Reviews THE MUSTANG. Hope isn’t the word for it, really, but then one should hardly go looking for hope in a prison movie. (Sorry, Shawshank fans). But The Mustang, the feature debut from Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, contains notes of such delicacy and authenticity, setting connection and kindness against the cruelty and debasement of captivity, that […]
John J. Bennett
Posted inArts + Scene
Little Devils
Reviews HELLBOY. Sometimes one wants simply to be entertained: to sit in a dark room and be distracted — transported, ideally, but that’s asking a lot — by a fantastical world of someone else’s imagining. I found myself in that mood this past weekend and thought Hellboy might do the job. Now I’ll roll out […]
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The Ups and Downs of Supernatural Pet Ownership
Reviews PET SEMATARY. I started reading Stephen King, well, probably too young. The phase receded in early-mid adolescence, although I have, as recently as this year, begun to revisit his books at this late stage. I continue to enjoy the force of his imagination, the breadth (perhaps more than the depth) of his storytelling, his […]
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Life On the Road
Reviews THE DIRT. Mötley Crüe has never been my thing; never been a “thing” at all for me, really. There’s a bit of a generational discrepancy and by the time I was selecting my own records to play, I was already well down a path that didn’t lead to hair-metal. (I’ll admit to a brief […]
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Us Doubles Down
Reviews US. With the din of the unmitigated success of Get Out (2017) — including multiple Academy Award nominations and a win for best original screenplay — barely receding, talk must turn to writer/director Jordan Peele’s follow-up. He has been credited, not unfairly, with redefining the horror genre. How will he do it again? A […]
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Lonely Hunters
Reviews GRETA. Back, back into the distant, dusty past, the long ago of the 1990s, when the second wave of New Hollywood cinema was peaking, Neil Jordan rose to prominence — notoriety? — for revealing (26-year-old spoiler alert) a penis where people weren’t expecting it in The Crying Game (1992). Jordan had been making movies […]
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Scrapping Alita
Reviews ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL. Well, shit. As I sit quietly with the fortunately fading memory of this movie, I am faced with dilemma: Did I even try to want to like it? Did I sacrifice that crucial tenet to preconceived notions, early onset joylessness and dismay at copycat world-building? As one might already have gleaned, […]
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Frozen Out
Reviews COLD PURSUIT. Unlike the mess Liam Neeson has made talking about his racist past while promoting Cold Pursuit, there really isn’t anything in the movie itself to be upset about, I suppose. On balance, this is an amusing enough way to dispose of a couple of hours: a competent, if unremarkable, action movie that at least […]
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Destroyer and Velvet Buzzsaw
Reviews DESTROYER. Few, I think, would fault Nicole Kidman for taking a break once in a while, resting on her laurels, even, after working at breakneck speed for 35 years, usually appearing in at least two movies a year. Instead, she continues to work and challenge herself, increasingly taking on roles that challenge the audience’s […]
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Classic Revival
Reviews STAN & OLLIE. Chefs, even impassioned eaters, will often credit their grandmothers with the inspiration to pursue their passion. I only got to know my paternal grandmother; she wasn’t much of a cook. She was, however, a devout comedy acolyte eager to share the tenets of her beliefs. And so my younger brother and […]
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Survival Strategies
Reviews THE FAVOURITE. Lanthimos is a writer and director of comedies not for the faint of heart. He makes movies I find hilarious; others seem to come away despondent at their misanthropy and absurdity. Some might call what he does psychological horror. But to me, the critical distinction lies in his emphasis on humor as […]
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Causes Noble and Lost
Reviews REPLICAS. It’s been awhile since I’ve done this so I hope I can be forgiven for a degree of indelicacy, as the muscles may have atrophied: This movie sucks. And not in a guilty-pleasure way or in a so-bad-it’s-good way, or even as the basis of a drinking game. Rather, it consists of a […]