Category: Reviews
Everything a superhero sequel wants to be: channeling all the greatness of its predecessor, intensifying its best features while jettisoning the rest, and thoughtfully deepening its characters and themes. Osborn’s maniacal, would-be father figure is replaced by Octavius’s tragic, former father figure (and Raimi and Molina indulgently ramp up the classic monster movie characterization to […]
A feminist epic sprawling in not only its (stunning) visuals but (thought-provoking) morals too!
The only redeeming moments are the beautiful opening flashback sequence (and the delightful surprise appearance by Robin Wright), the tender moment between Steve and Diana during the fireworks, and the two scenes in which Diana masters the ability of flight, both of which put a huge grin on my face. Otherwise, this is a sad step down from its thoughtful predecessor.
“Desperately Seeking Susan” is a frenetic, scatterbrained, screwball comedy that features a charming journey of self-discovery, a hilarious case of missing identity, two engrossing lead performances, a seriously creepy stalker antagonist, some feminist empowerment undertones, dynamic directing that always serves character, and a dedication to expressing characters’ inner lives through some delightfully imaginative costuming, makeup, and lighting.
“All Star Superman” is fundamentally a story about death, morbidity, and parasitism but at the end of the day it’s also a resounding call for hope, optimism, and gratitude. It’s a grim storyline but by focusing on Superman, the most anti-grim character of all, the movie feels anything but. “All Star Superman” realizes the genre-defining promise of *aspirational storytelling* in a uniquely poetic way, depicting Superman’s most super feats as all within the grasp of ordinary humans.
Inexhaustibly entertaining in its wit, charm, and craft. To Carroll’s carnival of language, Disney adds a carnival of sight and sound. What results is a carnival for the imagination; a whirling dream of delightfully bizarre images, sounds, and characters.
“Wonder Woman: Bloodlines” somewhat struggles to balance its delightful amalgamation of characters and plot threads, which includes the interesting decision to tell Wonder Woman’s origin in a modern context along with introducing and establishing multiple supporting heroes.
“A Serious Man” is something of an under-appreciated masterpiece. The Coens come as close as they ever have to autobiography with a story about a Jewish family living in 1960s suburban America. The Coens specifically set the Gopnik’s in their hometown St. Louis Park, Minnesota and include an older sister and numbers-focused professor father (replacing economics with physics) like they had. By partly rooting this movie in their experiences, the Coens gave it a more grounded feeling, but never at the cost of what Roger Ebert called “hallucinatory logic” in the context of The Big Lebowski.
“Stranger than Fiction” combines the high-concept rom-com existentialism of Groundhog Day and the meta-textual postmodernism of Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation to create an unpredictable, quirky, and self-aware fable about the tension between the human desire to live each day of life to its fullest and the simultaneous human tendency to narrativize each day of life into some Life Story.
Outrageously funny and surprisingly insightful, this coming-of-age dramedy is a scathing satire of religion, in particular Christianity of the Catholic flavor and its puritanical norms surrounding sex, but without ever being hateful, preachy, or dishonest.
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