March 20, 2016
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Knight of Cups
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.
March 20, 2016
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Don Atari, Kyle Mooney, Zoolander 2
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).
March 20, 2016
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
anya taylor-joy, Black Phillip, Ellie Grainger, Harvey Scrimshaw, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson, Robert Eggers, The Witch
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!
March 20, 2016
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Adam Driver, Jeff Nichols, Michael Shannon, Midnight Special
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.
March 20, 2016
jmunney
Television, What Won TV?
Baskets, Better Call Saul, Childrens Hospital, Last Week Tonight, March Madness, The Middle, The People vs. O.J. Simpson
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
March 13, 2016
jmunney
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television
Ariana Grande, Ariana Grande Impressions, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4115, Saturday Night Live Season 41, SNL, SNL Season 41
SNL Promo: Taran Killam, Ariana Grande (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)
This review was originally posted on Starpulse in March 2016.
Musical guests may have limited range compared to most “SNL” hosts, but they are still entertainers. On top of that, Ariana Grande is also a veteran of Nickelodeon, which – while excessively hacky – tends to make professionals out of its kid stars. If Grande is given good material, she will know how to hit her marks. So it should not be considered shocking that her hosting debut is mostly a success. But who would have guessed that in the pantheon of great “SNL” hosts, she would be most similar to Kevin Spacey?
CNN America’s Choice 2016 – Once again, the cold opening is a political catchall, but this one works better than most thanks to a more streamlined focus, with only the best impressions of the season (sans Hillary, though her moment comes later). Darrell Hammond and Jay Pharoah have sufficiently creepy chemistry as Trump and Carson, but the real twist is Larry David’s latest Bern-ing cameo. He rants delightfully on and on about the latest foibles of the primary, reserving special disdain for superdelegates (“I’ve met some of these superdelegates. They’re not that super”). B
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March 13, 2016
jmunney
Television, What Won TV?
Ariana Grande, Baskets, Childrens Hospital, Jane the Virgin, Last Week Tonight, Man Seeking Woman, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The People vs. O.J. Simpson, VICE
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 – Can Last Week Tonight with John Oliver be its own special-purpose district?
Monday – Jane the Virgin
Tuesday – The People vs OJ Simpson
Wednesday – Man Seeking Woman fulfilled its promise in Season 2.
Thursday – Baskets
Friday – TIE: VICE and Childrens Hospital met very different TV needs.
Saturday – Ariana Grande made quite the impression on SNL.
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