Notable and notorious IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich recently put out a social media call for film critic peers to join a weekly survey to discuss movie topics, answer questions, and highlight their work. Representing Every Movie Has a Lesson, I, along with over 60 other emerging and established film critics including some of my fellow Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle members, accepted the invitation to participate. I'm honored by the opportunity, and I hope my responses are chosen each week.
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Pun not intended, but Ant-Man and the Wasp is where Marvel goes to get small, and not in the obvious sense of the heroes’ sizes. The narrative and scope gets smaller. Amid the mega-powered showdowns and high stakes elsewhere, it is encouraging to know that Marvel can still make local-level superhero stories and not make everything so overpopulated, globe-trotting, and cataclysmic in importance. Smaller is what the source comic books used to be. Smaller is still fully-formed and, most of all, smaller is welcome.
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Luckily, this cinematic cactus retains the nectar at its core underneath the lesser spiny exterior. Sicario: Day of Soldado still has dynamic screenwriter Taylor Sheridan scripting the suspense and the twin returning brutes of Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin to shoot and punch the lights out. Following his Oscar nomination for Hell or High Water and his superior directorial debut of Wind River, Sheridan is on a hot streak and pens a worthy follow-up to what should have been his first Oscar nomination a year prior to the one he received.
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Kicking up scratchy dust in the western genre, the Zellner Brothers rousingly debunk and demystify that stereotype to create a dark comedy of their own pitch and prickliness. With humor as dry as the topography, Damsel is the kind of film that sneaks up on you like a snake in the weeds. The brothers and fellow stars Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska dance all over this landscape, but the steps keep dawdling when the music runs out.
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Notable and notorious IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich recently put out a social media call for film critic peers to join a weekly survey to discuss movie topics, answer questions, and highlight their work. Representing Every Movie Has a Lesson, I, along with over 60 other emerging and established film critics including four of my fellow Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle members, accepted the invitation to participate. I'm honored by the opportunity, and I hope my responses are chosen each week.
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Jurassic World to matched all of the definitions of “spectacle,” from the positive connotations of “unusual, notable, or entertaining especially an eye-catching or dramatic public display” on down to the more questionable “an object of curiosity or contempt.” The jungle playground reboot lacked most of the awe and wonder of the Spielberg classic in favor of blockbuster-sized theme park thrills. Its sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, continues the feral frolic only to go a little too far and throw smarts out the window next.
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In contrast to the informational methods of most common documentaries, poetry is the point of view within Mountain. Featuring towering imagery enriched by a sumptuous narration from recent Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe, Australian filmmaker Jennifer Peedom’s follow-up to Sherpa is a testimony to what draws people to the mental and physical summits they seek to conquer. The size of this film demands the biggest screen you can find.
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The Feelin’ Film Podcast and Every Movie Has a Lesson go back a little further and a little sillier than than Jurassic Park and Jurassic World with the loosest movie interpretation of a paleontologist possible. 1938’s Bringing Up Baby, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, may not be scary but it is a classic screwball comedy with plenty to enjoy. Here’s our latest “Connecting With Classics!”
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One winning quality of many that makes the Sundance darling Hearts Beat Loud so perfectly endearing is fleshed out by its very title. The deeply personal pulse that makes this movie tick is nourishment to the soul. Emotive and approachable relationship challenges and a stirring soundtrack combine to make this shiniest of indie gems the anti-blockbuster of this summer. Absorb this film, with your eyes and ears open, and let its essence revitalize you the way it does its own characters.
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The Incredibles 2 may not pack the usual signature “Pixar Punch” that sends stock in Kleenex skyrocketing, but the movie’s themes are formulated with deft wit, proper prudence, and enough meaningful magic. These heady motifs are supported well with the slick and swanky musical energy of Michael Giacchino, now complete with catchy character theme songs playing through the end credits. The power of it all starts at the top and on the written page.
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Making its Chicago premiere this weekend playing for a run at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Pablo Solarz’s film earns every measure of its stirring dedication. The Last Suit has an approachable and undeniable warmth beneath that thorny senior center masterfully played by Miguel Ángel Solá. The writer and director himself will join audience discussion on the Friday and Saturday evening showings. Keen audiences looking for an empathetic elixir would do well to absorb and appreciate this film at the Siskel.
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After you shuck needless gender label temptations, feel free to call Ocean’s 8 a well-garnished cinematic martini. Plenty clever and cool in its own right, the summer tentpole is a highly enjoyable little diversion of escapism, true to its intent and design. Like the classic cocktail, this very entertaining romp combines the strong and the sweet with plenty of little twists.
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