REVIEW: ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ is a fun, familiar paradox

If it isn’t already apparent, I love these movies. I recognize their flaws, and I’m okay with them. I expect them to function on a basic story level, but none more so than the original movie, with its Joseph Campbell formula, where Lucas draped his rich world-building. For me, The Rise of Skywalker is decidedly middle-tier Star Wars. It’s not nearly as frustrating as many clickbait-y headlines, thirsty for the partisan rage that kept pundits in the black when The Last Jedi came out, will attempt to argue.

REVIEW: ‘The Irishman’ and what we do with the time allotted to us

It turns out that observing how time withers men who believe they’re impervious to everything, especially the law, is an essential add-on to Scorsese’s body of work. Appropriately, it’s a movie about the ravages of time that would have been impossible to make without the hundreds of years of collective experience of the cast and crew.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowNovember 17, 2019the irishman, 2019, martin scorsese, robert de niro, al pacino, joe pesci, bobby cannavale, jesse plemons, gangster, mafia, drama, review, movies, filmComment

REVIEW: 'Ford v Ferrari' is a solid vehicle of clichés

If Walk the Line was panned for being a solid but profoundly clichéd film, then Ford v Ferrari should be similarly panned. There's nothing to really dislike about this decent film, but if you're looking for some deeper philosophy on how close racing is to death, why egos get so huge, Italians vs. Americans, old vs. new, risky vs. safe, etc. etc. then Mangold's not very interested in discussing it.

Film, New ReleasesJason ChenNovember 14, 2019ford v ferrari, matt damon, christian bale, catriona balfe, josh lucas, james mangold, tracy letts, racing, le mans, drama, reviewComment

REVIEW: ‘The Lighthouse’ is an elemental descent into madness

Even if you’re not the superstitious type, Eggers is able to make you believe that a violent encounter between Winslow and a one-eyed seagull is like Winslow signing his death warrant.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowNovember 7, 2019the witch, the lighthouse, robert pattinson, willem dafoe, robert eggers, sea, ocean, horror, thriller, 2019, review, movies, filmComment

REVIEW: ‘Jojo Rabbit’ asks how much you really want to punch a Nazi

So you take a comedy about the polarization of politics and the spread of nationalist rhetoric and set it in the context of the Second World War. These are issues that were relevant then and are still so today, but by viewing it in a different context, it gives us some breathing room.

REVIEW: ‘Joker’ finds narrative freedom amid disturbing psychology

Messy psychology aside, Joker behaves in the Batman film universe very much like The Killing Joke does for comics: it doesn’t need to connect to any other stories or characters, and captures just one possible timeline for how the Joker came to be, much like the several different threads that Heath Ledger’s Joker references in The Dark Knight.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowOctober 8, 2019joker, the joker, 2019, todd phillips, joaquin phoenix, zazie beetz, bill camp, robert de niro, superhero, supervillain, comics, movies, film, reviewComment

[VIFF 2019] REVIEW: I am a willing host for 'Parasite'

For the second straight year, following Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, a Korean film is going to dominate top-10 lists, including yours truly. It is the first Korean film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes and just the second to win by unanimous vote since Blue Is the Warmest Colour. It would be remiss to say that Korean cinema is on the rise -- if anything, it has already arrived and Parasite is just the new high water mark.

Film, New ReleasesJason ChenOctober 4, 2019parasite, bong joon-ho, snowpiercer, okja, song kang-ho, jang hye-jin, choi woo-shik, park so-dam, jung ji-so, drama, dark comedy, movies, film, review, viff, 2019Comment

[VIFF 2019] REVIEW: 'A Hidden Life' is so pretty you forget there's a story

The main criticism – like all the other Malick films -- is its length. In the right mood A Hidden Life can be a truly enjoyable watch, but it’s about a half-hour to one hour too long to hold your attention span with such a thin narrative, though it will certainly be Malick’s most well-received since The Tree of Life.

Film, New ReleasesJason ChenOctober 3, 2019a hidden life, terrence malick, august diehl, valerie pachner, austria, drama, 2019, world war ii, review, movies, filmComment

REVIEW: ‘Ad Astra’ rockets us into a remarkable but flawed future

In a context where space travel is this much more attainable, the story of a hero astronaut pursuing his father, a rogue scientist, to the edge of human experience is entirely logical. As some of the dangers and technological hurdles inherent in deep space travel are removed, it opens the door to a deeply affecting narrative that weighs commitment to a mission against the responsibilities to a family.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowOctober 2, 2019ad astra, james gray, brad pitt, tommy lee jones, liv tyler, ruth negga, donald sutherland, space, outer space, movies, film, review, 2019Comment

REVIEW: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ should have started from scratch

Bafflingly, the question posed by the film’s title doesn’t really come into force until halfway through. And various storytelling devices intended to tame the movie’s shaggy bits, like voiceover by the protagonist’s daughter and flashback exposition-dumps, are too inconsistently applied to keep anything in check.

REVIEW: ‘Driven’ runs on Lee Pace’s calibrated performance

As the car magnate, Pace is the core attraction. After playing a similarly intimidating genius named Joe MacMillan on AMC’s retro tech-industry series Halt and Catch Fire, DeLorean feels like a natural choice for the actor.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowAugust 16, 2019lee pace, driven, jason sudeikis, corey stoll, judy greer, erin moriarty, cars, delorean, dmc, drama, comedyComment

REVIEW: Like delivery pizza, 'Hobbs & Shaw' somehow hits the spot

Here’s five reasons the movie rules and five reasons it sucked.

REVIEW: 'Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood', when Tarantino makes a superhero movie

Somewhere inside, the filmmaker believes that his beloved analog Hollywood could have been rescued by a man of action like Cliff. While we’re encouraged to get to know Robbie’s depiction of Tate and root for her, she’s more of an icon for the period of time that Tarantino so carefully recreates here, and preserves in other ventures like his New Beverly Cinema in the real-life L.A.

REVIEW: 'The Farewell': Say hello to the Asian-American experience

The struggle is real; not only is she hounded by questions about her private life (“are you married yet?”), she also has to put on a brave face to keep the family secret because – as her own family members keep pointing out – she’s far too emotional to be able to hide anything. It’s a low-key shot at “western” values that place more emphasis on being open and free-speaking, compared to stoicism as the more widely-accepted ideal in most Asian cultures.

Film, New ReleasesJason ChenJuly 30, 2019the farewell, lulu wang, awkwafina, drama, asia, china, family, 2019, movies, film, reviewComment

REVIEW: ‘The Lion King’ is neutered in more ways than one

It’s funny, though, that this would be the detail that the studio would censor in Jon Favreau’s film, because it’s symbolic of the problem in the release as a whole. Every painstakingly recreated scene feels like a crucial piece of it was sliced out to suit a modus operandi of making a version of The Lion King that might feasibly occur in the real Africa.

Film, New ReleasesRobert SnowJuly 25, 2019lion king, disney, remake, 2019, 1994, animation, donald glover, beyoncé, billy eichner, seth rogen, john oliver, chiwetel ejioforComment

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