Wes Anderson’s tale of young love and teenage adventure is funny, playful, and full of nostalgic blasts and period trappings, but most of all it is loving.
Tag: Tilda Swinton
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ on Peacock
Brad Pitt completely commits to the part of a man who is born old and grows younger through a sweeping survey of 20th century history.
‘Hail, Caesar!’ from the Coen Bros. on Netflix
Hail, Caesar! (2015), the Coen Bros.’s sly lampoon of 1950s Hollywood, is an affectionate and satirical tribute to studio filmmaking and a wittily skewed comedy of cultural politics in early 1950s America, the beginning of the end of the studio era. Set at the fictional Capitol Pictures, an MGM-like studio, and centered on Eddie Mannix […]
George Clooney is ‘Michael Clayton’
“I’m not a miracle worker. I’m a janitor.” George Clooney simmers as Michael Clayton (2007), a legal “fixer” who works behind the scenes of a powerful New York law firm, in Tony Gilroy’s smart, sharp legal drama. When he’s sent to clean up the moral meltdown of the firm’s leading litigator (Tom Wilkinson), he unwittingly […]
‘Snowpiercer’ – careening apocalyptic allegory on Netflix
Snowpiercer (2013), an international production from Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho and a French graphic novel, is a high-speed allegory speeding down the science fiction tracks of genre cinema. That’s the way I like this brand of filmmaking: with the symbols big, muscular, detailed, and punchy. You either give yourself over to the metaphor, in this […]
‘Burn After Reading’ – unclassified CIA laughs on Amazon Prime
Burn After Reading (2008) – After the darkness of No Country for Old Men, the Coen Bros. eased up with a deadpan espionage farce played out by small fish convinced that they are in deep waters, a film much lighter and significantly slighter but put together with such perfection that you can’t help but be […]
Keanu Reeves is ‘Constantine’
As fans of the cult comic book Hellblazer will tell you, Keanu Reeves doesn’t look or act much like comic book anti-hero John Constantine in Constantine (2005), the big screen version of the story of the streetwise supernatural hustler. He does, however, cut a memorable figure with his lockjaw resolve and iconic wardrobe, playing the […]
Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Okja’ on Netflix
Okja, a social satire/political allegory/action fantasy from Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, skips theaters entirely to debut on Netflix. You may recall that it was a point of controversy at the Cannes Film Festival, not for its subject matter but because of the Netflix model of releasing its films straight to streaming. The Netflix logo elicited […]
‘Doctor Strange’ – Sorcerer Supreme on Netflix
Doctor Strange (2016), the Sorcerer Supreme of Marvel Comics, is the latest comic book hero to join Marvel’s cinematic universe and Benedict Cumberbatch (in his best impression of American arrogance) plays the broken neurosurgeon who dons the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto to bring magic to the MCU. He’s Stephen Strange, a […]
Watch This! Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘Okja’ coming to Netflix
Okja, Bong Joon-Ho’s follow-up to Snowpiercer, will debut globally on Netflix in June, with limited theatrical release in the U.S. the same day it debuts on Netflix. Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins. Paul Dano, and Tilda Swinton star in the science fiction thriller about a young girl (Seohyun An) who must risk everything to prevent a […]