Directed by Ted Demme Blow moves quickly.  Before the 30 minute mark, George (Johnny Depp) has already reinvented himself on the west coast as the weed dealer, gotten arrested for trafficking large amounts of drugs and dealt with the death of his girlfriend following a sudden cancer diagnosis.  Then the rest of the movie happens. Drug … Continue reading Blow (2001)

Directed by David Michod War Machine is a little bit of a lot.  It's a satire, but it treats itself and its characters with surprising weight.  In one moment, Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt) can be mocked for his self-seriousness and inflated ego, but in the next we're with him and his wife in a quiet, … Continue reading War Machine (2017)

"Directed" by David Fincher Alien 3 is truly awful.  It's the dying grasp of a franchise that didn't need to become a franchise.  Look, the film ends (spoiler)... with Ripley's death (Sigourney Weaver) as a big fuck you to the group of people who want to harness the embryo of an alien queen from her … Continue reading Alien 3 (1992)

Directed by Sean Baker Tangerine, as a story, is about the friendship of two women in a community in Los Angeles that doesn't have it easy.  They're both transgender prostitutes of color, but the story focuses on their personal ambitions, which of course have nothing to do with their position in society.  Alexandra (Mya Taylor) … Continue reading Tangerine (2015)

Directed by Ridley Scott Alien: Covenant is like a series of greatest hits moments from Alien and Aliens and probably from any of the other hundreds of Alien spinoffs and sequels.  It's a movie that, while featuring some nice action, effects and gore, feels completely pointless.  The plot is predictable, the twist is anything but, the characters act … Continue reading Alien: Covenant (2017)

Directed by Andrea Arnold There aren't many adults in American Honey, just a loose hierarchy of children bordering on teenagers and teenagers bordering on nothing but yet full of hope regardless.  Our protagonist into this young traveling circus of magazine salesmen driving across the country is a Texan girl named Star (Sasha Lane).  She joins the … Continue reading American Honey (2016)

Directed by Jim Jarmusch There's something gripping about sad Bill Murray.  As Don Johnston in Broken Flowers, Murray mostly plays the same melancholic character as he did in Lost in Translation two years prior.  In both cases Murray feels like he's playing a version of himself.  That's because despite his own deep sadness, when he's around … Continue reading Broken Flowers (2005)

Directed by David Cronenberg The Fly is delightfully fucked up.  That should be the extent of this review. It's a film I've meant to watch for a while, and it did not disappoint.  There is humor, gore, incredible practical special effects, Jeff Goldblum and a tremendously glib (is that the right word?) protagonist who becomes … Continue reading The Fly (1986)

Directed by John Carpenter Big Trouble in Little China is a combination of Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and racism.  Or maybe it's not racist, it's hard to say.  The whole film is so incredibly over the top and ludicrous that it's hard to tell to what degree this film is a parody of itself. … Continue reading Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Directed by David Cronenberg The hero of Eastern Promises is either Anna the midwife (Naomi Watts) or Nikolai the Russian mobster driver/enforcer (Viggo Mortensen).  They both end up heroic, I'd say, but Anna's journey is one of consistency, and Nikolai shows some character growth... except you eventually learn that he's a police informant, so it feels … Continue reading Eastern Promises (2007)