March 2018 – Page 2 – PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – Lost River

Lost River (2014)
Written and Directed by Ryan Gosling

lost river.jpg

In a rundown neighborhood of Detroit lives Bones, his mother Billie, and his little brother Franky. Bones is focused on stripping abandoned homes of copper so he can buy replacement engine parts for his car. The ultimate goal is to get the car running and get out of town. Billie, on the other hand, is concerned about holding onto her mother’s house, one of many decaying homes on a nearly deserted street. This involves her entering into a dark deal with a banker and taking a job at a macabre nightclub. Bones, meanwhile, has started a relationship with his next-door neighbor Rat and is attempting to avoid the vengeful wrath of Bully, a man who believes himself a sort of overlord of this neighborhood.

Continue reading “Movie Review – Lost River”

Revisiting Utopia – Series 1, Episode 3

Utopia – Series 1, Episode 3 (2013)
Written by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Marc Munden

utopia series 1 episode 3

The unofficial title for this episode? “Loss of Innocence,” as the episode opens and ends on children directly in the line of brutal cold violence. In fact, the opening scene of this episode received over 50 complaints and was aired just a month or so after the shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. I would never argue that this start is meant to be light or easy to get through. The creators most definitely intended to unsettle the audience. And this is a weird wrinkle I have noticed in audience’s perceptions of media as of late. If the film or television show or other form presents an uncomfortable or unsettling situation, then it is immediately perceived as if the creator is explicitly endorsing a destructive action. This mindset is highly corrosive to understanding and appreciating art. The creator is not always reflected in the creation, most of the time not at all. If anything, the cold open of Episode 3 is the creator making an undeniable statement about the horrors of such events, particularly when we look at the turn for Arby in this scene, when he stumbles upon the child cowering in the gym.

Continue reading “Revisiting Utopia – Series 1, Episode 3”

Movie Review – The Rover

a24 visions

The Rover (2014)
Written by Joel Edgerton & David Michôd
Directed by David Michôd

the rover

A man sits on the side of a dusty Australian road. He exits his car and enters a bar where he has to pour himself a drink. Meanwhile, a trio of men speeds down the highway having escaped some sort of shootout. The paths of these men and the nameless rover on the side of the road will cross. He will make them his mission to hunt down and put an end to. This is ten years after the collapse of society, so some pockets are attempting to retain order. The military patrols the outback. Store owners still want paper money in exchange for goods. But everyone is packing a weapon and death can come in the blink of an eye.

Continue reading “Movie Review – The Rover”

Comic Book Review – The New Teen Titans Volume 4

The New Teen Titans Volume 4
Written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Art by George Perez & Romeo Tanghal
Reprinting The New Teen Titans v1 #21-27, Annual #1

new teen titans v4

The Titans investigate the murder of a former friend of Cyborg’s which leads them to the cult of Brother Blood. He’s a dark religious figure who seems to have his grasp on the highest echelons of power across the globe and puts forward a convincing smear campaign against the Titans. The main event though is the team’s first meeting with Starfire’s sister, Komand’r aka Blackfire. The Titans team up with Superman and the Omega Men on a journey that hurtles them across the galaxy to the Vega System, embroiled in its major civil war. The goddess X’Hal is nearing resurrection, and the Citadel wants to control her. It’s up to our heroes, a long way from their home on Earth, to do something about it.

Continue reading “Comic Book Review – The New Teen Titans Volume 4”

Revisiting Utopia – Season 1, Episode 2

Utopia Series 1, Episode 2 (2013)
Written by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Marc Munden

utopia jessica hyde

Episode Two comes out of the gate ready to lay the first real building blocks of the series mythos. We are introduced to The Network, a Cold War-era response by the West to Soviet Bloc countries building up arsenals of chemical weapons. The obvious question after learning about their existence would be, why are they still around then? That answer is not laid out in any sort of clear way this chapter, but their new agenda is hinted at. Outside of the core “gang on the run” cast, we have the background story of the Ministry of Health’s purchase of Russian flu vaccine coming under scrutiny and then a very convenient outbreak in the Shetland Islands. This helps flip the script on the government incompetence story and turn the Ministry into forward-thinking heroes.

