Reviews
Damien Chazelle’s Babylon Proves He Loves and Hates the Art of Cinema: Review
The Pitch: It’s 1926, and the movie business is a-boomin’. If you’re on top, you ride along with big-time movie producers to glittery bacchanals out in the California desert, uninhibited orgies stuffed with ticker tape, booze, cocaine, and elephants trudging through the masses of people. If you’re not, well, you sneak in anyway and hope for your big shot. It’s at one of these parties that we meet six figures who represent the end of one era and the beginning of another: Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), a silent film star whose shine is wearing off after decades in the biz; Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a hard-partying Jersey girl desperate to make it in the pictures; and Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a hustling assistant climbing the ladder one ludicrous favor at a time. There’s also Elinor St....
Emo’s Not Dead Cruise Proves It Wasn’t Just a Phase: Recap, Photos and Video
With the onslaught of reunion tours and themed festivals that have popped up since the pandemic has simmered down (but let’s be honest, has it?), it only seemed right to throw in a scene fest amongst the jam bandy, stadium rock gatherings we’ve been seeing. There was When We Were Young, its own little toe dip into devotion of an era when Hot Topic was still kind of cool, but why see burned CD classics on land? How 2019 of us. Thankfully, scene king Matt Cutshall took his “emo’s not dead” bit to the shallow seas (we sail) with a freaking cruise… and it was awesome. The inaugural Emo’s Not Dead Cruise was a bit of curveball. Emos and water? Here’s where you’d insert a joke about turning the ocean black with our tears. Yet, something about it just… worked. From acoustic sets to bands playing ...
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio Breathes New Life Into the Classic Fable: Review
The Pitch: 2022 has really seemed like The Year of Pinocchio. While the original 1883 Italian novel by Carlo Collodi has had its fair share of adaptations over the years (from classic Disney delights to, well, Pauly Shore in middle-aged twink mode), this year saw new takes on the material from two of cinema’s most acclaimed directors. But where Robert Zemeckis’ retelling felt morbid and soulless, master of the macabre Guillermo del Toro returns to gift us with a version that hits the classic beats of the fable, while slotting it handily into the concerns and aesthetics the director has pursued his entire career. The lumber is the same, but the construction is quite different: Pinocchio (the cherubic Gregory Mann) is still the wooden boy whittled into existence by old carpenter Geppett...
With Indigo, RM Makes Fleeting Moments Feel Permanent
The album cover of RM’s Indigo includes artwork by Korean artist Yun Hyong-keun, a painter known for meditative, contemplative pieces characterized by splashes of umber and ultramarine. While the contemporary paintings are relatively minimalist, they’re technically complex, and all the more layered considering the artist was a bold, persistent figure who survived one of the most turbulent and traumatic periods in South Korea’s history. The streaming press preview of Indigo included extensive notes on the record; it’s there that Yun Hyong-keun is noted as RM’s favorite painter. RM, who was born Kim Namjoon, is the leader of BTS, the biggest pop group on the planet. He’s also a vocal supporter and passionate collector of contemporary art, particularly interested in elevating work by South Ko...
Willow Review: Fantasy Television That’s Here For a Good Time
The Pitch: It’s been quite a time for super-serious sci-fi and fantasy epics, as anyone who’s attempted to keep up with House of the Dragon, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Sandman, and many, many other shows will tell you. But here comes Disney+’s Willow, with a modern rock song in its heart, a young hot ensemble ready to jump into action, and its own take on swords and sorcery to share. Willow? You Mean Three-Time MTV Video Music Award Nominee Willow, Don’t You? Okay, as a longtime fan of the 1988 film Willow, a person who has spent a lifetime yelling “What do you mean, you haven’t seen Willow?” at people… I know that there’s a good chance that most people are not familiar with the original Ron Howard-directed fantasy adventure. So here’s the deal: In the original movie (w...
Little America’s Second Season Offers a Much-Needed Dose of Optimism: Review
The Pitch: It’s often very difficult to feel optimistic about the general state of things in this country. For people who have grown up and lived through crisis after crisis, the many who were thrust into unsteady job markets and a Sisyphean uphill battle of debt and financial instability, the elusive American Dream sounds like just that — a dream. For the particularly vulnerable, like people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community who face a rapid increase in life-threatening rhetoric, there’s an intersectionality to the frustration and fear that can accompany everyday life in the US. While film and television aren’t an immediate salve for wide-reaching systemic issues, stories do matter, as does representation. Little America, the Apple TV+ anthology series developed by Le...
