The Last Witness: Piotr Szkopiak

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/120966/the-last-witness-examines-the-katyn-massacre-by-way-of-a-romantic-thriller/

Rating: 6/10

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Ron Howard

Saw SOLO. It was aggressively fine, which is fine, I guess. The cast’s charisma really saved it, and some of the musical cues were delightful. But these spin-off STAR WARS movies REALLY need to figure out how to do first acts.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 27, 2018

I’m also a bit disappointed that the film didn’t become a sci-fi take on THE DEFIANT ONES after Han and Chewie escaped the Empire chained together, but whatever.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 27, 2018

I did dig how the film made the galaxy truly feel BIG, especially in the aforementioned first act when Han wanted nothing more than escaping Corellia and finding his freedom in space. That kind of Romanticism really speaks to me, and it also reminds me of Luke’s yearnings in IV.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 27, 2018

Rating: 7/10

First Reformed: Paul Schrader

His touchstones are unmistakable—the apocalyptic anxieties of Ingmar Bergman's Winter Light (1963); the self-interrogations of a dying clergyman in Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (1951). Yet far from mere pastiche, Paul Schrader's First Reformed uses these works as touchstones to carve out a new vision of a man of God weathering their Dark Night of the Soul. Mired in the same austere Calvinism of Schrader's youth, Pastor Toller (Ethan Hawke) wiles away his days maintaining the dying congregation of a dying historical church in upstate New York. Little more than a glorified tourist trap complete with gift shop—in addition to being the earliest extant Protestant church in the area, it also served as a stop on the Underground Railroad—the congregation only survives thanks to the support of a nearby superchurch bursting with corporate donations. It was only through the efforts of their avuncular leader and media star Pastor Jeffers (Cedric Kyles) that the depressed Toller was able to get the job following a breakdown spurred by his son's death in Iraq and the disintegration of his marriage.

The stultifying sameness of his daily routine—clean the grounds, give the tours, lead the service; drink the whisky, keep the diary, confront the emptiness—gets interrupted when one of his congregants, Mary (Amanda Seyfried), asks him to counsel her disturbed husband Michael (Philip Ettinger), a radical environmentalist recently arrested in Canada for violent demonstrations. Believing the earth doomed, Michael's nihilistic hopelessness infects the psychologically weakened Toller, eventually shunting him down the same extremist route. Toller becomes more and more obsessed with the environmental corruption around him, both literally and figuratively: he starts wondering aloud to whoever will listen whether God will forgive mankind for spoiling his creation; he begins planning violent retribution against Jeffers' corporate sponsors, a manufacturer of fertilizers accused by the government as one of the worst polluters in the world, who plan on attending his church's upcoming 250th anniversary and reconsecration. The environmentalism is merely a front for Toller's melt-down—one could easily see him cracking under the pressures of atomic holocaust during the Cold War or the threat of Nazi domination in World War Two. What matters is the movement gives his despair a tangible outlet, one that almost sanctifies his need for self-destruction as his body slowly succumbs to a cancer he refuses to treat and an alcoholism he chooses to embrace (a scene of him pouring Pepto-Bismol "for his stomach" into a massive glass of whisky made my audience squirm more than any of the film's brief moments of grisly violence).

And yet Schrader—the patron saint of self-destructive macho protagonists—refuses to give Toller an easy out, rejecting the violent third act catharses dominating so many of his films, choosing absolution rather than annihilation. The ending is practically a refutation of many of his earlier films, particularly his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), in its depiction of love as a force for salvation, not as a motivator for vengeance. In this way First Reformed is practically the most Christian of Schrader's films. In fact, it's perhaps the most intelligent examination of faith in recent American cinema. Here is a film where religious devotion is treated not as a phenomenon inspired by moral or political zealotry/ignorance, but as a deep-seated conviction tempered by thought and reason. (True, political zealotry infects Toller, but ultimately it's a combination of Eros and religious agape that rescues him.) One of the best sequences in the film is the first meeting between Toller and Michael where, despite the latter being an unbeliever, the two have a dignified and revealing discussion on the religious basis for hope in the face of despair. At no point does Michael sneer at Toller and ask how he can possibly believe in an invisible magic man in the sky. In this age of increased skepticism and insulated Christian markets distributing theologically suspect pap (see the God's Not Dead franchise), this is exactly the kind of discourse American cinema desperately needs.

