-
Mira Nair’s “Queen of Katwe” is a Vibrant and Inspirational Metaphor
Disney’s Queen of Katwe appears to follow the standard formula of sports movie: take an underdog (bonus points for a disadvantaged upbringing) and chart their rise to the top ranks until they overcome some snooty favorite. Mira Nair’s film distinguishes itself through peerless acting, a vibrant but patient setting, and consistent application of its chosen sport as thematic metaphor. The film focuses on a young, poor female chess prodigy from Uganda named Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga). Throughout the story, chess is used as a mechanism for improvement and a way to escape her situation. Ultimately, Queen of Katwe champions the intellect of individuals, and shows us a world where young girls and boys can apply that intellect to improve their lives.
-
Oliver Stone’s Snowden Explores a Reticent Hero in an Age of Surveillance
Oliver Stone’s latest iconoclastic biopic, Snowden, is a stunning exploration of personal liberties, journalistic integrity, and demonization of the whistleblower. Stone minces no words and makes his position clear: for revealing the extent to which the US government was spying on its own citizenry at great personal risk, Edward Snowden is a hero. Hence, Stone is primarily occupied with humanizing Snowden, and his casting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a step in the right direction. The film also exploits a parallel narrative structure to simultaneously tell the story of his life and the few days when he provided classified information to journalists in a Hong Kong hotel room. The result is a film which brilliantly characterizes Edward Snowden, his changing worldview, and the choices that made him infamous.
-
State of the Blog – November 2016
The second-scariest month of the year has passed, and we now find ourselves in the most-scariest. Something about an election (to paraphrase Barry Crimmins, the problem is that someone will win). Fortunately, there is a high chance that fans of film stand to win as well, as November appears to the month with the most intriguing array of releases. December looks fine too, but we’ll deal with that one as it comes. For this month’s base-touching, I’ll lament about the relatively disappointing October (briefly), wig out about November flicks that I predict will be worth seeing, and do a little managerial upkeep on Plot and Theme.
-
“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” to This Parched Well
Can a well be dry after a single successful trip? Because if Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the best this franchise has to offer after its surprising debut, then we might as well be drinking sand. None of the new characters are likable, the acting is hollow, and the writers deprive Jack Reacher himself of any real interest. The plot is derivative and full of generic bad guys that make Jai Courtney look like Anton Chigurh. The screenplay is written by three people, none of whom are named “Christopher McQuarrie”, and is populated by wooden groaners and extreme plot conveniences. The plot is generic, and its associated “twist” is lazy and telegraphed worse than the death of Han Solo. This is a film that is completely bereft of technique, subtlety, and intrigue.
-
“The Accountant” Merges Dry Comedy and Calculated Action to Solid Effect
Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant is an entertaining thriller that sports a peculiar mix of black ops action and wry humor. It focuses around a high-functioning autistic man named Christian Wolff who handles advanced ballistics just as well as he does advanced calculus. The story is told through multiple flashbacks, and follows multiple characters in the present day as they interact. Not everything gels together perfectly, and the underlying themes are fairly under-developed in favor of a simplistic action sequences, but The Accountant does far more right than it does wrong.
-
“The Greasy Strangler” Descends into Depravity with the Ease of a Cult Classic
The Greasy Strangler might be what it feels like to go mad. The film is best described as a kind of John Waters fever dream (or maybe wet dream), that combines a penchant for bizarre sexuality with a tongue-in-cheek slasher film. The acting is purposely hammy, and each kill more absurd than the last. There are sequences that physically made me ill, and others that left me utterly befuddled. You can call it weird, disgusting, senseless, or even a fucking embarrassment of a film – but you can’t call it derivative or boring.
-
Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” Seeks a Spiritual Deliverance from Racial Injustice
Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation is a remarkable piece of cinema, especially from a first-timer. Parker controls this entire endeavor as writer, director, producer, and also stars as the slave Nat Turner. This is a powerful but sad film, though there is a kernel of hope at its center that Parker tries to work from. Based on a the real-life slave revolt led by Nat Turner in the early 1830s, the film offers incredible acting, but suffers slightly from narrative issues and some muddled thematic material. Of course, Parker takes some poetic license with the actual history, and while some of these help the story, others are more egregious and unnecessary. The most definitive aspect of the film is its profound spirituality, which Parker leans heavily on for dramatic justification of Turner’s rebellion, and also as the source of his leadership. Indeed, this is a film about not only racial injustice, but spiritual deliverance. Parker is sometimes lost with exactly where to focus the rebellious spirit, but these small mistakes cannot mar the overall poignancy of his message.
-
The Enchanting “Spirited Away” is Miyazaki’s Greatest Animated Film
Today, words are exceedingly lightweight. You can say whatever you like because words are as substantive as foam to us. That’s no more than a reflection of how empty our reality has become. And yet even now, the truth is that words are power. It’s just that we’re meaninglessly drowning in a sea of powerless, vacuous words.
-Hayao Miyazaki, 1999 – Director’s notes for Spirited Away
-
State of the Blog – October 2016
Autumn is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes sweater weather, pumpkin-spiced everything, and Oscar contenders. While I was a little harsh on the cinematic offerings of September, I was pleasantly surprised by most of what I saw last month, both at home and in the theater. I also began a new writing venture, which you should see reflected on this site soon. And, my readership seems to be increasing with each month, to boot! To make matters even better, October is stocked with an outstanding array of films, from high-dollar Hollywood fares all the way down to some of the most widely-regarded and weird indies out there. Let’s get into it.
-
Classic Review – Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” (2001)
To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.
– Det. Alonzo Harris
No fun when the rabbit has the gun, is it?
– Jake Hoyt
Long-Form Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs