American cinema
It’s been a while since either of us have written a review. That should tell you two things: we’ve been incredibly busy and this movie was so noteworthy I had to write something immediately to process the experience of watching it. What a way to end the festival year.
Read MoreMaggie might be a personal assistant now but in no time she’ll be working with stars, not for them. While she might have the ambition to gumption her way into a conversation, success isn’t bought overnight. Wanting something isn’t enough. If more movies got that right, perhaps future Maggies will realize that dreams don’t come easily. Sometimes they don’t come at all.
Read MoreThe Farewell follows a family’s decision to not inform the family matriarch that she is dying of lung cancer and has mere months to live. It’s better this way, they say. We will carry this emotional burden for her in her. While this film does have its happy moments, it’s the snapshots of extreme, sudden emotion that Lulu Wang handles especially well — likely because this story stems from her own life and family. If you’re looking for a charming, slightly sad, and ultimately optimistic movie to occupy a cold afternoon, The Farewell couldn’t be more perfect.
Read MoreConsidering how far we’ve come in film technology since the original adaptation, this story felt like one that might have difficulty blossoming in the modern horror climate where psychological tension is prioritized over the impossibly terrifying. The end result is something that attempts to do build both — equally valuing tension with ridiculous monsters — but it just doesn’t work. This movie could have been one to remember but as it stands, this story feels like it could still use another retelling.
Read MoreWhere past versions of this film typically feature the same, unpopular-and-aspiring-to-date-the-hot-girl male lead, Booksmart instead chooses to focus on something more realistic and fresh. Something fun. If you’ve ever listened to Ribs by Lorde and felt a glow of nostalgia in your heart, this is the film version of that feeling.
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