A "Joker" for Our Times

"Joker" is a dark, disturbing, powerful, and timely film. It is less a conventional comic book movie than a searing modernization of Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, or similarly brooding cinema. It is expertly directed, performed, shot and presented. Memorable and unrelenting, it pushes the boundaries of representations of violence as entertainment and is not likely to be enjoyed so much as endured.

The film's American release has been incredibly polarizing and is rightly controversial. However, that controversy should be reflected right back upon a country festering from a breakdown of trust in political institutions, growing economic inequality, eroding public services, insufficient mental health and social assistance programs... and yet awash in guns, television, psychotropic drugs, anger, fear and resentment.

The film has something to say about all of this and more. It is a brave, bold, ambitious and perhaps dangerous work of art. By the film's searing finale, we are all but forced to consider why such a film hits so close to home as a macabre distillation of our own zeitgeist. And perhaps we realize: the joke is on us.

The Urgent Efforts of Assassination Nation

You know, for all its b-movie excesses and indulgence in exploitation cinema, "Assassination Nation" strikes me as a timely, even urgent film with something important to say about this bleak rendition of a post-Trump, always-online America.

Though the tonal shifts are jarring and there's nothing subtle about the conveyance of theme, it is an ambitious and bold vision of life as Gen Z - a generation drowning in the corrosive depths of inescapable digital hostility. The sometimes raucous, often searing social satire depicts an all-too-recognizable suburban hellscape in which privacy is non-existent and a punitive, shame-based panopticon brings out the worst in everyone.

If this sounds familiar, it should; this is Salem Witch Trials 2.0.  The film challenges us to set aside our meticulously-curated online identities, find our authentic selves, and dare to accept one another for doing the same.

Never dull and refreshingly uncompromising, this is a cautionary tale whose cautions we have not yet heeded. And it certainly deserves a watch for those willing to overlook its more campy qualities.

Easter Eggs in Ready Player One

The Iron Giant, Freddy Krueger, Chun Li, Ryu, and Blanka, Gundam Wing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Halo, Mecha Godzilla, Goro, The Shining, Madballs, Chucky and so many more pop culture references are crammed into Ready Player One!

Though enjoyable on the big screen, this just might be better watched on a home system with a pause button.  The end credits revealed any number of characters (like Sonic The Hedgehog) that I must have missed.  But it's hard not to be a gamer (or just a fan of 80's and 90's pop culture) and not enjoy the sheer amount of cameos and pop culture references scattered throughout this film - Easter eggs in a film about Easter eggs released on Easter weekend!

Some initial thoughts on "mother!"

Darren Aronofsky's "mother!" is one of the most challenging films I've seen in years, and rightfully so. It is an elegantly simple yet ambitious film layered in metaphor. It reads like a work of plainly-crafted but dense, disturbing literature. And intentionally - judging by its audience and critical receptions.

The film explores deep anxieties about the dualism of beauty and horror in the human condition - asking for our empathy and sacrifice but also our sense of guarded, protective inner boundaries. The plot is perfectly clear yet altogether incoherent - delving into the logic of dreams and nightmares. It plays like something between "Eraserhead" and "Children of Men" if staged by Eugène Ionesco or Bertolt Brecht. It has themes that are both timeless and yet somehow immediate... evocative of perennial creation myths yet also conjuring imagery of eyewitnesses in a war zone.

If what I've written has scared you away from ever seeing this film, I've probably succeeded. But it is an undeniably driven, completely arresting, and inspired experience which may yield fruits from further study. It could also enjoy renewed appreciation in years to come; this is more than can be said about most box office drivel coming out of Hollywood these days. It is the accomplishment of a director, actors, and their creative ensemble willing to take bold creative risks and produce unconventional art. And for that, I'm thankful to have made time for this harrowing journey of a film.