Get Swept Up In The Overwhelming Feature The Wind

We're nearly five months into this whole pandemic thing in America. Considering we've all spent way more time in our own homes in 2020 than we ever could have imagined, I think we can all relate to The Wind protagonist Letty Mason (Lillian Gish) right about now. Specifically, the way Mason finds her home in Sweetwater, Texas to be more of a prison than a home. Granted, when it comes to COVID-19, I'll take being stir-crazy over getting sick any day of the week. Still, it's understandable to feel a touch tired of your own four walls after a while. Mason gets it, though she's got way more to worry about than just how overly familiar her home is.

Ryan Reynolds Delivers Unexpectedly Intense Acting in Buried

Before he made it big as Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds was a common sight in indie movies. In fact, in the last three years before he got to play a comics-accurate version of The Merc With a Mouth, Reynolds worked with indie directors like Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Marjane Satrapi and Atom Egoyan. I'll always wonder, if Deadpool had never happened or even flopped, would Reynolds have just kept on doing these types of indie movies? Would he have just quietly fizzled out doing these movies or would he have eventually found the role that catapulted him to the status of indie darling? We'll never know now that Reynolds is busy doing Deadpool movies until the end of time.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Proves That Batman Belongs In Animation

Most live-action Batman movies tend to be more interested in Batman's baddies than Batman himself. It's hard not to argue against being super interested in Michelle Pfieffer's Catwoman or Heath Ledger's Joker. Still, that's meant thoughtful examinations of Batman as a character have been left unexplored by the live-action Batman movies. Luckily, one 1993 animated feature is here to correct that. Much like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a much more thoughtful film than most live-action Spider-Man movies, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm eats the lunch of other live-action Batman movies. Between Phantasm and The LEGO Batman Movie, maybe Batman should just star in animated movies from now on?

The Last Full Measure Employs Half-Measures When It Comes To Storytelling

The Last Full Measure may become my go-to example of a movie that's focused on the wrong character. Much like Million Dollar Arm or The Red Sea Diving Resort, The Last Full Measure has compelling side characters who should be the lead characters of their stories. Instead, Measure, like Arm and Resort, shines a spotlight on a generic white dude protagonist. Such a character will only prove interesting to studio executives who spend nights fretting about focus group responses. In the process, Measure undercuts its own intended message of raising awareness for veterans that have been forgotten.

Melodramatic Love is Well-Realized All Throughout Farewell to Arms

It is World War I. On the Italian front of this worldwide conflict is Lieutenant Frederic Henry (Gary Cooper), an American architect serving as an officer on an ambulance in the Italian Army. A night of drinking leads him to run into English Red Cross nurse Catherine Barkley (Helen Hayes). Their first encounter isn't so splendid but a later rendezvous in a garden proves much more fulfilling for both of them. That night, the two of them make love, taking Barkley's virginity in the process. After this night of passion, they realize they love each other. Unfortunately, forces much greater than Henry and Barkley ensure the two are quickly separated. Even across endless miles of trenches and warfare, their love continues to burn bright.

Premature Captures Teenage Angst Both Intimately and From a Distance

Seventeen-year-old poet Ayanna (Zora Howard) is preparing for a lot of big changes in her life. She's about to leave her small home in Harlem for college. The next phase of her life is about to begin. But before that monumental change occurs, it's time for one last summer vacation. Over the course of this summer, Ayanna begins to take up a romantic affair with an older man by the name of Isaiah (Joshua Boone). Ayanna becomes enamored with him, though Isaiah doesn't just bring joyful romance into Ayanna's world. He also brings a number of challenges into her life, including Ayanna grappling with feelings of jealousy as well as helping to stir up animosity between Ayanna and her mother.

Radioactive is an Overstuffed Movie About a Scientific Trailblazer

Well, I suppose it's high-time Marie Curie got the movie biopic treatment. After all, Andrew Jackson, Dick Cheney and Christopher Columbus have all gotten their own biopics, why shouldn't Curie? Written by Jack Thorne and directed Marjane Satrapi, Radioactive chronicles the life of Curie beginning with her days as a scientist struggling to get any respect from her male colleagues. Eventually, she partners up with eventual lover Pierre Curie (Sam Riley) and the duo begin to make great breakthroughs in fields related to radium and polonium. Further struggles in Marie Curie's life emerge from how she fails to garner any credit for her scientific innovations as well as her being demonized for carrying on an affair with a married man.

