Specter of Reason

My curiosity about  The Force Awakens  was mild.  I was more skeptical than anything else.  And yet, when opening day crept up on me, I found myself getting excited.  Finally, sitting in the cinema as the opening crawl started the film, I was captivated in a way I had not expected: After all these years, I am still deeply connected to Luke Skywalker's story. I was too young to see the original  Star Wars  in the cinemas, but just old enough for  The Empire Strikes Back.   I was nine for  Return of the Jedi.   I had my share of the toys and books, and I'm pretty sure I had  Star Wars  underwear, too.  My infatuation was gone before puberty hit, but the iconography and mythology never lost their potency.   Star Wars  references have always been there--not just because they are fun, but because they are meaningful. Now, witnessing the continuation of the mythology as a middle-aged man with a soft s...

Mad Max: Fury Road  is a fitting allegory for modern times:  We can find messages about reproductive rights, natural resources and religious warfare, as well as some meditations on the more general themes of home, family, power, freedom and survival.  What makes the film more than just a generic action flic is that these themes are brought to life through the creation of a compelling, mythologically rich world.  Though it is unmistakably a Mad Max film,  Fury Road surprisingly calls to mind the familiar mythological territory of the original  Star Wars  saga. Spoiler Alert:   Mad Max: Fury Road is all about the action and visual spectacle, so you can still enjoy it even if the plot has been spoiled.  However, it offers plenty to think about in the few quiet moments between (and after) those astonishing action sequences.  If you'd rather not know much about how the plot develops, don't read what follows. Fury Road ' opens at...

I watched Cold In July last night.  It's not a bad movie.  The acting and directing are stellar, and it is in some ways original and daring.  But when it was over, I was more frustrated than satisfied. Be warned: the following contains spoilers. Rich (Michael C. Hall) accidentally kills a man whom he and Ben  (Sam Shepard) are told is Ben's son.  Ben makes thinly veiled threats, but the police refuse to act until Ben does something illegal.  The police are very concerned about the law, apparently.  Then Ben breaks into Rich's house.  That gives the police enough suspicion to watch the house, but not to arrest Ben?  Fine.  So they watch and find out that Ben never left the house.  Well, they don't see him, but they assume it was him.  So they arrest him. For what?  For breaking in and not leaving until late at night?  They couldn't have just arrested him for breaking in in the first place? In any case, they...

Birdman,  Oscar's Best Picture of 2014, is a satire of Hollywood's lack of artistic gravitas.  The primary target is the dark hole of superhero films that attracts much of the industry's money and talent.   Birdman goes out of its way to repeatedly poke fun at superhero movies.  And yet, the Oscar for Best Animated Feature went to Big Hero 6 . . . a superhero movie.  Who said the Academy had to be consistent? I just watched Big Hero 6 and enjoyed a lot of it.  Yet, it suffers from all of the problems that often plague superhero movies.  It is the perfect example of the sort of film that Birdman is making fun of.  (Warning:  the rest of this post contains major spoilers.) The hero (subtly named "Hiro"), a thirteen-year-old boy of limited means, somehow manages to produce thousands of tiny 'microbots,' and gear for controlling them directly through his thoughts.  It's not even so ridiculous that he could come up with a way to...

In lieu of the Oscars, here are my own categories (and winners) for 2014 films. Best Drama: Leviathan Runners-Up: Nightcrawler Selma Best Sci-Fi: Under The Skin Best Horror: The Babadook Runner Up: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night Best Comedy: Frank Runner Up: What We Do In The Shadows Best Action: Edge Of Tomorrow Best Children's Movie: Maleficent Best Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood); Runners Up: Ava DuVernay (Selma) Jonathan Glazer (Under The Skin) Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) Best Actress: Essie Davis (The Babadook); Runner Up: Julianne Moore (Still Alice) Best Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) Runners Up: David Oyelowo (Selma) Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Laura Dern (Wild); Runner Up: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) Best Actor in a Supporting Role: J. K. Simmons (Whiplash) Runner Up: Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher) Best Cinematography: Mikhail Krichman (Leviathan) Runner Up: Robert Yeoman (Grand Budapest Hot...

My initial reaction to Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida was anger and frustration:  Not at the historical injustice documented in the film.  Not at the personal tragedy.  Rather, it's the film itself that bothers me:  It is a film about two Jewish women in the wake of the Holocaust, but Judaism itself is absent from the picture.  A. O. Scott observes, in his New York Times review , the film "unfolds at the crossroads where the Catholic, Jewish and Communist strains of Poland's endlessly and bitterly contested national identity intersect."  What Scott fails to notice, however, is that Judaism exists in the film only negatively:  Jews are victims of the Holocaust; Jews are corrupt communists, faithless, self-destructive and morally lost.  The film makes "an implicit argument . . . between faith and materialism," as Scott also observes, but it is Catholic faith that is on the line, not Judaism.  There is no representation of Judaism as a viable option i...