The Goods: Film Reviews
There were certainly worse ideas in 2011 than rebooting the Spy Kids franchise. It’s a film concept that’s easy to refresh: recruit a new batch of charming kid actors, update the gadgets for the new era, weave in some family values, and spin up a kooky spy-fi premise.
I haven’t seen Grindhouse, but my understanding is that it works as more than the sum of its parts, crafting a fantasy B-movie universe to dive into.
A movie I like slightly less each time I see it, and now I’m up to four times, I think.
Nouchka van Brakel’s films center around women asserting their identity via a sexuality outside of the mainstream. In The Cool Lakes of Death, protagonist Hetty’s “taboo” is simply being a woman of assertive sexuality in prudish 19th century bourgeoisie.
Fellini’s first solo directing effort is a light and uneven — but still ultimately satisfying — romantic comedy farce with undercurrents of satire.
Nights of Cabiria traces the romantic misadventures of the title character, played to perfection by Giulietta Masina, owner of one of the great expressive faces in the history of cinema.
If narrative momentum is your thing, whatsoever, then Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a bit of a slog to get through.
Where The Little Mermaid 2 is content to retread the original’s story, but in reverse and less coherently and uglier, Ariel’s Beginning at least tries something new. It doesn’t exactly stick the landing, but I’d still put it in the upper half of Disney’s direct-to-video sequels.
What’s this? A film from the 1970s that treats homosexuality with nuance and earnest generosity, not as a big icky farcical hoot or a facade for depravity? To be fair, I am very much NOT up to speed on my queer cinema history, but given that this felt like a fair depiction in 2021, I can only imagine how progressive it was 42 years ago.
I’m not quite sure this movie realizes that it’s a neo-noir.