DA 5 BLOODS. I have long been fascinated by the American War in Vietnam. This is partly due to having cut my teeth on the bombastic, irresponsible, large-scale action movies of the 1980s, an era in American cinema when exaggerated male physicality and unconscionable, grotesque violence displaced thoughtful examination of the true wages of war. […]
Fortuna Theatre
Posted inArts + Scene
Nothing in the Vault
CAPONE. From what I gather, Josh Trank had big plans from the beginning: to spring forth fully formed and become a big-budget big deal, a Director of Note. Given only Chronicle (2012), his big-screen debut — co-written by then-prolific, now-canceled Max Landis — I’d have given pretty good odds that he might pull it off. […]
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Dirty Magazines and Antiquarian Books vs the Internet
CIRCUS OF BOOKS. Even owning a prominent gay-porn bookstore and social hub is, at the end of the day, just a job. So goes one object lesson from Rachel Mason’s charming, heartfelt documentary Circus of Books. And she would know: Her decidedly unassuming parents Karen and Barry owned and operated the titular shop for more […]
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In it Together
THE LOVEBIRDS. There’s a lot to unpack here, both in terms of the movie itself and pandemic-related shifts in the industry. I’ll briefly address the latter before belaboring the former. Paramount had The Lovebirds slated for theatrical release — granted, April isn’t exactly prestige season but still — and, facing the current closure and future […]
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Southern Noir
ARKANSAS. Clark Duke first registered on my radar in 2010, when Kick-Ass and Hot Tub Time Machine were released (both classics, incidentally). With his self-aware charm, wry delivery and beyond-adroit comic timing, he stood out in every scene. While he’s worked consistently in the decade since, he’s never had the breakout role I think he […]
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Crip Camp and the Possibility of Revolution
In its ongoing re-creation and refinement of the history of movie production and distribution, Netflix has leaned heavily on documentaries. Especially in the early days, when nine-figure budgets and international auteur credits were just gleams in Ted Sarandos’ eye, the company could use the genre — as a rule less expensive to produce and arguably […]
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Men on the Rebound
Reviews THE WAY BACK. A friend asked, after initially mistaking it for The Way Way Back (2013), if this is “that remake of Hoosiers.” It’s neither but fair enough for asking. The title doesn’t give us much to go on and the story of a hard-luck high school basketball coach bringing together a group of […]
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Modern Monsters
Reviews THE INVISIBLE MAN. When news filtered down that Universal Pictures had big plans to reach back into its rich history and recast itself as the home of the monsters, complete with an MCU-paralleling Dark Universe franchise, I got a little excited. I grew up checking out the Crestwood House monster books from the elementary […]
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The Power to Disappoint
Reviews The inverse of the formidable power of movies to surprise, vex, confound, titillate and excite us lies in their capacity to disappoint. We know enough about the tricks, the history, genre and all the rest to have arrived at expectations. We have seen what can be done on the big screen and know what […]
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Love and Disaster
Reviews THE PHOTOGRAPH. The story is based on love and romance, as its Feb. 14 release date might suggest, but The Photograph, written and directed by Stella Meghie, takes a typical love story and helps it grow into so many more meaningful ideas about love and relationships than just romance or lust. The film illustrates […]
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Squad Goals
Reviews HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY. Gratitude is … a good thing, right? Of course it is. And we should probably count ourselves grateful. Because even as the facade of American democracy continues to crumble, as we trudge ever closer toward totalitarianism, destitution and disarray, as winter drags on and tyrants grow more empowered and […]
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Babes inthe Wood
Reviews GRETEL AND HANSEL. There is much to be mined in Western fairy tales but few are as adaptable to horror as Hansel and Gretel as set down by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, with the shunned children falling prey to a cannibalistic witch. In the end, Hansel’s cleverness only goes so far and it’s […]