Monthly Archives: July 2019

Review: Welcome to Marwen

Posted on July 20, 2019 by philipbrasor

It’s easy to see why Robert Zemeckis was attracted to the true-life story of Mark Hogancamp. Zemeckis’s brief since the Back to the Future series has been fantasy that comments on who we are right now, “we” being invariably Americans. … Continue reading →

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Media Mix, July 14, 2019

Posted on July 14, 2019 by philipbrasor

Here’s this week’s Media Mix about the scant coverage of Kurdish refugees in Japan. An obvious question that often arises when people discuss refugees in Japan is why they even come here in the first place, since Japan is clearly … Continue reading →

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Review: The Old Man & the Gun

Posted on July 12, 2019 by philipbrasor

David Lowery’s career so far has produced one of the weirdest bodies of work of any young director: the 70s pastiche Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, the surprisingly affecting family-friendly fantasy Pete’s Dragon, and the ambitious occult-psychological study A Ghost Story. His … Continue reading →

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Review: The Guardians

Posted on July 7, 2019 by philipbrasor

Xavier Beauvois takes an unusual approach to a war movie. Though he opens on a battlefield strewn with corpses during World War I, his film very rarely addresses the brute terror of warfare. Like Satyajit Ray’s memorable Distant Thunder, it … Continue reading →

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Review: The Sisters Brothers

Posted on July 6, 2019 by philipbrasor

The hitman movie hit a wall years ago, maybe as far back as Pulp Fiction, which billed itself as the last word on the sub-genre. Since then, it’s been variations on a theme, and the variations haven’t been varied enough … Continue reading →

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Review: Wildlife

Posted on July 5, 2019 by philipbrasor

Actor Paul Dano took on a lot when he decided to adapt Richard Ford’s 1990 novel as his directorial debut. Dano does not appear in the movie, and neither does his significant other and co-scenarist Zoe Kazan, but there’s something … Continue reading →

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Review: Girl

Posted on July 4, 2019 by philipbrasor

The movies are still conflicted when it comes to portraying LGBTQ individuals, not because the portraits are necessarily difficult to convey with sensitivity and honesty, but because the very act of representation is fraught. Heterosexual cisgender actors and actresses still … Continue reading →

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