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July 2021

Reviews

For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close

In the late 1980’s, Del Close set out to write his autobiography, Wasteland, for DC comics. In Wasteland, the actor and comedian, who mentored comedy legends from John Belushi to Tina Fey but found little material success in his own career, presented a fictionalized and darkly surreal version of his life story. In director Heather Ross’ semi-experimental documentary, For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, Wasteland serves as a frame for a deeper examination…

Reviews

Creation Stories

Not very often do audiences receive a biopic as pointless and embarrassing as Creation Stories.  Then again, the filmmaker  could still benefit from a turkey like this.  If they believe their biopic holds valuable nostalgia or fan service, ham-fisted qualities can be forgiven by movie goers, allowing the movie to even win Oscars.  It worked for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Reviews

Zola

Zola, to an extent, is experimental with its narrative.  While it flows coherently, the film is very much still in tune with its source material – a series of tweets explaining a story that’s “strange yet true” – and presents itself as someone spinning you a wild yarn (intercut with tangents and outbursts).

Reviews

Peter Rabbit 2

Following up on my horrible time watching (and trying to keep up with) The Boss Baby: Family Business, I prepared for Peter Rabbit 2 with trepidation considering I hadn’t seen its predecessor and I wasn’t sure what would be in store.  But, to my surprise, Peter Rabbit 2 was breezy and amusing.  Absolutely innocuous, but it’s a cute children’s film that maintains its momentum and sets up some great slapstick and sustains its heartfelt themes.

Reviews

The Forever Purge

I find it strange that Blumhouse Productions would continue with The Purge series.  Financial returns and core fanbase aside, The Purge had just about explored all of its themes, politics, and ideologies – and all of it was practically satirized in jet black manner with Blumhouse’s The Hunt.  It’s almost expected that a new Purge movie would just be going through the motions, which is exactly what The Forever Purge does.

Reviews

The Boss Baby: Family Business

Blame it on naivety or over-confidence, but I thought I was going to be okay watching The Boss Baby: Family Business without watching The Boss Baby.  Somewhere within the first act, I surrendered and desperately looked online for a rundown of the first movie.  However, even though I was brought up to speed and given an idea of how bizarre The Boss Baby was, I still wasn’t prepared for how relentlessly loud and strange this…