Joe Dante's Matinee Puts On One Heck of a Show

Joe Dante loves movies. Now, you have to love this artform to get into the field of making movies. But even by that standard, Joe Dante really really really loves movies. His features aren't just full of references to older films. Dante loves to pay homage to the very act of watching films themselves! Sometimes, this happens in more subtle ways, like the Gremlins watching Snow White in a theater in Gremlins. Other times, like the Gremlins overtaking a projector in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, these homages are the sole focus of a scene. Dante's love for movie-watching, as well as his filmmaking skills, reached new heights with the 1993 film Matinee.

Run, Run, Run As Fast As You Can Away From The Gingerbread Man

It was no surprise to learn that Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man was plagued by production problems. The movie has all the hallmarks of something that's been tormented by competing creative visions. You don't just get the kind of clumsy editing or erratic tone in Gingerbread Man in just any movie. It could only come out of producers & directors having wildly different visions for how a motion picture should be. Of course, you don't have to know about its behind-the-scenes struggles to know Gingerbread Man is messy. Its journey to the big screen could have been smooth as butter and Gingerbread Man would still be a poor movie.

First Cow Is A Divine Bovine Shrine To The Importance of Kindness

Close your eyes and picture the traditional American frontiersman. Chances are, we've all got a similar vision of what such a person looks and acts like. First Cow begins with a group of these individuals. A collection of white men adorned in fur pelts with thick beards, gruff attitudes, and a proclivity for violence. They talk about women as just objects they can use for sex and then dispose of. Anything that strikes them as unconventional, they'll try to slaughter it. The cookie for this group is a man by the name of Cookie (John Magaro). He doesn't fit the traditional American frontiersman profile at all.

Dirty Harry's Filmmaking Is Ill-Suited For Such A Disposable Story

Look, let's get this out of the way first and foremost, yes, Dirty Harry is an exceedingly uncomfortable movie to watch. Not in an effective way either, like when you're watching a brazenly bold comedy or an intentionally upsetting drama. Harry is a wish-fulfillment fantasy for people who stamp Blue Lives Matter stickers to the back of their truck. Every white boy who feels that firing a gun off is the only way to solve any problem in the world has found their savior with the titular character of Dirty Harry. It's a character who was woefully out of date and uncomfortable back in 1972 and he's only even moreso in 2020.

On The Record is a Fascinating Exploration of Voices So Often Silenced

CW: Discussions of sexual assault

In the wake of the creation of the Me Too movement, voices of sexual assault survivors have begun to get elevated in a way that just hasn't been the norm for American society. But that doesn't mean all sexual assault survivor voices have been given equal treatment. As explored in the documentary On the Record, Black women who have had sexual assault experiences face extra struggles trying to get their stories told or even in just feeling like their experiences are worth sharing. Even as awareness increases regarding how rampant sexual assault is, the world still turns away from struggles pertaining to Black women sexual assault survivors.

A Dry White Season Is, Tragically, Still An All Too Relevant Feature

Ben du Toit (Donald Sutherland) thought he had his life in South Africa figured out. In his eyes, everything was as it should be, every person in society was living in their proper place. After all, he didn't suffer in his day-to-day life. Therefore, nobody, least of all his gardener Gordon Ngubene (Winston Ntshona), could be suffering around him. Of course, du Toit carried this perception while working as a schoolteacher in a school for white children only. The horrors of a racist society were staring him in the face every day yet he failed to see these injustices. However, Ben du Toit's entire cozy worldview is shattered when Nbubene goes to investigate the sudden disappearance and death of his son.

