“Unlike the other D-Day, it will not be a walk on the beach.” http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2016/03/23/new-girl-season-5-episode-12-recap-dda
New Girl 5.12: “D-Day”
March 23, 2016
New Girl, New Girl Episode Reviews, Television New Girl, New Girl 512, New Girl D-Day, New Girl Season 5 Leave a comment
This Is a (Quickie) Movie Review: Creative Control
March 20, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews Creative Control, g, Reggie Watts Leave a comment
David has a bit of a problem. However, it could be a positive if he were to just change his perspective a bit. The ad agency he works at is promoting Augmenta, the latest in augmented reality glasses. He falls into being one of the most skilled test users, effortlessly creating a facsimile of his best friend’s girlfriend with whom he carries on an affair. Naturally, this plays havoc with his more tactile relationships. But the potential of Augmenta makes it clear that this could be just be a great deal of fun. If everyone were to just get weird with it like Reggie Watts (stopping by as himself to be the star of the Augmenta campaign) does, they would not succumb to all the overwrought yuppie malaise. Healthy or dangerous, the tripping in Creative Control is out of sight.
This Is a (Quickie) Movie Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane
March 20, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews 10 Cloverfield Lane, John Goodman 1 Comment
There are multiple premises baked into the DNA of 10 Cloverfield Lane, and they are all significant enough to stand on their own. So the success of this film could be due to at least one of the films within it working so well or due to the confluence of all of them making for just the right formula. To best determine that answer, there ought to be an experiment breaking up this clever sequel into its constituent parts, with a control movie serving as the most bare-bones version. Perhaps there could be one sub-version of each with John Goodman, and one without, though that is unnecessary because he is clearly a national treasure.
This Is a (Quickie) Movie Review: Knight of Cups
March 20, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews Knight of Cups Leave a comment
There are so many cameos in Knight of Cups, from so many different sectors of the entertainment-industrial complex: Dan Harmon, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Joe Manganiello, Nick Offerman, Kevin Corrigan, Jason Clarke, Ryan O’Neal, Nick Kroll, and Fabio as himself. This raises an interesting question: is Terrence Malick testing us by seeing if we will just focus on the cameos at the expense of everything else? With his typical style of associative editing and exclusively ADR dialogue, it is much easier to say, “Hey! What are they doing in this?!” than to make sense of what is going on. As with The Tree of Life, I can already see myself thinking about this film more deeply than while I was watching it and thus appreciating it in retrospect. That might be a sign of success.
This Is a Movie Review: Zoolander 2
March 20, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews Don Atari, Kyle Mooney, Zoolander 2 Leave a comment
The first Zoolander worked as satire because it was about an industry desperately holding onto its relevance (with the existence of said relevance questionable in the first place) and the bobos who represented that last grasp. There is nothing inherently wrong with a sequel premiering a decade after the original, but it is always a challenge, especially so in the case of Zoolander 2. Its setting is so far removed from a natural one in that the setup necessary to get everyone where they need to be is convoluted and exhausting. The sweat comes from effort, not embarrassment.
The film comes to life when it focuses on the here and now. Hot designer Don Atari (Kyle Mooney) is where the real story is at. Fashion – or any industry in 2016 driven entirely by trends – keeps dying and rebirthing and eating itself. Mooney plays Atari as 100% ironically hipster and 100% earnestly enthusiastic, expressing his admiration for Derek and Hansel by simultaneously praising and dismissing them. It is infuriating and intoxicating. This paradoxical approach is scary, but it is how films as broad as the Zoolander’s need to distinguish themselves (see also: Fred Armisen’s face digitally transposed onto a pre-teen’s body).
This Is a Movie Review: The Witch
March 20, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews anya taylor-joy, Black Phillip, Ellie Grainger, Harvey Scrimshaw, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson, Robert Eggers, The Witch 6 Comments
The climax of The Witch is a lot like that of The Crucible, in which rampant paranoia fatally tears apart a New England colonial community. But in this case, there unequivocally is an actual witch. And it is perhaps even more tragic because the community is just a single nuclear family. With parent turning against child, and sibling targeting sibling, the witch almost feels superfluous. The extent of her powers suggests that she could wipe out the whole family in one fell swoop if she wanted to. However, there is also a hint that she must take advantage of familial betrayal to get herself into fighting shape. But perhaps the witch, like the audience watching her, loves a good horror film, and the 17th century equivalent of that is a tree-side view of the gradual dissolution of foolhardy settlers. In that sense her taste is beautifully freaky, with plenty of unforgettable moments (creepy twins relentlessly chanting about their prize goat, a raven pecking at a bloody breast, a cow’s udder squirting blood) proving to be fun for everyone!
This Is a Movie Review: Midnight Special
March 20, 2016
Cinema, Movie Reviews Adam Driver, Jeff Nichols, Michael Shannon, Midnight Special Leave a comment
What if a cult’s prediction about a looming apocalyptic happening is correct? Midnight Special humors this premise, while also keeping the vibe mysterious and uncertain. Something will happen on March 6 involving supernaturally powered eight-year-old Alton, but nobody knows just what that something is. (Spoiler: The fact that it remains unknown means both nothing and everything.)
With Alton, his parents, and his dad’s friend on the run from the cult and federal agents, Midnight Special asserts itself as an indelible mix of eye-in-the-sky sci-fi and laconic chase movie. Director Jeff Nichols has earned auteur status; his influences (ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) are unmistakable, but his style is uniquely his own. There are not very many movies in which supernatural powers can be interpreted as meta trope awareness – Alton’s sense that the NSA agent played by Adam Driver (adorably all-business) is the guy he needs to talk to is basically a way of saying, “Okay, let’s move the story along.” There are elements that could make Midnight Special annoying or derivative, but it is so calm and its performances are so lived-in that it instead manages to be welcoming and challenging in a matter-of-fact way.
What Won TV? – March 13-March 19, 2016
March 20, 2016
Television, What Won TV? Baskets, Better Call Saul, Childrens Hospital, Last Week Tonight, March Madness, The Middle, The People vs. O.J. Simpson Leave a comment
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Better Call Saul
Tuesday – The People vs OJ Simpson
Wednesday – (Norm MacDonald Alert!) The Middle
Thursday – (Picnic) Baskets
Friday – Childrens Hospital
Saturday – March Madness, mainly the Wichita St.-Miami battle
The Middle 7.17 – “The Wisdom Teeth”
March 17, 2016
Television, The Middle, The Middle Episode Reviews Mary Birdsong, Norm MacDonald, Rusty Heck, The Middle, The Middle 717, The Middle Season 7, The Wisdom Teeth Leave a comment
“Just another selfie gone wrong” http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2016/03/17/the-middle-season-7-episode-17-recap-t
New Girl 5.11 – “The Apartment”
March 16, 2016
New Girl, New Girl Episode Reviews, Television New Girl, New Girl 511, New Girl Season 5, The Apartment Leave a comment
Has Jess’ job become a poo-poo festival? http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2016/03/16/the-middle-season-5-episode-11-recap-t
Jmunney's Blog 