Rating: 9/10

Deadpool 2: David Leitch

DEADPOOL 2: means so, so well, but recycled gags and genuinely lazy writing keeps it from matching the creative revelation of the first film.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 19, 2018

And man, this script really brings the inner Cinema Sins outta me. Who hired the thugs to kill ******? How did Wade get from the mountains to Weasel’s bar? How did Colossus get from the Mansion to the orphanage that fast without the X-Men?

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 19, 2018

And most jarringly, why would the X-Men do nothing to rescue an abused child mutant from a black-site prison where he’s kept with grown murderers and rapists, and why didn’t they try to SHUT DOWN THE PEDOPHILE ORPHANAGE FOR CHILD MUTANTS?!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 19, 2018

Rating: 5/10

Winter Sleep: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Well, since @mubi has put WINTER SLEEP (2014) up, I guess I might as well give it a watch. Who's up for 3+ hours of bleak Turkish cinema? Woohoo!!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 13, 2018

This movie is full of A+ landscape porn. Nuri Bilge Ceylan and his DP Gökhan Tiryaki have an excellent eye for making each shot seem like a landscape in its own right. Look at these three shots: an extreme long, long, and medium long all equally stately and complex. pic.twitter.com/SNmegRgGaD

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 13, 2018

I think seeing A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT a few days ago was a good warm-up for this film. Both are lengthy, verbose works that challenge their audiences to sink into the oceans of words, words, words pouring from their characters' mouths.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 13, 2018

Wow, this scene where Aydın condescendingly, laughingly berates his wife for her bookkeeping is a MASTERCLASS in cruelty.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 13, 2018

Rating: 8/10

Tully: Jason Reitman

Just saw TULLY. I think most people’s mileage with this film will depend mostly on whether they can stomach the Revelation.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 12, 2018

I totally understand why some people might not be able to accept it. But I think the rest of the film justifies it. It’s a warm, surprising gentle take on not just motherhood, but matrimony and the self-giving nature of love itself.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 12, 2018

Also, I'm so happy that this movie didn't demonize the father as abusive or negligent. Perhaps a bit distant, yes, but he genuinely loved his wife and kids. To me, it made the movie feel more authentic and real.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 13, 2018

Rating: 7/10

Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat: Sara Driver

BOOM FOR REAL: a fascinating portrait of Basquiat’s teen years as nascent artist and cultural rabble rouser. More than just a talking heads doc, it sought to replicate the very emotional and economic malaise of late 70s NYC that birthed him.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 12, 2018

Was fascinated by how Basquiat isn’t really in the first half of the film. When he appears, it’s almost always off to the side or in the background. This film wants us to understand his environment as much as we understand him.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 12, 2018

Rating: 7/10

Safe: Todd Haynes

Watching SAFE (1995).

This is basically just porn for interior decorators, right?

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

...why is this movie more eerie than 90% of horror films I see?!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

I tend to find Todd Haynes’ emotional frigidity aggravating, particularly considering how many of his films are about passion and love. But here the sterility makes sense, clicking with the subject matter and central performance brilliantly.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

Rating: 8/10

Wild Reeds: André Téchiné

Watching WILD REEDS (1994). This will be my first André Téchiné. pic.twitter.com/3L8MaxW5J7

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

It opens with two bored young people talking about movies. Yup, this dude DEFINITELY wrote for Cahiers.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

Interesting. Téchiné seems to be going for the emotional wistfulness of Truffaut's domestic family dramas while utilizing the visual stylistics of Rohmer.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

I suppose the moral of this story is don't be the only straight girl in a love quadrangle full of gay and bi-curious teen boys.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

Seriously though, that was surprisingly heart-felt and soft-spoken; a nice look at budding teenage sexuality without making it titillating for the audience's gaze.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 9, 2018

Rating: 7/10

Manhunt: John Woo

Watching MANHUNT (2017).

What's this? An opening where two characters talk wistfully about classic movies before an old school shoot-out?

Okay...I see you, John Woo. I see you.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 5, 2018

Who shot this film? It looks like it was done by a film student with a GoPro, a Steadcam, and a six-pack of Red Bull. The editing isn't much better, either.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 5, 2018

Ya know, for a corporate lawyer, this Du Qiu guy sure knows his way around a high speed jet-ski chase/mixed martial arts fight.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 5, 2018

Is it weird that I think the best part of this film was the nepotism? Angeles Woo was FANTASTIC.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) May 5, 2018

Rating: 4/10

Roll Red Roll: Nancy Schwartzman

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/118867/tribeca-2018-review-blowin-up-and-roll-red-roll/.

Rating: 7/10

Blowin' Up: Stephanie Wang-Breal

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/118867/tribeca-2018-review-blowin-up-and-roll-red-roll/.

Rating: 8/10

The Emperor in August: Masato Harada

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/new-clothes-for-the-emperor-in-august/.

Rating: 6/10

When She Runs: Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119982/tribeca-2018-movie-review-when-she-runs/.

Rating: 8/10

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes: Sophie Huber

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119117/tribeca-2018-movie-review-blue-note-records-beyond-the-notes/.

Rating: 7/10

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda: Stephen Nomura Schible

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119167/tribeca-2018-movie-review-ryuichi-sakamoto-coda/.

Rating: 8/10

Smuggling Hendrix: Marios Piperides

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119793/tribeca-2018-movie-review-smuggling-hendrix/.

Rating: 6/10

The Man Who Stole Banksy: Marco Proserpio

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119716/tribeca-2018-movie-review-the-man-who-stole-banksy/.

Rating: 5/10

Avengers: Infinity War: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Saw INFINITY WAR. My, but that clipped along briskly. Same ol’ pre-Taika, pre-Coogler Marvel beat-em-up action and storytelling. But I was never bored or uninterested.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 29, 2018

Seeing as all the heroes’ biggest mistakes and betrayals were done out of love, I wonder if Part Two will invert that and have all their greatest triumphs secured by it.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 29, 2018

Rating: 7/10

The Rider: Chloé Zhao

Saw THE RIDER. A collection of wounded, pensive landscapes: empty prairies, beaten bodies, scarred egos. But from the rib cage of desolation comes the honey of hope and renewal.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 28, 2018

That said, it really is a low-key cowboy remake of Aronofsky’s THE WRESTLER, isn’t it?

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 28, 2018

Rating: 8/10

Cuadecuc, vampir: Pere Portabella

On the longstanding recommendation of Jonathan Rosenbaum, I'm watching Pere Portabella's CUADECUC, VAMPIR, an experimental retelling of the Dracula mythos through the behind-camera antics of the production of a real-life Jesús Franco movie starring Christopher Lee!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 25, 2018

Yeah, this definitely seems like the kind of esoteric, experimental twisting of the shape and form of cinema that Rosenbaum so dearly cherishes.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 25, 2018

I get the artistic reasons Portabella probably made this film--and they're fascinating ones!--but the only thing I'm here to see is more B-roll of Christopher Lee goofing off with the crew in between takes.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 25, 2018

I'm not sure I buy all the supposed political implications this film has concerning the years of Franco's rule, but it remains an amusing, occasionally revelatory experience.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 25, 2018

7/10

Song of Back and Neck: Paul Lieberstein

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119062/tribeca-2018-movie-review-song-of-back-and-neck/.

8/10

Dead Women Walking: Hagar Ben-Asher

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119670/tribeca-2018-movie-review-dead-women-walking/.