System Crasher Is a Harrowing and Impressive Piece of FIlmmaking

As System Crasher begins, everybody has kind of given up on nine-year-old Benni (Helena Zengel). She's been moved from foster home to foster home. Each time, something goes awry. No matter how much it seems like Benni has found the perfect home, her violent tendencies, as well as a desire to retrun to her birth mother, keep creeping up. Anger management trainer Michael Heller (Albrecht Schuch) believes he can help Benni. He takes her on a three-week trip into the woods where they'll live in a secluded cabin. Away from the world, Benni will have to find more constructive outlets for her rage. Or at least, that's the plan.

Zombi Child Uses Zombies to Explore Something Deeply Human

At the intersection of a fairy tale and a cautionary tale lies Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child. The newest film from the director of the 2017 feature Nocturama, Zombi Child concerns Melissa (Wislanda Louimat), who has just moved to a new school in France from her old life in Haiti. Melissa feels isolated in this environment, though she eventually finds a friend in Fanny (Louise Labeque). Her new pal is part of a very exclusive clique that eventually allows Melissa to become its newest member. Even with four new friends, Melissa still feels lonely, mostly because Fanny and her cohorts tend to (both intentionally and unintentionally) treat Melissa as an "other" in their lives.

Superman Returns Is A Rote Rehash of Past Superman Movies

Oh, what a puzzle Superman Returns is.

Describing how Superman Returns goes awry makes one sound like they're just contradicting themselves. At once, Returns is a film that's too dour but also too goofy. It's got too little action for long stretches but what action we do get is pretty uninvolving. It's slavishly devoted to the original Christoper Reeve Superman films (complete with recreating the final shot of Superman II) yet struggles to understand what actually made those classic movies work. While those grievances may all sound like vague paradoxes, they're also all true. Superman Returns strives to be the kind of epic movie event that soars above all other blockbusters. Instead, it just falls to Earth. Hard.

Superman II Is Old-Fashioned Fun In The Best Way Possible

Christopher Reeve's Superman will never fail to instill some warm and fuzzy feelings in my heart. However, I would say the most inspiring moment of Superman II does not come from Reeve's Superman. Instead, it comes from a bunch of civilians reacting to the apparent demise of Superman at the hands of General Zod (Terence Stamp). Watching an otherworldly figure defeat somebody as powerful as Superman hasn't instilled fear in their hearts. Instead, these mortal humans are now rallying together to take on Zod and his two goons. "C'mon! I know judo!" announces one Metropolis resident as everyone prepares to confront Zod.

Love and Basketball Scores At Being Well-Made Entertainment

Long-time next-door neighbors Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) have always harbored ambitions related to basketball. For Monica, those dreams entailed making history as the first woman to play in the NBA. For Quincy, it was all about living up to the legendary reputation of his basketball father Zeke McCall (Dennis Haysbert). Their shared passions eventually take them both to the University of Southern California, where they become a romantic couple. Every relationship has its ups and downs, and this one's no different. Most notably, problems arise once Quincy learns a devastating secret about his dad, all while Monica is busy trying to get any time on the basketball court.

Greyhound Lends A Human Touch To Wartime at Sea

Most war movies tend to star very distinctive protagonists. A mythic general. The soldiers who planted the flag at Iwo Jima. A soldier who refused to fight. Those kinds of people. Perhaps the most unique quality of Greyhound is that its lead character is intentionally framed as someone who isn't all that remarkable. Commander Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks) isn't really a notable person. His presence in this war isn't in and of itself a massive achievement. He's just a guy who has got a lady back home and would very much like to survive his time serving in World War II. Putting this guy front and center in a war movie see's Greyhound positing the idea that wars are not fought by legends, they're fought by everyday human beings.

Shock Corridor Exemplifies Samuel Fuller's Impressive Boundary-Pushing Tendencies

The works of Samuel Fuller were boundary-pushing in the best possible way. They weren't shallow edgelord poppycock, Fuller's films were actually dangerous.  They dared to cover topics that were taboo (and even still are) in mainstream Hollywood, including authentically messy portrayals of racism. Fuller wasn't afraid to make audiences uncomfortable and that talent is certainly around in his 1963 feature film Shock Corridor. Fuller's script is based around an idea that, in basic outline form, sounds like it might make a decent half-hour campfire story. In the hands of Fuller, though, it becomes something more haunting that comments on the uncaring nature of humanity.