PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – Joker

Joker (2019)
Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
Directed by Todd Phillips

We are incapable of having a nuanced conversation about anything in popular culture. As I scroll through endless hot takes on Warner Bros.’ latest DC Comics property turned movie Joker, I find myself getting numbingly-exhausted. Apparently, Joker is either A) a clarion call to Trump-loving incels or B) the most magnificent piece of cinema ever produced, so we should end filmmaking now. Joker is a beautiful, ugly, well-acted, terribly-written, film that says so much while being so profoundly shallow and on the nose. This is going to be a long review and go into a lot of detail, much of which will involve me rambling about things you may find tangentially unconnected from Joker, but this is my review so…nyah.

Movie Review – Wings of Desire

Wings of Desire (1987)
Written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, & Richard Reitinger
Directed by Wim Wenders

In the late 1980s, the city of Berlin was divided, split down the center by the construction of the Berlin Wall by the Soviets in 1961. This wall served as a physical representation of the ideological rift that existed in the world during the Cold War. While Wings of Desire is not about this wall, it is ever-present in the background, a reminder that West Berlin was once part of a whole and in 1987 a fragment. Our first scene puts the audience above the city, through the eyes of the angel, that is the film’s protagonist. We see the complexity and beauty of this place through the perspective of one who loves it and the people dearly.

PopCult September 2019 Digest

Features
My Favorite Stephen King Adaptations
Short Film Showcase #3
Short Film Showcase #4
Best of the 2010s: My Favorite Films of 2016

Movie Reviews (*** = popcult recommends)
Revenge
Leave No Trace ***
Pet Semetary (2019)
Stand By Me
It Chapter Two
To Kill a Mockingbird ***
Support the Girls
Cinema Paradiso
In Fabric ***
Between Two Ferns
Tigers Are Not Afraid

Television Reviews
Best of All in the Family Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Comic Book Reviews
The Wild Storm Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4
Heroes in Crisis

Comic Book Review – Heroes in Crisis

Heroes in Crisis (2019)
Reprints Heroes in Crisis #1-9
Written by Tom King
Art by Clay Mann & Mitch Gerards

Most event comics in the DC Universe are now bloated multi-title crossovers that stretch their thin story premise to an unreasonable length. They find some way to hammer the word “crisis” into the title as a way of drumming up nostalgia in burnout fanboys. If you read my reviews of the DC event books a couple of summers ago then you know I have had my nostalgia glasses removed and see most of my love for these books evaporating. I’m an adult now, and the understanding I had of story structure and character development has evolved since those days. Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis are just convoluted and boring books at this point. Then Tom King comes along, riding the acclaim of work like The Vision and Mr. Miracle. It’s announced he’ll be writing Heroes in Crisis, an event book.

Short Film Showcase #4

Little Deaths (1996)
Written & Directed by Lynne Ramsay

I need to explore the early work of Lynne Ramsay. She’s made two of my favorite films of the 2010s, We Need To Talk About Kevin & You Were Never Really Here. Small Deaths was her debut short after graduating from the U.K.‘s National Film and Television School. The film is composed of three vignettes centered around an unnamed girl growing into adolescence and early adulthood.

Best of the 2010s: My Favorite Films of 2016

My Life as a Zucchini (Directed by Claude Barras)

From my review: Director Barras shows us the sorrow of these children and their instinct to be defensive when meeting new people. Simon could easily be framed as the bully trope as soon as he’s introduced. However, there’s an intent to develop him, and he gives up on his act about a day into Zucchini’s arrival. They swap “war stories,” Simon acting as though his background of parents who were drug abusers wasn’t a big deal. Simon casually remarks about himself and the other children that “there’s nobody left to love us.” In the third act, we see how much it pains Simon to lose friends and how standoffish he becomes. Thankfully, Zucchini is aware of what’s going on beneath Simon’s behavior and ensures his friend that he loves him.

Comic Book Review – The Wild Storm Volume 4

The Wild Storm Volume 4 (2019)
Reprints The Wild Storm #19-24
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Jon Davis-Hunt

Several major plot threads are wrapping after a year and a half of build-up. The feud between International Operations and SkyWatch has escalated to the point that the unware citizens of Earth are in peril. John Lynch is hunting down the people he experimented on while Mark Slayton is hunting down Lynch. Jacob Marlowe and the Halo Corporation are trying to throw a wrench into everything while pushing the agenda of the Khera. Unnoticed by almost everyone is Angelica Spica and her growing group of compatriots see a different path forward for humanity. What surprised me most about this final volume is how for all Ellis’ build-up the story falls apart and becomes a pretty standard superhero battle.

Movie Review – Tigers Are Not Afraid

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2019)
Written & Directed by Issa Lopez

It’s hard not to be struck with the influence Guillermo Del Toro has had on this film and a handful of contemporary Mexican cinema. Tigers Are Not Afraid is full to the brim with knowing nods to The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. While Del Toro often uses the past as a setting to examine his ideas of innocence and darkness, writer-director Issa Lopez chooses the contemporary cartel crisis as the stage for her story. My biggest problem when we compare these works is that Tigers Are Not Afraid has issues with pacing that cut through what should be white-knuckle tension. This is a story about children in peril, men chasing after them with the intent to kill, and there are a lot of moments where this feeling is not conveyed on screen.

TV Review – Best of All in the Family Finale

Cousin Liz (Original airdate: October 9, 1977)
Written by Barry Harman, Harve Brosten, Bob Weiskopf, and Bob Schiller
Directed by Paul Bogart

Yet another cousin is introduced, this one has passed away off-screen. She’s from Edith’s side of the family, so she and Archie schlep out of Queens to attend the funeral and reception afterward. Liz was never married and had no children. Her closest relationship was with her friend and roommate Veronica. Veronica is deeply distraught over her loss and eventually confides in Edith that she and Liz were not roommates but partners, living as a married couple. Edith is stunned at first but quickly accepts this idea, telling Veronica she will let her keep a tea set that was initially bequeathed to Edith. Mrs. Bunker has immediate empathy and doesn’t see Liz and Veronica’s love as any different than she and Archie’s.

Movie Review – Between Two Ferns: The Movie

Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019)
Written & Directed by Scott Aukerman

The way I consume comedy has changed in the last decade. When I was in college, it was about listening to albums, often bootlegged. I remember hearing and relistening to Dave Chappelle: Killin’ Them Softly, Patton Oswalt’s Feelin’ Kind Patton, and more. One comedian I discovered in those days was Zach Galifianakis. This was during his short-lived stint on VH1 hosting Late World, a talk show explicitly designed around him. Galifianakis was one of those comedians that made me think outside the album as the primary way to access a performer’s sense of humor and aesthetics. Galifianakis constructed a comedic persona, akin to Pee-Wee Herman or Steven Wright, something like themselves but unlike as well. His point of view came from a fascination with confident dumb people which is the person he plays on Between Two Ferns.