4/10

The Feeling of Being Watched: Assia Boundaoui

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/119302/tribeca-2018-movie-the-feeling-of-being-watched/.

6/10

The Last Seduction: John Dahl

Watching John Dahl’s THE LAST SEDUCTION (1994) as my food poisoning medication kicks in. I loved RED ROCK WEST (1993) so I have high hopes!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 23, 2018

So far I’m really digging Linda Fiorentino’s performance as an angry Lauren Bacall-type on steroids.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 23, 2018

Man, the 90s were wild. $2 Manhattans, giant shoulder pads, the ability to move to a small town and get a high paying job at a large insurance agency the next day...

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 23, 2018

This conversation between Linda and the black investigator was priceless:

“Is it true what they say about black men”
“Is it true what they say about whites women?”
“What’s that?”
“That they have no ass.”

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 23, 2018

Okay, this climax is pants-on-head stupid. Like, dude, you can HEAR her calling the police on you, you moron.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 23, 2018

*wacks movie with rolled up newspaper*

Bad movie! No biscuit!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 23, 2018

Rating: 6/10

Cargo: Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/118945/tribeca-2018-movie-review-cargo/.

7/10

Yellow is Forbidden: Pietra Brettkelly

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/118674/tribeca-2018-movie-review-yellow-is-forbidden/.

5/10

Demon House: Zak Bagans

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/118150/demon-house-could-have-been-the-room-of-documentaries/.

1/10

Acrimony: Tyler Perry

Just saw Tyler Perry’s TYLER PERRY’S ACRIMONY.

You guys. I think I loved it.

It’s not a good movie, but if you think of it as an exploitation film where the victim and villain switch places halfway through, it’s kind of amazing.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 21, 2018

6/10

Rampage: Brad Peyton

Saw RAMPAGE.

Much like the video game that seemed designed by and for 10 year old boys, this film’s a giddy celebration of rude and gory violence. People don’t just get killed, they get lovingly squashed like ketchup packets, rag-dolled off skyscrapers, and swallowed in slow-mo.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 15, 2018

I’ve seen a lot of Takes saying this movie is smart dumb. But it’s not. It’s dumb dumb. But that’s fine as long as it’s entertaining. And RAMPAGE mostly is.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 15, 2018

Also, you can’t tell me they didn’t hire Jake Lacy as the dimwit evil industrialist and give him that stupid haircut because he DIDN’T look like Eric Trump.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 15, 2018

Rating: 6/10

Ragtime: Miloš Forman

#NowWatching #RIPMilosForman pic.twitter.com/QPpOoDWP9B

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

I can't believe it's taken me this long to watch this movie. E. L. Doctorow's novel is literally one of my favorite books of all time.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

This is probably a very mean thing to say, but Elizabeth McGovern is to this movie what Sofia Coppola was to THE GODFATHER THREE. Yeesh...

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 15, 2018

And I know the scope of the novel is large, but this movie is too fragmented. For instance, they barely establish Younger Brother's obsession with Evelyn before BAM!! They're in a relationship.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 15, 2018

The film focuses too much on individual plot points as literal surface dramas, not as metaphorical parables set among the grand sweep of time. Doctorow made us believe we were getting fragmented glimpses of a greater narrative, that of America ascendant as a modern nation.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 15, 2018

Rating: 4/10

Play Dirty: André De Toth

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/play-dirty-with-detoth/.

7/10

You Were Never Really Here: Lynne Ramsay

Saw YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE. Feels as much a stylistic and philosophical revelation now as TAXI DRIVER was in the 70s.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

Both films are about traumatized masculinity. But TD was a film of psychological surfaces—we see Bickle’s actionsbiy struggle to understand then. YWNRH is a diving bell into Joe’s unconscious, dragging us down into his inconceivable hurt and mental woundedness.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

I was surprised at how grisly the film is despite the fact that we never actually SEE the violence happening. It’s like a 90 minute version of the coffee pot assault in THE BIG HEAT (1953).

