CAUGHT STEALING. For a quarter century (give or take) Darren Aronofsky has had me chasing the dragon of what he can do. The challenge inherent in this, of course, is that the thing I want him to do, what I see as his high-water mark, rarely coincides with what he wants to do. Requiem for […]
Minor Theatre
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Music Tonight: Saturday, Aug. 30
Local beach-pop vibe merchants and purveyors of tunes retooled from the age of eight-track stereos in shag carpeted boogie vans, The California Poppies are finally ready to present their concert film The Holy Rainbow at the Minor Theatre, its place of conception two years ago. The Poppies will be joined by director Griffin Loch for […]
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Greed and Getaways
RELAY. A hundred years ago, in 2016, David Mackenzie directed Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay Hell or High Water. That story, set against and amongst the devastation wrought by the 2008 collapse of the criminally exploitative American mortgage securities racket, is about individual desperation in the face of remorseless corporate greed. It is also a thrilling heist/pursuit […]
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Night Always Comes
NIGHT ALWAYS COMES. Since 2007, Willy Vlautin has been publishing novels about the new American West, which means he specializes in stories about life at the end of empire, lives lived in the absence of opportunity and the presence of addiction, poverty and the occasional fleeting opportunity. The books draw a taut line between Reno […]
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The Dreamy Terror of Weapons
WEAPONS. There is a moment in the highly anticipated horror movie Weapons when Josh Brolin, playing a distraught father asleep in the bedroom of his missing son, wanders in a weird, mysterious dream that claws at his grief and ends with a grotesque shock that jolts him awake. Scrambling at the covers, he shouts, “What […]
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Happy Again
HAPPY GILMORE 2. One of the many pitfalls inherent in what the movie-internet has queasily dubbed “legasequels” (we’ll plumb that odious cave another time), is that they must, by their very nature, provide fan-service while also reflecting, or at least acknowledging, the fact that time may have left those fans behind. At the very least, […]
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The Superman of Our Time
SUPERMAN. As a kid, I imprinted on Christopher Reeve’s Superman like a baby chick. And when, in my 20s, I saw him in a trench coat on a Metro North train, tossing a patient if perfunctory grin at a drunk shouting, “Superman!” across the car, my attachment felt vindicated. Whether David Corenswet carries the mantle […]
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Cronenberg in The Shrouds
THE SHROUDS. It’s a fascinating thing, having spent the better part of a lifetime with the work of revered artists, to watch them age in the weird, liminal space of their output. In the past, they would often end up back at the bottom tier of an industry that no longer had a use for […]
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Back in the Fight for The Old Guard 2
THE OLD GUARD 2. Recent rewatching of 1980s American action movies (don’t judge me — we all have demons) had reminded me how little we moviegoers once expected. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bulk (sub-Marvel on today’s market) and enough uninterrupted gunfire to become its own variety of white noise was enough for action movie fans to give […]
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F1 and the Artful Blockbuster
F1: THE MOVIE. All (well, most) of my constant pearl-clutching, tooth-gnashing lamentation at the state of American cinema comes from a place of love. I’m a generational relic, but surely not alone in experiencing many of my transcendent moments and epiphanic revelations while knelt at the altar. This abiding affection is tempered by reticence and […]
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28 Years Later‘s Resurrection
28 YEARS LATER. When he’s really cooking — which is frequently — Danny Boyle can be one of the most engaging, adventurous directors in the business. Trainspotting (1996), only his second feature, changed the lives of a generation of us with its boundless energy, convention-shattering camerawork and an absolute banger of a soundtrack. Ever since, […]
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Swagger to Burn
Let’s talk about swagger, that combination of confidence and charisma that enables some people to move through the world in a way that lesser mortals envy and sometimes try to emulate through posturing or preening. The difference, particularly in straight men, shows in how they move their bodies. An insecure man leads with his chest. […]