“Signs”
Warning: Reviews of Ted Lasso season 3 will contain spoilers.
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Beef
It all starts in a parking lot between a 20-year old pickup truck and a shiny, new Mercedes. In spite of the specific circumstances, it’s a scenario we can all relate to: a minor incident occurs and touches a nerve that allows it to fester for an incomprehensible amount of time. Unfortunately for the characters in Beef, the newest limited series from Netflix and A24, it’s a moment that begins the unraveling of two lives and virtually everyone else they know and love.
Continue reading Beef – TV Review“Big Week”
Warning: Reviews of Ted Lasso season 3 will contain spoilers.
Continue reading Ted Lasso: Season 3, “Big Week” – TV Review
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Mario has traveled to all sorts of worlds since his introduction in 1985; from the Mushroom Kingdom to the race track to the tennis courts to the Olympic Games, he’s as malleable as any pop culture protagonist. Then again, when your original adventure consists of little more than a side-scrolling series of jumps and sewer pipes, your storytelling options are basically limitless.
Continue reading The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Movie Review
Tetris
“A movie about Tetris” feels a bit like an indication of the empty-headed nature of the Hollywood ecosystem. What could possibly be compelling about a bunch of colorful falling blocks, a game defined by how much of a waste of time it was? Lest we forget, six Transformers movies and The Emoji Movie exist.
Continue reading Tetris – Movie Review“4-5-1”
Warning: Reviews of Ted Lasso season 3 will contain spoilers.
Continue reading Ted Lasso: Season 3, “4-5-1” – TV Review
Smoking Causes Coughing
French absurdist filmmaker Quentin Dupieux knows how to craft a bizarre story with utmost sincerity. His 2020 film Deerskin was the tale of a man going through the most extreme midlife crisis ever by murdering everyone at the command of a jacket. 2021’s Mandibles was about two lovable dopes trying to find fame and fortune by training a dog-sized fly. His latest, Smoking Causes Coughing – which he wrote, directed, shot, and edited himself – sees him essentially throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, for better and worse.
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Return to Seoul
Where are you from?
It’s an innocent, innocuous question most of the time, but in Return to Seoul, it contains layers of complicated emotions. The film deals with issues of identity (both personal and national) and self-acceptance, and it’s buoyed by a magnificent performance from Ji-Min Park in her first on-screen role. It’s also a kind of cinematic memoir (don’t roll your eyes yet) for writer and director Davy Chou, who gives the film a nuanced look at dual citizenship from the perspective of someone that’s actually experienced the unique phenomenon firsthand.
Continue reading Return to Seoul – Movie Review“(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea”
Warning: Reviews of Ted Lasso season 3 will contain spoilers.
Continue reading Ted Lasso: Season 3, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” – TV Review
I don’t know what I expected these final installments of the first season of the show to look like. One of the great pleasures of the show is that you never really know what you’re going to get from week to week. With no overarching narrative for Roddenberry and the writers to work through, they’ve been free to tell whatever stories they can in whatever order they choose. We’ve seen a number of characters and storylines introduced that feel like perfect setup for future episodes (Mudd, Khan, the Klingons) and some of that can be felt in these episodes. While they’re not perfect episodes – altogether, they’re rather disappointing to end on – they at least set up their concepts in a way that’s consistent with the show and contain some dynamite plot elements.
Continue reading Seasons of Seasons: Star Trek Season 1, “The Alternative Factor”, “The City on the Edge of Forever” & “Operation: Annihilate!”
The Movie State 