Equine Redemption
A wild horse and an angry prisoner make a story that doesn’t grow old in The Mustang
It’s the plot of half the horse books I read and loved as a child: A troubled girl who doesn’t fit in comes across a … Continue reading
Film: Page 13
Leaving Key West
Matthew McConaughey is an alcoholic poet in Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum
Harmony Korine emerged in 1995 as foremost gutter-punk bad boy of Gen X filmmakers, a beautiful loser who mirrored on screen the raw nihilistic yowl … Continue reading
We Have Seen the Enemy
Director Jordan Peele delivers a disconcerting hall of mirrors in Us
Yesterday I wrote a review of Jordan Peele’s new movie, Us, which unexpectedly blew up the box office this past weekend. Unlike most reviews, which … Continue reading
It’s All Cotton Candy
The thin blue line is erased in director S. Craig Zahler’s glorious heist film Dragged Across Concrete
Keeping things simple, let’s assign the most recent advent of American independent cinema to a single movie, Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 debut Sex, Lies, and Videotape. … Continue reading
Reshaping the Marvel Universe
The dominance of male superheroes is questioned in the smart, fun Captain Marvel
Right now, in the glow of Captain Marvel’s excellent debut, it feels like there are as many articles about the troll response to Captain Marvel … Continue reading
The Short Sharp Shock
A look at this year’s Oscar-nominated live-action short films
The short story is a wonderful art form. There are storywriters — Alice Munro, Anton Chekov, Denis Johnson, James Joyce, to name a few heavies … Continue reading
Art is Dangerous
A dead painter wreaks havoc on the L.A. art scene in Netflix’s satirical thriller Velvet Buzzsaw
For some reason, while I was watching the new Netflix movie Velvet Buzzsaw, the opening words of William Carlos Williams’ great poem “To Elsie” suddenly … Continue reading
Twice Told Tales
A new take on the Arthurian legend in The Kid Who Would Be King
If you haven’t seen Attack the Block, Joe Cornish’s 2011 aliens-invade-the-council-block movie starring the future first female Doctor Who and future Finn in The Force … Continue reading
And the Oscar won’t go to …
A wish list of Academy Award nominees who were snubbed this time around
As usual, the all-out-of-proportion global ballyhoo signaling the Academy Award nominees this week was an almost entirely emetic affair that, this year in particular, produced … Continue reading
Beale Street Blues
Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel walks an uneven path of racial injustice
The older couple exiting the theater in front of me was pissed. Outraged. As they ducked their gray heads together in conversation, confabulating, commiserating, I … Continue reading