NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS. To me, rural Pennsylvania has never seemed especially welcoming, even on its best day. And slushy winter, 17, pregnant and getting catcalled while trying to perform in the high school talent show is nobody’s best day. Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) may not know she’s pregnant when we meet her but she’s having […]
The Miniplex
Posted inArts + Scene
Dirty Jobs
THE ASSISTANT. Jane (Julia Garner) is often just trying to eat. Arriving at the office in the dismal Manhattan pre-dawn, she finally gets a second to wolf down a bowl of Froot Loops when her menacing, unseen boss arrives, curtailing her would-be breakfast. Later, when she brings lunch for herself and her male deskmates (because […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Trouble Man
JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE. A friend at work turned to me yesterday, unprompted, and said “Well, are you ready to become a martyr in the second American revolution?” He asked half in jest but my inability to answer immediately still troubles me. Even as protests for racial justice and against sanctioned murder by police continue […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Resourceful People
7500. In the first review I ever published in this vaunted publication — years before the collapse — I wrote of Shia LaBeouf that I would “rather watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt make a sandwich or pick up his dry cleaning.” The intervening years (or decades or centuries) have softened both my rhetoric and my feelings about […]
Posted inArts + Scene
An Eye on the Competition
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA. Sometimes — almost always, these days — comedy feels like the only chance we’ve got. Not as escapism, really, but as a reminder that having feelings doesn’t necessarily mean always feeling bad and a chance to briefly dispel the cloud of fatalism that can so frequently block […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Hail to the King
THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND. Nobody could accuse me of being on trend or up on what the kids are into. But even I know Pete Davidson is a pop-cultural big deal and I don’t get it. To clarify, I enjoy his work: He’s brought an irreverence and unexpectedly insightful point of view to Saturday […]
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The Things They Buried
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. […]
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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 […]