BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE. I was prepared to blame prevailing global conditions as much as my own skepticism for sleeping on Bad Boys for Life (2020) as long as I did. In sitting to revisit the franchise and attempt to organize my thoughts about it, though, I discovered that I could not, in fact, […]
John J. Bennett
Posted inArts + Scene
Trouble with the Kids
BABES. Despite the inescapable fact that pregnancy, birth and its alternatives have touched literally all of us, the subject has been largely shunted to the margins of contemporary cinema. As recently as the first decade of this strange, lamentable century, a “will they or won’t they” dramedy about a birth control mishap would not be […]
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Apocalypse at the Movie-plex
FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA. A friend — and greater cineaste than I — having very recently watched and enjoyed Furiosa, conveyed to me his abiding concerns for the future of cinema. And, if we are to trust the recent, ubiquitous reports of box office “failure,” his fears could be justified. But, as likewise pertains […]
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Youthful Escapades
Attentive readers will note the conspicuous omission of this weekend’s new releases from this column; fair enough and an explanation may be in order. First and most importantly, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black looks pretty bad. I hope I’m wrong and it is actually a delicately crafted, insightful examination of a troubled, […]
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Rocky Evolutions
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. It’s been a while since the most recent installment in this, the ongoing pre-history of the Apes saga. That movie, War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), took us on a self-aware journey into the heart of darkness, complete with Woody Harrelson doing his best Colonel Kurtz. […]
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Challengers Rises to the Challenge
CHALLENGERS. Although never a proper tennis fan, I would, in my younger, dumber years, have considered myself something of a casual appreciator. As country kids, old tennis rackets were useful indeed for seeing how high into the air one could drive small rocks. And a case of tennis balls might as well have been a […]
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Team Efforts
THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE. When they’re really cooking, Guy Ritchie movies can deliver a thrilling, funny, well-appointed (if slightly vapid) pastiche of Brit-crime in a heightened, mid-century American vein. That he has produced more (artistic) misses than hits is perhaps a function of over-productivity or the demands of a myopic market place. Fortunately, it’s […]
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Civil War‘s Victory
CIVIL WAR. I would never call myself a science fiction head, as much for fear of reprisals from within the community as for the sake of accuracy. When the genre works, though, it can deliver vivid, exciting, not-so-thinly veiled commentary on the triumphs and tragedies of humanity as we have known it. Properly executed, it […]
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Devils and Do-Overs
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. After a brief, pleasantly surprising period of infatuation with modern, low-budget horror, my enthusiasm precipitously — maybe inevitably — declined. But as it has been, so shall it ever be, and the “breakthrough,” every few decades or so, of a group of inspired, well-executed movies will typically be followed in […]
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Love Lies Bleeding‘s Genre Breakthrough
LOVE LIES BLEEDING. One might not have suspected there was room to develop new sub-genres within film noir, much less imagined that hyper-stylized, ultra-violent, Southwestern lesbian romance bodybuilding revenge noir could prove such a fertile and vibrant one. This lack of vision is forgivable, both because almost nobody could have foreseen this development and because […]
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Oscar Worthy
So as not to be accused of bad faith arguments, a disclosure: I did not watch the 2024 Academy Awards presentation ceremony. In fact, I don’t think I have watched the thing in over a decade. This year, I second-screened — I know modern things! — while I prepared meals and watched Cocktail (1988) on […]
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Spectacle and Substance in Dune: Part Two
DUNE: PART TWO. Looking back, it seems almost egregious not to have reviewed Dune (2021) at greater length upon its release. But then I remind myself that we live in genuinely crazy times and the times of two and a half years ago were maybe even crazier. Late 2021 was a brief era of momentary […]