Equal parts navel-gazing and likely revisionist history, the whole thing just feels hollow. Like the concept of a literary bar itself, it all feels forced.
All tagged 2 Stars
Crashing - Waves
His films are able to wick the emotion out of their stories and put them right there on the surface. Whether or not you enjoy that sort of nakedly affecting filmmaking feels entirely subjective. But what is not subjective is that this could have been more.
The King Is Dead - The Lion King
If you are going to remake a nearly perfect film, make sure it is not a craven carbon copy. Infuse it with new ideas or daring angles. At least then, even if your movie is not revolutionary, no one can say it is what 2019’s The Lion King winds up being—boring.
So-So - Ma
There were racial dynamics, class dynamics and so many other social strata right there to be considered, but the movie saunters past them as if blindfolded. The result is a movie that feels like it decided it was going to fail even before cameras started rolling.
It Almost Gets In - The Intruder
What is most interesting is how close the film comes to horror in its third act. It is as intense as any full-fledged horror film you are likely to see this year. They turn the suspense up to 11 and then rip off the knob.
Cracked, But Not Broken - Glass
This is not “Good Shyamalan.” It is well below The Sixth Sense and not on par with Unbreakable and Split either. Instead, it’s a barely worthwhile attempt to extend the universe he created in its predecessors. But it’s interesting.
Saturday Night Five (Out of Ten) - Vice
This is what stupid people think smart sounds like.
Little Bohemian, Little Rhapsody - Bohemian Rhapsody
The best way to describe what’s going on on-screen is a series of well-produced music videos with reenacted Wikipedia entries interspersed. The end result is part cheesy, part fluffy, part glossy nonsense.
Maybe If You Weren't The Worst - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
It is not a surprise that a movie could be so technically strong and so emotionally weak. But what is a surprise is that everything that’s wrong with the movie was wrong before the cameras started rolling. That is what I can’t forgive.
Fizz, With No Juice - Superfly
Choices made along the way leave us with a pretty unremarkable addition to this canon--unlikely to be remembered long after the Future-laden soundtrack is no longer in rotation.
Review: Girls Trip
Some combination of casting, acting and directing created the kind of warm friendships rarely captured on film.
Review: 13th
This feels like two films and neither is very good.
Review: The Birth Of A Nation
The Birth of a Nation is not some elevation of the form; nor is it a bastardization of it. It is instead an ambitious vanity project made without the skill necessary to really do the story justice.
Review: Blair Witch
While undoubtedly scary, nothing here is so inventive that it warrants raves.
Review: Jason Bourne
This is the Finding Dory of action movies--I can't remember why we wanted this, our main character can't remember anything and I hope we are finally done here.