As we (mostly) take collective faltering steps toward the precarious and ever-eroding notion of “normal,” with the world changing and remaining the same, and things making less sense the more we think about them, I’ve found myself retreating, for a couple of evenings, to some semblance of what was. It induced a not-unpleasant disconnectedness shot […]
John J. Bennett
Posted inArts + Scene
Funny Running into You
THUNDER FORCE. Melissa McCarthy had already established a significant CV as a character by the time I took notice. That was 2011, the movie was Bridesmaids (of course) and I doubt I was the sole latecomer to her fan club. She made an indelible impression as the irrepressible, sweetly unhinged Megan, standing out in a […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Rumbles, Riffs and Riders
GODZILLA VS. KONG. On the rarest of occasions, one receives an unexpected gift; something one would not have chosen for oneself, or even considered as a potential source of joy. Such, for me, was the arrival of Godzilla vs. Kong. We all knew it was coming and most were ready to receive it with adulation […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Shooting His Shot
BOOGIE. Eddie Huang remains always on his hustle. The child of a sometimes troubled but ultimately fruitful marriage of immigrant entrepreneurs (Chinese by way of Taiwan), he grew up in the restaurant business, went on to a successful academic career, became a lawyer, lost that gig, started a clothing line, allegedly sold weed, opened a […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Sound of Metal and the Weight of Oscars
I’ve dedicated a fair plot of real estate in this column to the idea that movie awards (and award shows) do not matter. For what it’s worth, I’ve wasted even more time thinking than writing about it. But, as I’ve prattled, American culture, the universe at-large and the sonofabitching third decade of the 21st century […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Battle Cries
CHERRY. Despite seeming to mostly keep himself to himself, Nico Walker is a pretty prominent media figure these days. He’s been profiled, albeit somewhat superficially, by some fancy outlets, married a poet with a splashy lifestyle (Rachel Rabbit White) and has had his first novel adapted into a big, noisy movie by some Avengers guys […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Lost in Transit
COMING 2 AMERICA. It probably seems a little silly — and probably is, actually — but I wanted and still want this movie to be great, important even. This won’t be the first time but it says something of my age/generation to say Coming to America (1988) was one of the formative pop-cultural experiences of […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Minari Flourishes Out of Season
MINARI. There was a time, in the ever receding past, when I was fascinated by and cared about awards, or at least the Academy Awards. I’ve since come to see them as a self-congratulatory popularity contest that frequently attempts to right the cultural and economic wrongs of its own capitalist enterprise with too-little and too-late […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Ruthless and Rootless
I CARE A LOT. There has been a movement afoot, particularly in the last 20 years or so, among creators and critics in advocacy of the unlikable protagonist. And it makes sense: From a storytelling standpoint, exploring the vague borders of personality in order to subvert the dominant hero/villain paradigm can be a deeply satisfying […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Tragedy of the Inside Man
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH. As the eternal shuffle-step march of our plague years continues, as dates lose significance and shocks remain unsurprising, it can sometimes feel as if nothing is normal but everything is mundane. This paradigm shift — or slide, or decay, whatever one prefers — is not without some benefits. I cannot […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Your Own Little World
BLISS. It is a conundrum as old as … people, I guess. Or at least dating back to the period when people had enough time to focus on something other than survival and their baser impulses. I refer to the question of the nature of reality itself, of perception and invention, the birth of philosophy, […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Digging Up the Past
A formidable intoxicant, nostalgia. Smoothing the rough edges of the past, it can also induce prejudice toward the future and obfuscate perceptions of the present. It reorders memory and, dependent upon mood and inclination, can alter the fundamental properties of things remembered. A pleasant, sticky trap, especially in times of stress and conflict, it must […]