At one point in BARBIE, Greta Gerwig’s pink-plastic jab at the patriarchy, America Ferrara, as Gloria, an ordinary woman, gives an impassioned précis on exactly what women face in the current social climate. It is a clarion call that should reverberate through the ages and one that will, like the film in which it appears,… Read More »
CRYPTOZOO
CRYPTOZOO is a touching throwback to the animated films of the late 60s and early 70s in both style and in substance. Set in that time frame, it is full of idealism about the possibilities of human society and wonder at the natural world, while also tempered with poignant cynicism about both. Writer/director Dash Shaw… Read More »
SAUSAGE PARTY
It’s just as well that Seth Rogan’s animated comedy, SAUSAGE FEST, is R-rated. That would be because the most awkward question a parent might have to answer after his or her child has seen this metaphysically dense romp wouldn’t be about the specific mechanics involved in the bonding between Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a bosomy hot… Read More »
YEAR ONE
YEAR ONE is a lazy excrescence of a film. Crude, sloppy, flat, and singularly uninspired, its only redeeming virtue is proving that Michael Cera is capable of rising above even this abominable material. He does this by being in a film that is entirely separate from the one taking place around him, a smart move.… Read More »
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Bryan Lee O’Malley, redefines the cinematic linear narrative by frog-marching it straight into the psyche of the post-adolescent zeitgeist. A slick synthesis of graphic novel and cinema, it becomes much more that just he sum of its parts, it becomes… Read More »