PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Written by Joseph Delteil and Carl Theodor Dreyer
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

How could a Dane make a film about Joan of Arc and do her story any justice? This was the sentiment of many French nationalists when Carl Theodor Dreyer was invited by the Société Générale des Films to make a film about the historical figure as her popularity resurged in the 1920s. Dreyer spent a year studying the transcripts of her trial before starting to write the script. He would cast Renée Jeanne Falconetti as Joan, an actress who never appeared in another film and died at age 54 by suicide. When it was released, various institutions deplored the picture. The French government censored it so as not to offend Catholics. It was banned in the U.K. due to its accurate depiction of English soldiers. Critics claimed it was a bore and gave it poor reviews. Yet, decades later, it is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made.

Movie Review – Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing (1989)
Written and directed by Spike Lee

Every ten years since 1952, the British film magazine Sight & Sound has conducted a poll among invited critics and directors to determine an ever-shifting list of the 250 greatest films of all time. The most recent list of poll results was released last year, with Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (dir. Chantal Akerman) topping the list. I decided to pick a few films near the top that I have not seen or have only seen pieces of to further my cinematic education.

TV Review – Neon Genesis Evangelion Episodes 19 thru 26

Neon Genesis Evangelion – Episodes 19 through 26
Written by Hideaki Anno, Akio Satsukawa, and Hiroshi Yamaguchi
Directed by Masayuki, Masahiko Ōtsuka, Hiroyuki Ishidō, Akira Takamura, Shōichi Masuo, and Kazuya Tsurumaki

When I first started watching Neon Genesis Evangelion at the start of the year, I read that some fans hated the ending of the anime series. I wanted to know why that could be. Now that I have finished the show, I completely understand why some of the audience would not like this. I, however, am a big weirdo, and I loved it, yet I get that it goes in a wildly different direction and doesn’t provide the direct sort of conclusion you might expect from a show about giant “robots” fighting monsters from space. Of course, I will be watching and reviewing the two feature films that serve as a complementary ending next month, but for now, I just want to focus on the series.

PopCult Podcast – Challengers/Sasquatch Sunset

In one film we follow the complex intersection of sex, sports, and relationships. In the second, we see life from the perspective of animals where mortality is sudden & cold.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – CY_Borg Part Three

CY_Borg (Free League Publishing)
Written and designed by Christian Sahlén and Johan Nohr

You can purchase CY_Borg here

You can download the CY_litary De.file_ment solo rules here

Read how our last CY_Borg adventure ended here

For this playthrough of CY_Borg, I decided to go with one of the six classes in the core book. A d6 roll had me as an Orphaned Gearhead. Things are named very specifically in all the Borg games, but the text doesn’t define them. This evocative design makes it so that each player or group’s experience with CY_Borg will be very different while still following basic genre tropes. I interpreted “Orphaned” as someone who had been under the guardianship of a corporation and then dropped when that corp dissolved or was taken over.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Notorious: Outsiders Part Two

Notorious: Outsiders (Always Checkers Publishing)
Written and designed by Jason Price
Art by Torben Bokemeye

You can purchase Outsiders here

Read the first chapter in Korris’s trilogy here

The Nomads have let Korris know they are not happy with his performance on Oceron. Too much attention drawn to his activities makes the Guild vulnerable. As a result, Korris finds himself limited in contracts he can pick up, but he also gets a few more messages from other Nomads telling him they’re impressed he took down a Dreng warrior.

Movie Review – Cluny Brown

Cluny Brown (1946)
Written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

During the Hays Code era, Lubitsch had his ups and downs. I think The Shop Around the Corner and To Be Or Not To Be are certainly highlights. I can’t say I was quite as fond of Ninotchka or Heaven Can Wait, though. His final completed film before his sudden death from a heart attack in 1947 was this rather underrated gem. I hadn’t seen Cluny Brown come up in any conversations about his work and I would argue it’s a reminder of how forward thinking the director could be given the right script. What we have is a movie that pushes back on gender norms as well as cynicism that seems to have taken root in a pretty awful way in contemporary media.

Movie Review – Heaven Can Wait

Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Written by Samson Raphaelson
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

I thought this was the film Warren Beatty’s 1978 Heaven Can Wait was based on. I was wrong. That film was a remake of 1941’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Why Beatty chose to title his movie after a well-known Ernst Lubitsch film while it was a remake of something else does not have an answer I could find. What makes it even more confounding is that both films have an element of fantasy & the afterlife. They play out in wildly different ways, but in the first fifteen minutes of this movie, I wondered when I’d start to see similarities with the ’70s film. Then, I checked Wikipedia and found my answer. I wish I could say I enjoyed Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait more, but it had some rough spots.

TV Review – Northern Exposure Season Two

Northern Exposure Season Two (1991)
Written by Robin Green, Henry Bromell, Andrew Schneider, Diane Frolov, Ellen Herman, and David Assael
Directed by Stuart Margolin, Sandy Smolan, Nick Marck, Steve Robman, Rob Thompson, Bill D’Elia, and David Carson

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a deftly handled realignment on a show as I have with Season Two of Northern Exposure. While Season One wasn’t terrible, it was pretty one-note until the end. For the most part, the show was a fish-out-of-water story about Joel Fleishman (Rob Morrow), an NYC doctor transplanted to the remote environs of Alaska. There’s only so much you can do with that premise, and by season two, the showrunners understood this and pivoted away from making every episode center on that concept. What we get instead is a wonderfully written & performed ensemble piece that is clearly influenced by the flights of fancy found in shows like Moonlighting.

Movie Review – To Be Or Not To Be

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)
Written by Edwin Justus Mayer
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

When To Be Or Not To Be was released in theaters, the public wasn’t sure how to feel. It was a film about Europe under the control of the Nazis, but it was also a comedy. Beloved comedian Jack Benny was even dressed up as one as part of a complex plan to trick the Nazis. Benny’s father walked out of the theater in disgust, seeing his son wearing that uniform. Eventually, the actor’s father was convinced to return and ended up watching this film 46 times over its run in theaters. However, some critics found the film to be in bad taste, especially a scene where Benny shaves a dead Nazi to help keep the ruse going. They also felt the film’s setting, Warsaw, made light of the bombing of that city. Lubitsch would always emphasize that his goal was to mock the ideology of Nazis while poking fun at the often shallow nature of actors. I would argue he accomplishes both things exceptionally well.