2021 – Page 3 – PopCult Reviews

Patron Pick – Red Rocket

This is a special reward available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 a month levels. Each month those patrons will pick a film for me to review. They also get to include some of their own thoughts about the movie, if they choose. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Red Rocket (2021)
Written by Chris Bergoch and Sean Baker
Directed by Sean Baker

Sean Baker’s filmmaking career has been centered on people working on the margins of society. Tangerine followed two transgender sex workers through a day in their life while The Florida Project, while told from young Moonie’s perspective, featured the challenges her mother, a sex worker, faced in Orlando. Red Rocket continues this trend but with a male sex worker. While Baker has always presented characters who challenge us to like them in certain moments, none of them have been as challenging to wrestle with as Mikey. Filmed during COVID, the director pulls this picture off without a hitch, delivering a searing image of America in the last few years of decline.

Movie Review – The Lost Daughter

The Lost Daughter (2021)
Written & Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

Motherhood always makes for a promising theme to tackle in film or literature. Being a mother is an intense experience from what I can observe as a childless man. I’ve been around many mothers as a primary school teacher, both as work colleagues and my students’ parents. In American culture, mothers are often juxtaposed against Mary, the mother of Jesus, saintly figures who sacrifice themselves to care for their offspring. The debate over reproductive rights is right in the middle of these ideals, pushing the assumption that all women love being mothers once they finally experience it, not so in The Lost Daughter.

November/December 2021 Digest

Features
Patron Pick – The Game (Matt)
Patron Pick – The World of Us (Matt)
Most Anticipated Films of 2021 Review
Ariana’s Favorite Films of 2021
Seth’s Favorite Films of 2021
Ariana’s Favorite Books Read in 2021
Seth’s Favorite Books Read in 2021
Seth’s Favorite Television of 2021
Favorite Film Discoveries of 2021

Ariana’s Favorite Films of 2021

I hadn’t reviewed as many movies on this blog as Seth has. Also, if this list intermixes with his, we watch a lot of films together. I will choose a few others to show just how cool I am.

Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
Directed by Adam Curtis

Adam Curtis is like the Ken Burns of the emotional state of the Western World. There is a particular stomach-turning sensation when watching Adam Curtis’s films. You’re quietly begging for him to perhaps deliver some good news only for him to carve in deeper into the history to remind you just how insane it is. Not a lighthearted watch. You can watch it all here right now.

My Most Anticipated Films of 2021 Review

As I expected with COVID-19 still being very much out there and continuing to kill and disable, there were quite a few films pushed to 2022 and beyond. However, this was a much better crop of movies than what we got in 2020. Below are just brief thoughts and links to the full reviews of movies I saw. Then we have the ones I haven’t seen yet split into “will eventually” watch and “not likely” piles. These all come from the Most Anticipated Films of 2021 (2) posts made last year.

Seth’s Favorite Films of 2021

Nightmare Alley (dir. Guillermo del Toro)

From my review: We get a darkly complex story about the unnoticed rise of fascism and how humanity is composed of abused & downtrodden people who take advantage of each other. This story will not deliver a fairy tale ending and features characters you will have a deeply hard time liking. Such a shift by del Toro, a director who has spent his career delving into worlds of magic, is pretty jarring. The only figure who deserves an ounce of empathy in the picture is the poor geek, forced to bite the heads off chickens while living in an opium/alcohol-induced squalor. Even Molly is guilty of running a con; she just doesn’t want to go as far as Stanton is willing to reach.

Ariana’s Favorite Books of 2021

If I am candid, I am surprised about the number of books I read this year—a total of 32, just two more than my goal. Somewhere either Seth or big book nerds are scoffing at my number.

I would give excuses as the why the number isn’t grander, but honestly, I am surprised I can still form together words and sentences. Paragraphs are questionable at best.

Seth’s Favorite Television of 2021

Search Party (Season 4, HBO Max)

From my review: Shawkat continues to give the best performances of her career so far. Physically she has a shaved head (forced upon her by the Twink), and there’s a disconnect in the way she moves. She cowers continuously, compared to last season, where she played the seductress, using her sexuality to manipulate. By the end of season four, she is genderless in many ways. She walks with a gait that could never be considered “feminine” by American cultural standards. I think this is important because it notes that Dory has played several roles as she’s dug herself deeper into the predicaments in her life. Now she’s reached a point, having convinced the public of her innocence while feeling the enormity of her guilt, that she is no one. The Twink takes full advantage of this and further breaks Dory down throughout the season.

Seth’s Favorite Film Discoveries of 2021

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974, dir. Martin Scorsese)

From my full review: Scorsese delivers a pitch-perfect comedy-drama that never once feels phony. He ends up presenting one of the most honest mother-son relationships I’ve seen in a film. Alice is by no means a conventional mother, and she regularly engages in arguments with her son that seem more appropriate for a friend. She is still a parent and is determined to keep her son out of trouble while allowing him space to make mistakes and learn. The things she exposes her son to might cause some viewers to judge her for being immature and irresponsible. Tommy is present when Ben becomes violent with Alice. When Alice gets involved with David, Tommy is a part of their going out. It makes sense, though, because Alice’s life has a big chunk devoted to Tommy, so any person she might partner with is going to need to understand and get along with her child.

Movie Review – Parallel Mothers

Parallel Mothers (2021)
Written & Directed by Pedro Almodovar

At this point, can we acknowledge that Pedro Almodovar’s work exists in its own genre of cinema? The feel and look of all his movies are just so beyond everything else out there. He builds suspenseful narratives on premises that aren’t inherently thriller material. There is an ever-present sinister vibe, but ultimately his characters embrace the conflict and work through it, often forming makeshift families and coming to terms with the weight of the past. Almodovar clearly loves the stylish thrills of Hitchcock and the scandalous developments of telenovelas but also feels a need to address the history of Spain, especially war crimes and atrocities. The result is just unlike anything you will see anywhere else.