Vague Visages Writers’ Room: Weekend Vibes 2.16.18
Weekend Vibes is a Friday column about streaming recommendations, new release hype and entertainment events.
The Work: FEUD ‘You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?’ (Recap)
“I think ‘Feud’ believes we should take another look, turn on another spotlight or two (or three, or four) and see people beyond the work… for all the things they are.”
It Was Never Enough: FEUD ‘Abandoned‘ (Recap)
“‘Feud’ may not be the most honest depiction of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis as human beings, but it provides an authentic depiction of the way it feels to be a woman trapped in a system that isn’t made for them or by them.”
The Sweet Smell of Rot: FEUD ‘Hagsploitation’ (Recap)
“At its best, ‘Feud’ seeks to prove, and admirably so, that trash — as John Waters and William Castle can attest — is hardly the worst thing one can be.”
I Didn’t See That She Was There: FEUD ‘And the Winner is… (The Oscars of 1963)’ (Recap)
“While men may act as puppeteers — pulling all the strings, setting women up for failure — it is the women themselves who commit the most petty and egregious acts of terror.”
Right Hand Ladies: FEUD ‘More, or Less’ (Recap)
“The American Dream is alive and well in ‘Feud,’ though it may be buried deep below the surface of in-fighting, old rules and men that can’t see the tide rolling in.”
Supporting Actress: FEUD ‘Mommie Dearest’ (Recap)
“Bette, Joan, the children, Victor… we all have a mother. And whether we like her or not, she has a part of us.”
Horror’s the Future: FEUD ‘The Other Woman’ (Recap)
“‘Feud’ seems to be driven as much by male insecurity and fear of failure as it does anything to do with the women.”
Ryan Coogler and Black Intimacy
“Breaking the mold and raising his cinematic voice by embedding black intimacy in his movies, Coogler, in Creed and Fruitvale Station, uses mothers, girlfriends, children, squads of friends and Michael B. Jordan to create community.”
Berlinale 2016 Review: Robert Greene’s ‘Kate Plays Christine’
“Kate Plays Christine finds itself at the at intersection of reality and performance art, but no matter how fabricated the precursor, the emotional core remains intact and exceptionally powerful.”
We Are Kardashians: American Crime Story ‘The Dream Team’ (Recap)
“Throughout the first three episodes, the writers appear to be struggling with the question of how funny it is to riff on the Kardashians’ eventual reality fame, and the opening of “The Dream Team” finds American Crime Story deciding, dubiously, that it’s hilarious.”
Two Drink Minimum: ‘Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado’ (Netflix)
“Buress, typically non-confrontational, slips his subversive humor in slyly, a submarine beneath an inky sea.”
Recap: Vinyl ‘Pilot’
“Trying to divine the future of a series from its pilot is a fool’s errand, and even more so when so much of the show’s appeal as yet rests in the ‘in nomini patris, et filis, et cinema sancta amen’ passion of its director, the cinema’s most charismatic priest.”
Berlinale 2016: Jeff Nichols’ ‘Midnight Special’ – A Refreshingly Familiar Sci-Fi Adventure
“Midnight Special has an emotional core compelling enough to draw in massive crowds of cinemagoers, a sci-fi grandeur showy enough to pull in the Marvel/DC crowd (is there a still a DC crowd?), and a visual acuity worthy of the interest of even the most hardened cinephiles.”
Chilean Cinema 2015: We Are What We Are by Jaime Grijalba
Chilean writer Jaime Grijalba ranks the 2015 theatrical releases of his country.
The Dueling Cavalier: Truth and Cinéma Vérité in ‘Serial’ and ‘Making a Murderer’
“In forgoing vérité techniques, Ricciardi and Demos make their show more compelling as entertainment and less convincing as a thorough and honest investigation of a criminal case.”
Review: Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s ‘Mustang’
“A film full of warmth and dread in equal measure, Mustang serves as a reminder of the power of siblinghood in the face of adversity.”
Review: Tobias Lindholm’s ‘A War’
“More than a simple condemnation of war, of which there are plenty, A War seeks to deliver a thorough examination of human behavior.”
Review: Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘Youth’
“Akin to a melody that resonates in your mind in a continual loop of madness and pleasure, Youth is a not-so-easily eradicable experience.”
Jordan Brooks’ Top 10 Feature Films and Top 5 Documentaries of 2015
Jordan Brooks (@viewtoaqueue) is an increasingly-snobby cinefile based out of London, England. As a contributor to several online publications, including his own blog, he has succeeded in fulfilling his life long dream of imposing strong opinions on others.