Continue reading “Revisiting Utopia – Season 1, Episode 2”

Movie Review – Obvious Child

a24 visions

Obvious Child (2014)
Written by Anna Bean, Karen Maine, & Gillian Robespierre
Directed by Gillian Robespierre

obvious child

Donna Stern is an amateur stand-up comedian in New York City whose life, while not the greatest of successes, is comfortable and stable. Then her boyfriend breaks up with her admitting he was cheating with one of her friends. The bookstore that provides her primary source of income announces it is closing. And then she meets Max, a young businessman who happens to stop by the bar/club where she performs stand up. After a night of drunken fun, she parts ways with Max and begins to move on with her life. The bombshell that hits Donna is that she is pregnant. Right away she knows she has to have an abortion, her life is in no way prepared for a child. However, Max keeps walking into her life, and Donna feels like she has to break this news to him.

Continue reading “Movie Review – Obvious Child”

Revisiting Utopia – Season 1, Episode 1

Utopia Series 1, Episode 1 (2013)
Written by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Marc Munden

A067_C004_0719KG

The first time I watched Utopia I knew I was going to have to binge watch the whole thing. It is rare that a television series in this polished, this sure of itself, and this damn good. Utopia gets dark, incredibly dark and it lets you know that from its opening scene (more on that in a minute). And it is a profoundly relevant show still five years out, talking about big ideas that are continuing to cast doubt on the future of humanity. Instead of framing this concept huge from the outset, the creators keep things small and intimate. The characters are where the story of Utopia starts and stays throughout its all too short run. And when you get to the end, you won’t forget those characters.

Continue reading “Revisiting Utopia – Season 1, Episode 1”

Movie Review – Locke

a24 visions

Locke (2014)
Written & Directed by Steven Knight

locke

Ivan Locke has just ended a day of work as a foreman on a construction site in Birmingham, England. He embarks on the drive home…or is he? Locke phones his wife while on the motorway between Birmingham and London to tell her he won’t be coming home tonight. Meanwhile, he calls another woman, Bethan who inquires about his whereabouts and how long it will be before he gets to her. He makes calls between his supervisor and a colleague in an attempt to ensure the concrete pour the next morning goes off without a hitch. Whatever Locke is doing and where ever he is going it will completely upend his life as he knew it. During this two hour drive, he attempts desperately to bridge his present with this uncertain future.

Continue reading “Movie Review – Locke”

Comic Book Review – Wonder Woman Rebirth Volumes 1 & 2

rebirthreviews

Wonder Woman Rebirth Volume 1: The Lies
Wonder Woman Rebirth Volume 2: Year One
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Liam Sharp (The Lies) and Nicola Scott (Year One)

wonder woman year one

Acclaimed writer Greg Rucka returned to the character he wrote back in the early, the mid-2000s. This time he was forced to work through the reboot of the New 52 era of DC Comics. Add to that the company-wide initiative to rework their continuity once again to find some sort of middle ground between old-school approaches to their characters and injecting modernity into them. To accomplish this Rucka decided to make his biweekly run alternate between the present day adventures of Princess Diana and her early years becoming the hero of legend she is today. This unique structure allowed Rucka to drop a reference to a past event in his present-day storyline only to follow up two weeks later with the detailed telling of that story in the past. It makes for some mind-boggling reading when jumping back and forth but reads smoother in individual collections.

Continue reading “Comic Book Review – Wonder Woman Rebirth Volumes 1 & 2”

TV Review – The League of Gentlemen Series 3

The League of Gentlemen Series 3 (2002)
Written by Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith & Jeremy Dyson
Directed by Steve Bendelack

league of gentlemen series 3

With two series under their belt, the League of Gentlemen desired to inject freshness into their show. They accomplished this by upending the format of the first twelve episodes and making series 3 a succession of spotlights. This allowed for a greater depth of character development, something they were already good at but hindered due to the need to fit so many character bits and sketches into single entries. The more significant challenge was how to choose from such a broad catalog of creations that the group had created over the years. The chosen few were Pauline, Lance, Geoff Tipps, Alvin, Stella & Charlie, and a mysterious new character.

Continue reading “TV Review – The League of Gentlemen Series 3”