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

Did anyone else realize that Joe fit the M.O. for a serial killer? Traumatized childhood, psychological warm-up and cool-down periods before and after kills, ritualized killing methods (scotch tape, hammer, etc). The little girl photos WOULD be trophies if he didn’t burn them.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

Joe’s basically Dexter if he rescued trafficked children! And, y’know, was a war veteran.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 14, 2018

Rating: 8/10

Mister Lonely: Harmony Korine

Hmm. It seems I have nothing to do tonight. I think I'll watch Harmony Korine's MISTER LONELY (2007).

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 13, 2018

Please please please tell me the rest of this film is just Werner Herzog having priestly adventures.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 13, 2018

There's no way Korine DIDN'T create this parachuting nun subplot on the fly when Herzog told him he'd be in the film.

"What? Herzog agreed to this one too? Uh...uh...get me a plane in Africa, a priest's robe, and a bunch of nuns! It'll make sense in post, I promise! I think..."

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 13, 2018

Okay, so, this movie doesn't really work. But moments like the one where the impersonators mourn the culling of the sick sheep are transcendent.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 13, 2018

I THINK I know what Korine was going for with the juxtaposition of the impersonators and the nuns: people living their eccentric truths through acts of blind faith, one group succeeding one group failing.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 13, 2018

But I dunno, the whole thing just fails to coalesce.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 13, 2018

Rating: 4/10

A Quiet Place: John Krasinski

To read this review, go to: http://natehoodreviews.tumblr.com/post/172699895668/a-quiet-place.

8/10

Unsane: Steven Soderbergh

To read my write-up of this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/film/118869/i-lived-part-of-unsane-separating-fact-from-fiction-in-steven-soderberghs-latest/.

8/10

Ramen Heads: Koki Shigeno

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/117452/ramen-heads-movie-review/.

7/10

The China Hustle: Jed Rothstein

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/117511/the-china-hustle-movie-review/.

7/10

The Hero: Satyajit Ray

To read this review, go to: http://theretroset.com/the-hero-of-your-dreams/.

8/10

Trash Humpers: Harmony Korine

Watching Harmony Korine's TRASH HUMPERS.

I've been a film critic for 5 years. I have literally never seen anything like this. I am stunned. I have no frame of reference for anything I'm seeing.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 31, 2018

...those were real prostitutes, weren't they?

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 31, 2018

If FEMALE TROUBLE argued that crime was beauty, then TRASH HUMPERS argues that antisocial degeneracy is freedom. It's anti-art as cinema; or is it anti-cinema as art? Either way, it's the only film I've seen that actually feels like it was shot in a parallel dimension.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 31, 2018

Rating: 7/10

Ready Player One: Steven Spielberg

READY PLAYER ONE: Spielberg has given us a definitive answer to the age-old question of whether there’s such thing as a movie adaptation better than the book.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 1, 2018

I don’t get the hate, you guys. I enjoyed this movie fine. It also cleaned up the more troubling parts of the book: Artemis is a character, not a trophy; the other members of the High Five aren’t queasy racial stereotypes; no bizarre tirades against organized religion.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 1, 2018

Also—and I can’t stress this enough—no masturbation manifesto.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 1, 2018

It also helps that the stink of Meninist nerd gatekeeping has been scrubbed away.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 1, 2018

Also, big ups to Film Twitter for not spoiling the second challenge. Didn’t know you guys had it in you to keep quiet on that one.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) April 1, 2018

Rating: 7/10

Pacific Rim Uprising: Steven S. DeKnight

Saw PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING.

Sorely missed the Del Toro touch, had plodding first act, and it retreaded more than it created. But I still had fun.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 30, 2018

But man, imagine how much better it would have been if they’d actually given Rinko Kikuchi a purpose, Charlie Day actual direction, and Scott Eastwood a personality.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 30, 2018

6/10

Isle of Dogs: Wes Anderson

Hey, did you know "Isle of Dogs" is a homophone of "I love dogs?" What a coincidence, because I love both! It's like Wes Anderson made Isle of Dogs specifically for me! I loved the animation. I loved the story. I loved the characters. Everything about the film worked for me: even Greta Gerwig's turn as Tracy Walker amused me as a kind of send-up to stereotypical American characters in Japanese media. I remember Bilge Ebiri writing that this movie saw Anderson asking more questions about the nature of evil like he did in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). But I disagree. This film is basically a fairy tale where the bad guys get punished and the good guys triumph. The moral complexity and sinister undertones from Budapest are almost completely missing.

8/10

The Rapture: Michael Tolkin

Watching Michael Tolkin's THE RAPTURE (1991), which I hear is a straight secular treatment off the fringe Christian concept. Curious to see what happens.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

Well...oily-chested David Duchovny isn't a bad way to sell religion to the masses...

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

DAMMIT! I cant find any writings by @alissamarie on it...

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

Oh for crying out loud!

CATHOLICS believe killing yourself is a mortal sin!

PROTESTANTS are the ones who invented the rapture!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

Ooooh! The film gets points for the nice inversion of the Abraham and Isaac story!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

That ending reminds me of C.S. Lewis' definition of Hell as a large empty place where people are perpetually moving away from each other.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

My birthday's in a month. Legit tempted to rent out a theater, invite all my Xian film twitter buddies, show this film, and go to McDonald's afterwards to talk about it.

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

@alissamarie, @MissCarley, @nwkitchens, @flipcritic, @kipjmooney, @SonofSunday

You're all invited!

— Nathanael Hood (@NateHood257) March 19, 2018

Rating: 8/10

Zombillénium: Arthur de Pins, Alexis Ducord

I like to think Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord's Zombillénium is the slightly older, slight naughtier, slightly more mature version of the Hotel Transylvania movies: a world where monsters and humans tentatively co-exist thanks to the monsters cordoning themselves off from said humans in a vacation spot. But oh, isn't this a wonderful, winning, beautiful film? I love the colors. I love the social commentary of the uglier monsters unionizing against the prettier vampires. And yes, I love Gretchen. Witches have never seemed hotter! That's a shallow observation, but I can't help it. It also helps that she can really shred an electric guitar!

8/10

A Wrinkle in Time: Ava DuVernay

The following is my article on Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time that I wrote for my church newsletter.

The irony is almost too much. Upon its initial release in 1962, Madeleine L'Engle's young adult sci-fi epic A Wrinkle in Time was roundly attacked and condemned by conservative groups for a panoply of preposterous reasons. Some claimed that it promoted witchcraft by featuring three female-passing immortal characters with seemingly supernatural powers to teleport and shapeshift. Some objected to the text’s referring to Jesus as a historical figure who, alongside other luminaries like Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, helped push back the forces of darkness in human history. And some even argued that the book somehow made young readers challenge their religious beliefs. The result was the book’s being banned from schools and libraries throughout the country. In one of the more flatly preposterous examples of censorship gone amok I’ve ever encountered as a film writer and cultural scholar, in the 1990s A Wrinkle in Time was banned and publicly challenged more times than Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, a book which describes in hideously graphic detail the exploits of a sexually perverted serial killer. And now with the release of Disney’s new cinematic adaptation of the novel by Academy Award-nominated director Ava DuVernay, those same groups that picketed the novel in the 60s are indignantly protesting the film’s excision of its Christian influences. It seems the late Mrs. L’Engle cannot win.

I have no intentions of poking a stick into the proverbial anthill of public discourse surrounding DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time, particularly seeing how it has already received its fair share of scrutiny on the part of critics and audiences. (At the time of writing, the film currently has a 42% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) But the subject of the film’s depiction of faith or lack thereof bears examining. After all, for all her critics’ claims of religious subversion, L’Engle was a passionate, outspoken Christian. Serving for years as the official writer-in-residence at New York City's Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, L’Engle blended explicit Christian theology into science-fiction and fantasy stories geared towards younger audiences with a fervor and skill rivaled only by C. S. Lewis.

