There’s an inherent disconnect that runs through this film very plainly and definitively titled Late Night: it seems completely out of step with the rhythms of late night television. Scene after scene depicts late night monologues and interviews with an awkwardness that compounds as the film progresses, since apparently none of the enormous comedic talents […]
Author: Jason McKiernan
Aladdin (2019)
In this week’s example of No New Ideas Exist, Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin is set to hit theaters, the latest in the magic mouse’s recent string of tricks, in which sacred cows are transformed into resurgent cash cows. One could (feebly) argue that these modern reboots update familiar classics for a new generation, but my […]
Long Shot
As a title, Long Shot is appropriately multi-functional. This unlikely-romance-meets-political-fairytale sells itself on the surface pun of a Seth Rogen-Charlize Theron romantic pairing, though frankly, the whole “stoner runt hooks up with woman spectacularly out of his league” is a running theme in nearly every R-rated comedy within the now decade-and-a-half of the Apatow era. […]
The Intruder
In this age of expanded exhibition, where critics and fans and Film Twitter argue ceaselessly about the ideal venue or screen on which to view motion pictures, I hold a very strong opinion about the ideal format for The Intruder. This film should be released exclusively at seedy drive-in theaters, where the environment is balmy, […]
Avengers: Endgame
Here we are, one year removed from the Snap Heard ‘Round the World, and we’ve been wondering how the Marvel powers-that-be would concoct a narrative to restore super-humanity and keep all those lucrative franchises running. That sounds quite cynical, obviously, but it’s hard to avoid such a feeling after more than a decade of films […]
Vice
Perspective is the key to any comprehensive study of a historical figure – anyone tackling such an endeavor has to consider whether there is enough distance and hindsight to properly contextualize the person’s actions and role in the scheme of history. When Oliver Stone made W. in 2008, one key criticism – among the myriad – […]
Destroyer
Nicole Kidman’s face has been the centerpiece of discussion on Destroyer since production stills were first released. It makes sense as an eye-grabber, the ravaged, craggy visage in such stark contrast to the porcelain perfection with which we usually associate Kidman. Indeed, Kidman’s face is the canvas on which the film is painted, a portrait […]
Ben Is Back
Ben is Back is a very present-tense title, not just a name but an active occurrence. That makes sense since it’s a very present-tense film, a moment-by-moment family drama that builds with the tension of a thriller. It doesn’t unfold in “real time,” so to speak, but feels like it operates on a ticking clock for […]
Mary Poppins Returns
In the midst of Disney’s IP regeneration bonanza, as the studio proceeds to unearth its hallowed classics and reformat them as modern-day mega-blockbusters, Mary Poppins Returns takes a sort of refreshing turn for the nostalgic. Make no mistake, this 54-years-later sequel to one of Disney’s most celebrated films is obviously a bottom-line cash-in move for the […]
If Beale Street Could Talk
There is no Beale Street in If Beale Street Could Talk, and that’s the point: when James Baldwin wrote the novel in 1974, the street name was a symbol for any street in any “black neighborhood,” a center of black population, exemplifying black culture and experience, in all its joy and grief, its glorious bravado […]
The Favourite
There is much to chew on and savor in The Favourite– kinky asides, intriguing isolated moments, loopy dry humor adding spice to the regal period setting. There is so much marginal quirkiness, in fact, that I fear it’s obscuring the unfortunate fact that there isn’t much substance on the bottom line. It is a compelling […]
Boy Erased
Boy Erased is about as well-intentioned as a movie can be while still shamelessly misrepresenting the subject it so staunchly supports. There’s no question that its heart is in the right place, that writer-director Joel Edgerton is a fierce supporter of the LGBTQ community. But on the basis of the finished film, which alternates between uneasy […]
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
As we exit the Halloween season, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is something of a fright fest for writers, this real-life story of a notable published professional whose well runs so dry that she must concoct a criminal scheme in order to pay the bills and attain artistic fulfillment. Thankfully, the horror is blunted by […]
Mid90s
As one who came of age in the 1990s, it’s surreal to me that we have now moved far enough beyond that decade to look back with nostalgia, to set a film in the ‘90s and accurately refer to it as a period piece. We now even have a film explicitly titled Mid90s, though curiously […]
First Man
First Man opens with an enthralling sequence in which a young Neil Armstrong makes a perilous ascent into the outer atmosphere as an X-15 test pilot. Through a torrent of environmental interference, after struggling with equipment that seems destined to fail him, Armstrong stabilizes his aircraft and breaks through to the edge of the atmosphere. In […]
The Oath
Family Thanksgivings are always awkward, but especially so when the traditional familial arguments descend into a violent showdown with rogue Homeland Security agents. So unfolds the apocryphal scenario in The Oath, which envisions a hypothetical future in which our current president’s dalliance with totalitarianism becomes functional policy and citizens are given a deadline to sign […]
Venom
In this particular comic book boom in cinema history, when superhero adaptations are almost stubbornly efficient in terms of both frequency and relative quality, it’s almost refreshing to witness a good old-fashioned mess. Enter Venom, which is inarguably an incoherent quasi-disaster, albeit one that is nevertheless occasionally entertaining, sometimes on purpose and other times in […]
A Star is Born
There’s a disconnect between what A Star is Born truly is and what it feels like it needs to be. Said disconnect doesn’t hinder the film from delivering moments that sparkle – at every turn, Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut is gorgeously mounted and compelling, at times even magical – but it does hinder its ability to […]
Night School
Night School is interesting as a movie-going experience, insomuch as it barely resembles one, yet I was hard-pressed to leave the theater offended by that fact. There are more cinematic viewing experiences available to be streamed on an iPhone via Netflix, but watching this particular program in a dark theater wasn’t as painful as it frankly […]
Peppermint
Peppermint opens with a claustrophobic white-knuckle sequence of blunt force brutality – Jennifer Garner, its headlining star, swiftly and nearly wordlessly kicking the ass of a thug, even within the limiting confines of a beat-up old car. “Remember me?” she whispers to the thug, and surely he does. I remember, too – the short scene, […]