Who Was That Masked Man: ‘The Mandalorian’ and Westerns
“A lot can be said about the aesthetics of ‘The Mandalorian’ as they relate to Westerns, but even more so can be said of the thematic elements that comprise the new series.”
Karyn Kusama’s ‘Destroyer’: The Question of Identity
“Kusama skillfully reinterprets the stylistics of classic film noir — mannered lighting, unusual camera angles and a bleak, existential tone — to explore the genre’s timeless and heady themes: obsession, loneliness, guilt and (most of all) identity…”
Review: Ruben Fleischer’s ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’
“Despite the warmed-up leftovers, ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’ manages to locate a few bright spots, and none are more appealing than Zoey Deutch.”
Review: Henry Alex Rubin’s ‘Semper Fi’
“‘Semper Fi’ leans heavily on male codes of honor — a la HBO’s ‘The Wire’ or Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’ — but doesn’t fully explore the motivations for the primary players, a group of Marines trying to re-acclimate to life in upstate New York. As a result, the final act suffers.”
One Country’s Trash: Enzo G. Castellari and Exploitation
“Exploitation filmmakers like Castellari treat other films like air just waiting to be breathed in. Theft, plagiarism, remix, citation, reference — to these exploiters, they are all the same thing. Everything, these films suggest, belongs to all of us.”
TIFF 2019 Review: James Mangold’s ‘Ford v Ferrari’ Provides an Old-School Adult Drama
“Nothing about ‘Ford v Ferrari’ reeks of studio interference, perhaps owing to the fact that the script hews so closely to screenwriting conventions that worked well for decades.”
Hate and War: Michael Cimino’s ‘Year of the Dragon’
“‘Year of the Dragon’ offers little comfort, and when it does, Cimino heavily suggests its victories are hollow and insincere. It is a dark-mirror exercise in genre fragmentation that shatters the vigilante cop thriller into thousands of pieces and lays its ugliest instincts frighteningly bare.”
‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ Is Far from Amazing
“‘Spider-Man: Far from Home’ is a sophomoric attempt to capture the visual flair and look of the old comics; Watts fails to capture the bite and necessary substance.”
‘Batman’ at 30: An Iconic Adventure Film That Reinvigorated the Superhero Genre
“Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy has become THE Batman interpretation, heralded for its gritty realism. But in my book, ‘Batman’ is the better comicbook movie.”
Once Upon a Time in Tarantinoland: ‘Kill Bill’ Is a Visually Explosive Love Letter to Cinema
“All in all, ‘the 4th film by Quentin Tarantino’ is a wild, eclectic action movie with visual flair, great performances and personality up the wazoo.”