Consider A Wrinkle in Time itself. The book follows the four Murray children and their friend Calvin O’Keefe as they are spirited away on an intergalactic adventure to rescue their scientist father from the clutches of IT—a bodiless telepathic brain from the planet Camazotz that seeks to dominate the universe through fascistic conformity. IT is an avatar for The Black Thing—the literal embodiment of all the universe’s evil that wages an endless war against the forces of good and light. Helping the children are Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch, three mysterious beings with great powers posing as bag-ladies who are revealed to be servants of the light. They inspire the children to defeat the darkness, not through violence and fighting, but through pure, self-sacrificing love. The references to Christianity are direct and deliberate. The three Mrs.’s can be read as angels, saints, or even aspects of the Holy Trinity—one of them even directly quotes 1 John. One of the planets visited by the children is named after the Archangel Uriel while the planets controlled by IT and The Black Thing are named after real life pagan gods like Ixchel, the Mayan jaguar goddess of medicine. And Jesus is indeed mentioned as one of the light’s greatest champions against the darkness.

But the movie removes all the Christian theology and replaces with with mealy-mouthed New Age humanism. All quotations of scripture and references to Jesus are removed (yet curiously Buddha still gets mentioned in passing). The Mrs.’s have much of their dignity and gravity as emissaries from a benevolent, all-loving creator replaced with manic quirkiness that draws easy laughs from the audience. The essential thrust of the film is one of personal empowerment for confused young people, particularly Meg (Storm Reid), an emotionally conflicted thirteen-year-old paralyzed by low self-esteem and social awkwardness. The oldest Mrs.—Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey)—gives her a rousing speech about believing in herself and finding the light within. This is, of course, a fine and noble sentiment for young people, particularly those from disenfranchised minority backgrounds. But it saps the film of its rigor, draining all of the poetic lifeblood of its original allegory. What’s left is a moral that has been echoed by countless kid’s movies and television shows.

I want to emphasize that I don’t believe this stripping of Christian influence was some sinister ploy on the part of Disney or the filmmakers to subversively secularize America. Certainly DuVernay shouldn’t be attacked—throughout her career she has proved herself a filmmaker of great insight, respect, and compassion on the subject of religion, most particularly in her 2014 biopic of Martin Luther King Jr. Selma (2014). I think if anything, this was a decision made by higher ups to make the film more digestible for general audiences, particularly international ones in Asia where Christianity isn’t the majority religion. But doing so seems to have been a fatal mistake. Faith in the Christian God was essential to L’Engle and her work. Removing it leaves a scar that cannot be healed by any amount of CGI.

Black Panther: Ryan Coogler

I feel like all of my thoughts on Ryan Coogler's Black Panther can be summarized in one line: excellent story and politics, but needs better fight scenes. Why, oh why, must all fight scenes be captured in medium close up with shaky-cams? That's ridiculous nitpicking, of course. Otherwise Black Panther is damn near perfect. The central struggle between T'Challa and Killmonger is downright Shakespearean; the screenplay crackles with great lines and confrontations; each scene is drowning in resonant themes and symbolism--the final fight scene takes place on a literal Underground Railroad! But man, I hope they get their fight choreography in check in time for the sequel.

8/10

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Amy Heckerling

Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High is less movie than cultural anthropology study, much like George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973) and Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993): it's more interested in the personalities, hopes, dreams, failings, and successes of its high school characters than in any centralized story. The film is essentially a series of vignettes, some of them more interesting and entertaining than others. I particularly liked Sean Penn's burned out surfer dude who battles against a tyrannical history professor. But what I loved was the background historical details. Oh, to watch the opening montage of the goings-on in a suburban mall with a group of Generation Z'ers...

7/10

Gringo: Nash Edgerton

To read this review, go to: https://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/117846/gringo-is-a-messy-but-compelling-shkreli-revenge-fantasy/.

6/10

Serial Mom: John Waters

To read this review, go to: https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/personal-camp-close-up-on-john-waters-serial-mom.

7/10