Thoughts

I have seen almost all of the Coen Brothers’ films, but Barton Fink (1991) continued to slip under the radar. And how? This is easily their most creative and inventive story! It follows John Turturro as the titular character, a neurotic young man who writes plays for the theater in the 1920s.

In Eddington, Mr. Aster takes the thrilling components of his horror efforts and reshapes them into a contemporary Western black comedy. A wild departure thematically from his other work, but it utilizes a lot of the tropes that he’s become famous for. The story surrounds the small town of Eddington, New Mexico, where a liberal mayor and a conservative sheriff go toe-to-toe over the political strife of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since Whiplash (2014), Damien Chazelle has been at the top of my list when it comes to watching new releases. So, when it came out that he was making a three-hour epic about the pre-sound era of Hollywood, I was more than sold on the experience. That was until I actually got around to watching it and got to that fateful opening scene with the elephant. If you haven’t seen the film, I won’t spoil it here, but just know there is fecal matter involved.

All this to say, I did start the week off strong with a viewing of each of Gregg Araki’s entries in his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy from the mid-to-late 90s. The trilogy includes Totally F***ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation(1995), and the conclusion to the saga, Nowhere (1997). The films are loosely connected by themes of queer alienation, rage against the establishment, and an inherent nihilistic perspective on life and the future.

The story follows Kyle MacLachlan as a young man back from school in his small, idyllic American suburb when he stumbles across a severed human ear in a field. After taking it into the local police station, his curiosity gets the better of him as he sets off into the secret underworld of a town once thought to be innocent.

With themes reminiscent of Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000), this film takes a comic approach to the horrors of drug abuse and addiction. It follows four friends united by opium addiction and a life of robbery and crime overall to sustain the habit. Ewan McGregor leads the cast as Renton, a soul grappling with the harsh realities of his present and (lack of) future as he fights to find a way out of the vicious cycle.

The film follows Jordan, portraying twin brothers, gangsters who have been holding out in Chicago, and are now returning home to the South to open a juke joint. The story takes its time getting us acquainted with not only the twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, but their friends and family who unite under the roof of their new bar for the turning point of the film, when the vampires come out…

Nathan goes above and beyond this season in analyzing the issues behind cockpit communication between pilots and their first officers. He opens the season incredibly honestly, not making jokes or trying even to make something overtly funny at all, instead, establishing the key problems he has been studying from plane crashes around the world.

Hess’s semi-live-action film adaptation of the famous game is not a letdown. It is a recurring event of corporate greed dominating creativity. Which is pretty ironic given the game’s structure. As of writing this, the movie has raked in close to seven and a half million dollars worldwide.

While hilarious in many regards, what makes this a standout film to me is the rapid switch into serious drama between the characters, where life and death are considered. The first two-thirds of the film or so are a straightforward hangout comedy, with an ensemble cast of characters messing with one another as they go about their daily lives. The final act completely subverts the audience’s expectations...

Last week, we were blessed with the trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson film called Once Battle After Another this September.

There is something special about hiding indoors amidst the cold. Trying to remain positive here.

“…Because I’m champagne, and you’re shit. Until the day you die.” One of the final lines uttered by Jon Lovitz’s character...

Every once in a while, an "epic" will stand out among the rest and cement itself as a truly great piece of art.

I need to be consistent. Consistency isn't just key; it's one of my worst enemies.