Category: 2017

Movie Review – Suburbicon

Suburbicon (2017)
Written by Joel & Ethan Coen
Directed by George Clooney

suburbicon

It’s 1959 in the city of Suburbicon, USA, and the first black family has moved in. This event is causing quite the stir, and the “well-meaning” people of the town just don’t that black people are ready to live in their neighborhood yet. When The Mayers don’t seem to get the message the citizenry begin to escalate matters. Meanwhile, the next block over Nicky Lodge’s life is turned upside down when two strange men barge into the house in the middle of the night. They end up killing Nicky’s mother leaving his father, Gardner, a widow. Thankfully, Nicky’s aunt and his late mother’s sister Margaret is there to help.

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Movie Review – Happy End

Happy End (2017)
Written & Directed by Michael Haneke

happy end

Teenager Eve Laurent is suddenly thrust into the home of her estranged father and his family after her mother overdoses on antidepressants and ends up comatose. Thomas Laurent, her father, is married to his second wife who has just had their first child together. He’s also involved in an obscene affair with another woman. Anne, Eve’s aunt, owns a construction firm that has come under litigation after an onsite accident has left one of the workers on the verge of death. Anne’s son, Pierre works as the foreman on the site and appears to have emotional issues that might have led to the dangerous conditions on site. Finally, there is the patriarch Georges who is slipping into dementia and contemplating suicide to avoid what this condition will do to his mind, notably forgetting his late wife. Did I mention this is a dark comedy?

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Movie Review – The Death of Stalin

The Death of Stalin (2017)
Written by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows, and Fabien Nury
Directed by Armando Iannucci

death of stalin

In 1953 Moscow, General Secretary Josef Stalin is riding high. He is in the midst of The Great Terror, a purging of intellectuals and dissidents he suspects of being disloyal not just to the Communist Party but to himself. Aiding him in these exploits is head of the NKVD Lavrentiy Beria, Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov, local Moscow party leader Nikita Khrushchev, and Foreign Secretary Vyacheslav Molotov. One night while listening to a performance of Mozart on Radio Moscow while writing up a new list of citizens to be abducted and tortured, Stalin phones the station and demands a recording of the performance. When he receives the pressing later that night a note inside from the pianist rails against him as the cause of her family’s deaths. He has a sudden aneurysm and is found on death’s doorstep the next morning. What ensues in the backstage machinations of his corrupt cabinet of officials. They jockey and scheme, all trying to be the one person who comes out on top during this power vacuum.

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TV Review – Dark

Dark (2017, Netflix)
Written by Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese, Martin Behnke, Ronny Schalk, and Marc O. Seng
Directed by Baran bo Odar

dark netflix

In 2019, a local teenager goes missing in the small town of Winden, Germany. Police officer Ulrich Nielsen is reminded of his own brother’s unsolved disappearance in 1986 and keeps promising the parents he will find their son. Then Ulrich’s youngest, Mikkel vanishes in the night and the next morning turns up the body of a third boy, dressed out of the 1980s. Meanwhile, Jonas Kahnwald is dealing the suicide of his father two months prior. He returns to school but finds the girl he liked is dating his best friend. Police Charlotte Doppler senses history repeating itself with not only the disappearances but also flocks of birds falling from the sky dead, just like they did in 1986. As characters travel down this winding path of secrets and mysteries, they uncover a profound and shocking truth about Winden that transcends the laws of time and space.

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Movie Review – Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Written by James Ivory
Directed by Luca Guadagnino

call me by your name

Elio is the son of academics living in northern Italy. He spends his days consuming books and composing piano pieces. He is also in friendship with local girl Marzia where the beginnings of attraction are forming. Summer looks to be a monotonous season until Oliver arrives. Oliver is an American doctoral student who has come to get the aid of Elio’s father in revising his dissertation. Elio finds himself drawn to Oliver and even feeling pangs of jealousy when it appears the older man fancies a woman in town. As Elio explores and discovers himself in this formative year, he becomes aware of his feelings for Oliver. First, with some anger, he tries to push them aside, and finally, he confesses all of this to Oliver who reciprocates.

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Movie Review – Phantom Thread

Phantom Thread (2017)
Written & Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

phantom thread

In 1950s London, Reynolds Woodcock is a dress designer the women of the monied class flock to. He’s responsible for the dresses of royalty and the privileged. He operates out of a lavish home, with the day to day operations overseen by his sister, Cyril. Reynolds is controlling and obsessive, with both work and the women he brings into his life. Over time he becomes exhausted, having consumed them to the point of boredom. Then Reynolds boxes them out emotionally leaving their disposal to Cyril. On a brief respite to the countryside, he meets Alma, a young waitress and she becomes the next conquest for his appetite. In a whirlwind, she moves into his home in London, becomes his muse, yet quickly learns about the complicated relationship he has with Cyril, as well as the fact her days are numbered in this place.

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Comic Book Review – Detective Comics: The Rebirth Volume 1

rebirthreviews

Detective Comics: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Volume 1 (2017)
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Eddy Barrows, Ben Oliver, Raul Fernandez, Eber Ferreira, and Alvaro Martinez

detective rebirth

Something is watching the heroes of Gotham City. Strange bat-like drones are found tracking members of Batman’s extended crime-fighting family starting with Azrael. There is apparently an organization out for these people, so Batman pays a visit to his cousin, Kate Kane aka Batwoman to make her the leader of a new team. The roster is made up of Robin (Tim Drake), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), Orphan (Cassie Cain), with a surprising addition of villain Clayface. Batman sets them up in the Belfry, a tower in the center of Gotham which Tim Drake has outfitted with all the training and investigative tech they could ever need. Then the dark force in the background makes themselves known, and a war begins across Gotham.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: Black Museum

Black Mirror: Black Museum (2017)
Written by Charlie Brooker
Directed by Colm McCarthy

black museum

A young woman named Nish makes a stop to charge her car while traversing the American Southwest. While waiting for her car to be ready, she enters a nearby tourist trap called The Black Museum. This establishment purports to contain artifacts related to criminal acts. The proprietor, one Rolo Haynes, begins to regale Nish with stories related to some of the crimes. All of these tales connect back to Rolo’s time a recruiter for experimental research at a hospital. There’s the doctor who was imbued with the ability to personally feel his patients’ pain, a comatose woman who was able to live inside the mind of her husband, and a man convicted of murder who sold his holographic consciousness to feed his family.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: Metalhead

Black Mirror: Metalhead (2017)
Written by Charlie Brooker
Directed by David Slade

black-mirror-metalhead

Three survivors travel across the apocalyptic landscape of England in the future. They are in search of something and make mention of being aware of “dogs” in the area. They stumble upon a warehouse with an ambulance parked outside. One of the survivors attempts to hack into the ignition of the ambulance while the other two enter the warehouse and search for a box with a particular serial number. They find the box but also find a dormant “dog.” The dog, a robotic drone killer, takes out one of the survivors and the hacker, with only Bella escaping. She engages in a drawn out cat and mouse chase with the seemingly unceasing “dog,” who will only stop when he kills his target.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: Hang the D.J.

Black Mirror: Hang the D.J. (2017)
Written by Charlie Brooker
Directed by Tim Van Patten

hang the dj black mirror

Amy and George live inside The System, a walled-off community of singles who are paired off by an artificial intelligence known as Coach. The pairings are used to gather data on a person’s preferences in a partner so that they can one day be given their perfect match. The length of the pairings is seemingly random, with some lasting a couple days to others going on for an entire year. Amy and George are each other’s first date in the System, and they are only together for 12 hours. However, even after being paired up with other people, they feel a pull towards each other.

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