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Is Sweet, Slight, and (Kevin) Bacon-Flavored: Review
The Pitch: Did you know that in Britain, there’s a long and proud tradition of ongoing series putting out special episodes for the holidays? More often than not, they’re even broadcast on Christmas Day, when it seems that entire nation turns into couch potatoes. In America, though, our more couch potato-y holiday happens to be Thanksgiving, and our biggest ongoing series happens to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus, this week’s release of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special feels pretty apt. Clocking in at 42 minutes (including post-credits scene), James Gunn’s breezy holiday confection offers a little bit of set-up as to where the titular Guardians, including Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillen), Rocket (Bradley Coop...
Andor Season 1 Told the Star Wars Story We Need for Times Like These
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Andor.] A lot of major plot points are packed into the Season 1 finale of Andor, but really, one of the year’s most powerful episodes of television came down to a speech from a dead woman. Fiona Shaw’s work was the definition of Emmy-worthy in the back half of the season, as Cassian Andor (Diego Luna)’s adoptive mother, fully aware that she was nearing the end of her days, became fully committed to one goal: doing whatever she could to combat the rise of the Empire. Her passing in Episode 11, as seen from the point of view of her loyal droid B2EMO, was already a heartbreaking moment for the show — the childlike sadness of “I want Maarva” jerking tears from anyone who’s ever lost a loved one. But then came her sp...
The Smile Prove They Aren’t Just a Radiohead Side Project at New York City Show: Recap + Setlist
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are many things, but flashy certainly isn’t one of them. Along with drummer Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet, the two Radiohead members quietly re-emerged together earlier this year as The Smile. The trio released their debut album, May’s A Light for Attracting Attention, with relatively little press or social media promotion surrounding it; as with most good things involving Radiohead, the music speaks for itself. With the exception of Greenwood’s prolific output of consistently beautiful film scores, even the most ardent fans would have to admit that many Radiohead members’ side projects (solo endeavors, the Flea-featuring supergroup Atoms for Peace) have up to this point typically paled in comparison to their main band’s discography. But when Yorke, Greenwood,...
With His Final Dodger Stadium Show, Elton John Wrote His Own Happy Ending: Review
Something I never expected to see in Dodger Stadium during Elton John’s last live concert in North America — a peek at his belly. But due to the poor fit of the icon’s first wardrobe choice (a sequined tuxedo jacket with tails, and pants that needed adjusting every time he stood up to acknowledge the crowd), at a certain point a bit of pink skin became visible through a gap in his button-down shirt. This tiny wardrobe malfunction was the only notable misstep during an intense marathon of music seeped in legacy, and it proved to be charming, in a way — a moment of human fallibility that felt all too relatable. Especially because this semi-final stop on the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour” was otherwise transcendent, an invitation into the passion Elton John has for his work...
Murky Truths and Murky Waters Collide in the Compelling 1899: Review
The Pitch: Several years ago, German creative/romantic partners Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar made their mark with Netflix’s sci-fi/thriller series Dark. Centered around “A missing child [who] sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations,” it was heavily praised by critics and audiences. Thus, the roughly two-and-a-half-year wait to see what the duo would do next has been tough, to put it mildly. That brings us to their second succinctly-yet-enigmatically-titled show for the streaming service, 1899. This time, “multinational immigrants traveling from the old continent to the new encounter a nightmarish riddle aboard a second ship adrift on the open sea.” Along the way, various truths and connections are discovered ab...
Welcome to Chippendales Is True Crime at Its Most Compelling and Unexpected: Review
The Pitch: If you don’t live under a rock, chances are you’ve heard of Chippendales: the elegant, trailblazing first-ever all-male strip-tease troupe that has been bringing delightfully scandalous thrills to audiences since the 1970s. What you may not know, however, is that the burlesque’s history is brimming with conspiracy, racketeering, arson, and murder. Over the course of 10 episodes, Welcome to Chippendales, Robert Siegel’s limited series based on K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca’s 2014 literary exposée Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders, shrewdly examines and unravels the club’s shocking, harrowing history. The show rigorously dissects the troupe’s inception, rise to fame, and subsequent descent into the deepest, most gruesome bowels of corruption. A Killer Strip Tease:...
