MEN. I first became aware of Alex Garland as a screenwriter in 2002, when 28 Days Later was released. Directed by Danny Boyle, that picture — not to be confused with the almost contemporaneous Sandra Bullock rehab comedy with a very similar title — delivered a new, kinetic perspective on the zombie/rage virus genre (yes, […]
John J. Bennett
Posted inArts + Scene
The Northman’s Ferocious Power
THE NORTHMAN. In hindsight, I should probably have been kinder to The Witch (2015). At the time, I damned it with faint praise, basically comparing it unfavorably to some of the cheekier arthouse horror movies of the moment. As I think I said then, this was due to shortsightedness on my part but also to […]
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Game Changers
The editor suggested, due to some fairly horrific recent events, that I keep this week’s selection light, perhaps write a column about comfort viewing. I may have met her halfway. There are certainly times when I seek out broad comedy to soothe my beleaguered psyche. As previously (repeatedly) mentioned, my wife and I spent the […]
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Meta Adventures
THE BUBBLE. It was almost — only? — two years ago that The King of Staten Island, Judd Apatow’s last feature, was released. It felt noteworthy because Apatow’s comedies are events (albeit minor ones for most) in and of themselves and because it was a starring role for Pete Davidson, the anointed one. But it […]
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Throwback Thrills
X. I’ve been a fan of Ti West’s work for longer than I care to remember. Sometime more a decade ago, I heard him interviewed and was intrigued enough by what I heard to explore his work. Back then, due to his relatively brief CV, the ubiquity of DVD rental and the lost, sought-after abundance […]
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Robot Love and Human Folly
AFTER YANG. Envisioning the future is a dicey prospect in the best of times; lately it seems borderline pointless/delusional. Global dissolution aside, committing to an imagined version of progress or the lack thereof is a risky artistic decision, and one that can (and usually will) be revealed as foolish, wrongheaded or stupid in short order. […]
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The Batman Back in the Mud
THE BATMAN. Despite the time, space and vitriol I’ve maybe/probably/definitely wasted bloviating about the state of movies in the shadow of the comic book-adaptation monolith, I’ve been a Batman shill for longer than I’d like to admit. Being of a certain age, I saw Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) in the theater with my parents and younger […]
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CODA‘s Music
CODA. Although my editor made not-so-veiled threats regarding The Sky is Everywhere — order must be maintained, after all — none were required to compel me to watch this, another emotionally charged exploration of teenage identity. Rather, it was the strange pressure of the impending Academy Awards which, as it does almost every year, makes […]
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A King Falls and theSky Collapses
THE KING’S MAN. As late as 2019 — which is when, if memory serves, the trailer for The King’s Man began to circulate — I could be frequently heard singing the praises of the Kingsman series. To that point, of course, only two movies had been released: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The […]
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Making it Look Easy
I WANT YOU BACK. Contrary to my frequent cantankerousness — contrarianism in all things! — I like romantic comedies (almost) as much as the next audience member. Despite their frothiness and sometime ubiquity, romantic comedies are charming by design, an opportunity for attractive people to occasionally act the fool and (if I’m feeling sentimental) find […]
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Del Toro and Scott for Gold
I’ve had occasion, these last 10 days or so, to do some catching up — obvious, probably inevitable reasons. Circumstances notwithstanding, this period of isolation has coincided nicely with a few notable movies from the last year finally migrating to streaming services. And so, in addition to watching all eight episodes of the lamentably, somehow […]
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On Television
I can’t speak for anyone else — well, maybe I can — but I’ve been watching a lot of television. For most of a lifetime, of course, but especially in, oh, the last two years or so, I’ve been hooked on the thing. By which I refer to episodic television, in case that distinction was […]