Whiplash: The Purification of Art According to Liberal Ideology

"A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential."xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Brief: The Accountant

A film that, despite its obvious and pervasively noted short-comings movingly exalts an invisible cinematic underclass of dysfunctional human life and offers an interesting indication of what might be considered the anti-superhero cinema.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Aside: Kubo and the two strings

Disappointingly, almost unwatcheably unintelligent nonsense that, while it does introduce some interesting new animation techniques to the format that are worth a few moments to respect, is simply unable to create anything resembling an actual story along with any of what's necessary to tell it.xxxx

Rogue One: truly, a Star Wars story

Gareth Edwards and Disney rearticulate the entire Star Wars franchise, grounding it, perhaps for the first time, in a way that properly respects the cinematic significance of what George Lukas originally created and what has only been improperly exploited for profit and meta-cultural citation since.

In Brief: The Arrival

A film whose intentions are to be an Interstellar of the mind that, while it raises an interesting set of ideas, is mostly a derivative imitation based in an anachronistic militaristic ideology that undermines its message.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Brief: The Magnificent Seven

A film with genre-expanding ambitions that, although it has some high points worth watching for, rings somewhat hollow when considered on the merits of its main purpose as a successor to the Coens' True Grit.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Brief: Lo and Behold, Reveries of a Connected World

A surprisingly worthwhile film that manages to transcend the documentary genre and Herzog's own idiosyncrasies to achieve a truly poetic statement on the Internet.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Brief: Captain Fantastic

A film punctuated with moments of insight assembled into an absurdly non-sensical montage, when looked at properly, reflects something about the insanity of American social-life while remaining a film absolutely not worth taking very seriously.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Second Look: The Night Of

Now that this HBO series has concluded, we take a moment to review our previous analysis of the series to see how it culminates in a reflection on a process of transformation taking place in American society today .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Brief: Woody Allen's Café Society

Woody Allen's latest film deals with the alienating potential of dreams. However, as with some of his recent work, this one gets a too bogged down in hyper-neurotic reflexivity that undermines what it could have been.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Night Of: Elevating The Ordinary

This new HBO series brings Scandinavian crime-noir to the U.S. to explore dysfunction in the criminal justice system and undermine existing cinematic representations of it.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Birdman: precisely what Robert Altman's Short Cuts is missing

Iñárritu's film owes alot to Robert Altman's Short Cuts, from which it borrows many ideas that were pregnant but not fully realized in his film. Iñárritu also makes a much better film that pays real respect to Raymond Carver's work.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dinosaur 13 and Criminal Ideology

The most dishonest propaganda film in recent memory, this film tries to exploit every aspect of the structure and aesthetic of a good documentary to re-write the history of the crimes and profiteering of a group of fossil thieves.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Revisionist 'Conservative' Ideology of Billions

Another in the long list of Showtime's attempts to create a conservative ideological counter-point to HBO's progressivism. This film pulls out every trick in the book to re-cast corporate profiteers as inherently honest, decent people.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What The Big Short is Not

While an honest and valuable film that takes a look at the under-explored causes of the 2008 Financial Crash, the film's final judgment is rather thin and unsatisfying and reminds us what Scorcese accomplised with his Wolf of Wallstreet.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Interstellar and Event: Producing the Future

"Something? SOMeTHING...."did nn take STRONG in the atmosphere with Mathew?! Not at all;;;;;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx