Today, I have a new post up at the blog for the excellent Partially Examined Life podcast. Here\’s a bit from the piece: In a radio interview with the BBC, Moonlight director Barry Jenkins attributed the movie’s overwhelmingly positive reception to the fact that it showed filmgoers something new. Crediting cowriter Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose …
\”Who is You?\”: Moonlight and the Social Scriptorium Read More »
Today, I have a new post up at the blog for the excellent Partially Examined Life podcast. Here\’s a bit from the piece: In a radio interview with the BBC, Moonlight director Barry Jenkins attributed the movie’s overwhelmingly positive reception to the fact that it showed filmgoers something new. Crediting cowriter Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose …
\”Who is You?\”: Moonlight and the Social Scriptorium Read More »
For a while now, I\’ve wanted to do something that would help Christians get a better sense of how to approach film and literature. I fear that the effects of the \”culture wars\” of the 80s still linger, and Christians too often think about movies as just tools of moral education or propaganda, and therefore …
For Film Inquiry, a look at the career of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 director, James Gunn — a guy who never really left his subversive Troma roots. In the summer of 2014, the unthinkable happened: Lloyd Kaufman appeared onscreen in a multi-million dollar Disney blockbuster. How did Kaufman, the president and co-founder of …
For Film Inquiry, a look at the career of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 director, James Gunn — a guy who never really left his subversive Troma roots. In the summer of 2014, the unthinkable happened: Lloyd Kaufman appeared onscreen in a multi-million dollar Disney blockbuster. How did Kaufman, the president and co-founder of …
Here\’s a bit from my recent article, published at Film Inquiry: On April 14th, Netflix will begin showing new episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the cult series devoted to watching, and making jokes about, bad movies. During the show’s 20-year absence, bad movie fandom has ballooned to the extent that incompetent movies have now …
Trying to Keep Our Sanity: In Unironic Praise of Bad Movies Read More »
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Get Out As indicated by its (nearly) unanimous critical praise and impressive box office receipts, Jordan Peele’s horror film Get Out has been enjoyed by lots of people. For some white liberal filmgoers, myself included, the movie has been a revelation, dramatizing a type of horror that I’ve never seen, …
The Official (Not Official) Get Out White Liberal Bingo Card! Read More »
Richard Donner’s Superman: The Motion Picture (1977) and Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) may have already proven that moviegoers want to see superheroes on the screen, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been successful beyond expectation. Starting with 2008’s Iron Man, the MCU has been telling a large-scale story without precedent, spanning fourteen big-budget Disney feature …
Something to Avenge: The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Hero Problem Read More »
Visual depictions of aliens tend to disappoint. We want something strange and fantastic, frightening in its unknowability, but usually end up with the creatures of Star Trek or Doctor Who: regular ol’ human beings with some extra stuff glued onto their faces. Part of the joy in Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction drama Arrival stems from …
The FitsAnna Rose Holmer\’s visually striking debut film offers a lot to like, not the least of which includes its unique setting in an inner-city athletic complex. A sort of Suspiria by way of Creed, The Fits follows reserved tomboy Toni, as she switches her focus from learning boxing with her brother to joining the …