independent – PopCult Reviews

Patron Pick – Tracktown

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.

Tracktown (2016)
Written & Directed by Alexi Pappas and Jeremy Teicher

The Olympics-to-movies track is not one populated with much success. You need only look at the quality of Gymkata (starring gymnast Kurt Thomas) or Can’t Stop the Music (starring track star Caitlyn Jenner) to see how dubious these pictures can be. In a recent pre-Oscars interview, when asked about what movies he’s watched recently, director Paul Thomas Anderson namedropped Tracktown as one he’d watched and liked. Intriguing, yes? I have to wonder how closely Mr. Anderson was paying attention to the film as it played on his television because there is something so off about Tracktown.

Movie Review – The Killing of Two Lovers

The Killing of Two Lovers (2020)
Written & Directed by Robert Machoian

From the title, you likely have some expectations. This is going to be a film with violence centered around a relationship of some kind. And you would sort of be correct, but The Killing of Two Lovers is a much more complicated film than that. It’s a story told from a very particular perspective with a purpose. I came across a review from the British Film Institute publication Sight & Sound about this movie that completely shocked me. They read the picture as an obscured defense of the central character, and that baffled me. After watching the movie, Ariana and I had a totally different read than many others, immediately discussing how the ending left us feeling very unsettled.

Movie Review – The Color Wheel

The Color Wheel (2011)
Written & Directed by Alex Ross Perry

I can’t imagine many people would like this movie. I’m still ambivalent about my own feelings. But that’s the point, I think. Alex Ross Perry is Noah Baumbach but angrier. He’s Wes Anderson without the sentimentality & cuteness. I don’t for a minute think The Color Wheel is Perry’s best film, but he would show marked improvement on his second try. The Color Wheel is an interesting film, grating but very short so you won’t have to endure the unpleasantness for too long. What makes the film so hard to get through is the quality of acting and its deeply unlikeable main characters.

Patron Pick – Old Joy

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

Patron Pick – Old Joy (2006)
Written & Directed by Kelly Reichardt

Time eats away at friendships. You can know someone for years, become very intimate with them, revealing personal information about yourself, but then some time passes, and all that closeness just fades away. As responsibilities pile up and general maturity sets in, those people you met in your formative years lose the shine they once had. It can be incredibly frustrating when you find yourself getting your life together while old friends continue to live in stasis. They cling to a chaotic, less responsible time out of fear of what could happen to them if they continue developing as people. Sometimes you feel a need to reconnect with people from your past without any real understanding of why. The most painful feeling can be when you find that connection is impossible to rekindle.

Movie Review – Daddy Longlegs

Daddy Longlegs (2009)
Written by Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, and Ronald Bronstein
Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie

On the Criterion Channel website in an episode of their Meet the Filmmakers series, the Millennial filmmaking duo of Josh and Benny Safdie share a story about their father. When it was time to explain why he and their mother were getting divorced, he sat the boys down and had them watch Kramer vs. Kramer. This informs us to a lot of things about the Safdies like their deep love of New York City centered film and their fixation with well-intentioned characters that keep digging their holes deeper. Daddy Longlegs doesn’t quite have the anxiety-riddled moments of Good Time or Uncut Gems, it is more slice of life. But it’s protagonist, based on the Safdies’ father is just the same sort of protagonist that makes the audience groan as he makes one foolish decision after another.

Movie Review – The Transfiguration

The Transfiguration (2017)
Written & Directed by Michael O’Shea

the transfiguration

Milo is an orphaned teenage boy living in New York City. He lives with his Army veteran brother who is unable to get a job, never explained but implied by either physical or mental injury. Milo has a secret though, he is a vampire. Or Milo believes he is a vampire and has marked out on his calendar the nights he will feed. He’ll stalk bathrooms or hang out in Central Park late into the night, using a secret pen knife to slit his victims’ throats and then lapping up their blood. In the midst of this very dark existence, Milo meets Sophie, a girl who has just moved into his apartment building. They strike up a friendship that becomes a relationship, and Milo attempts to keep his secret from Sophie while fighting his urge to feed on her.

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Movie Review – I Love You, Daddy

I Love You, Daddy (2017)
Written & Directed by Louis C.K.

ILoveYouDaddy

Glen is a television producer/writer/showrunner with a 17-year-old daughter, China that has him wrapped around her finger. She’s come to enjoy the very privileged lifestyle he can provide her and seems somewhat aimless when it comes to her direction in life. Glen strikes up the chance to cast a famous Hollywood actress in his show and while attending one of her parties China meets Leslie Goodwin. Goodwin is an arthouse writer-director in his late 60s surrounded by rumors of a proclivity for underage women. China is at first repulsed but, much to Glen’s horror becomes increasingly enthralled with the worldly older man. Glen has to decide what is more important: the love of his daughter or her well-being.

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Movie Review – Good Time

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Good Time (2017)
Written & Directed by Benny & Josh Safdie

good time

Connie Nikas is convinced that his brother, Nickie is just fine. This is despite the fact that Nickie is deaf in both ears and lacks some essential cognitive functions. Connie pulls Nickie from the program their grandmother enrolled him in. The young man has plans to rob a bank so he and his brother can run away from the city and be free of what he perceives as authority crushing them. However, many details are overlooked in this plan, and Nickie ends up caught and sent to Rikers Island. Connie spends the next day desperately manipulating, lying, and stealing to save Nickie.

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Movie Review – Kuso

Kuso (2017)
Written by Flying Lotus, David Firth, & Zack Fox
Directed by Flying Lotus

kuso

An earthquake has struck Los Angeles somehow leading to the mutation of the inhabitants of the city. Through four segmented short films, we explore the absurd, body horror that is created as a result. Gallons of excrement and seminal fluids are splattered across the screen in a very singular work that screams with the intent of unsettling its audience.

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Movie Review – Brigsby Bear

Brigsby Bear (2017)
Written by Kevin Costello and Kyle Mooney
Directed by Dave McCary

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James (Kyle Mooney) spends the majority of his days absorbed in his favorite television series since childhood, Brigsby Bear. New episodes are delivered in supply drops to his family’s bunker in the desert, and each chapter imparts essential life lessons, particularly in academics. However, James spends almost too much time absorbed in the world of Brigsby, while his parents wish he would spend more of his effort on developing his mind. James has spent his entire life inside this bunker and only communicates with the outside world through his decades-old computer on the Brigsby forums. He even has a crush on the young lady companion of the title bear hero. Then a revelation occurs the upsets James’ entire understanding of his life and throws him into a world he doesn’t know how to fit into. Brigsby seems to the be the one thing that can keep him afloat and help him come to terms with what his life really means.

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