — is paid to how and why we get to be alive on this planet in the first place. Something must be in the air: just as Pixar’s holiday release Soul introduced The Great Before as the first episode in a trilogy ending with the Great Beyond, Edson Oda’s festival favorite Nine Days contemplates a process by which souls come to inhabit a life on Earth.
Somehow, Ryan Reynolds’s Action Comedy Free Guy Shows the Dark Side of Labor Exploitation in the Video Game Industry
If someone told me a year ago that a long-delayed movie with Ryan Reynolds as a non-player character (NPC) in a videogame would also grapple with the downright exploitative nature of the videogame industry, I would have said they were out of your mind.
A dark glimpse at wealth, the soul and climate change in Never Gonna Snow Again
The scene is set in a small gated community with perfectly manicured lawns, lavishly decorated living rooms and constantly roaming security guards on Segways. A young man, Zhenia (Alec Utgoff), convinces the powers that be that he should get a pass to work as a masseur within the high walls.
For Madmen Only pays tribute to the comedy legend that probably mentored your favorite comedians
I had never heard of Del Close before learning of this illuminating documentary about his life. Close was a comedic actor and writer, but he’s most known as one of the major authorities on improvisational comedy whose list of proteges is impressive and unparalleled. Clips of Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Robin Williams, among many of their peers, are shown praising Del Close. Bob Odenkirk, Tim Meadows, and Adam McKay are interviewed for the movie and they all have stories about the impact Close had on their lives. He’s probably responsible, at least indirectly, for a supermajority of times I’ve laughed in my life.