Month: May 2018

REVIEW: Book Club [2018]

Jared Mobarak

Sex must not be taken off the table. Besides the numerous raunchy one-liners spoken by the central quartet of aging stars for easy laughs, there’s one short passage from Fifty Shades of Grey that’s actually read onscreen. It comes courtesy of Candice Bergen‘s Sharon and deals with the inexplicable decision to arouse Anastasia Steele with the “friction” of Christian Grey’s zipper. The line is a perfect barometer for whether you’re the target audience of E.L. James‘ trilogy or Bill Holderman and Erin Simms‘ romantic comedy utilizing it as a catalyst…

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REVIEW: Deadpool 2 [2018]

Jared Mobarak

We can’t really live until we die a little. The biggest critical gripe coming out of the first Deadpool film was that its attempt to subvert the superhero genre was squandered by being a superhero film. What does that mean? It literally is a superhero film. The character is an X-Men alum who exists to fight bad guys (and good guys alike). So the plot was always going to follow a familiar arc towards finding redemption and/or revenge against those foes/friends. Where it diverted from the formula was its embracement…

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DESIGN: Earthbound – Unkikie Uukiuki Gum

Jared Mobarak

I recently replayed the great Super Nintendo game Earthbound (also known as Mother 2 in Japan) and thought it a good topic for some t-shirt designs. My initial brainstorm for topics touched upon products in-game that could be interesting to create a “brand” around and the pack of gum you have to buy to cajole Bubble Monkey onto your team seemed a logical possibility. The words “Unkikie Uukiuki” are monkey for “I love hamburgers” and thus my flavor pretty much picked itself. Available for purchase at shop.spreadshirt.com/jaredmobarak/Sell line: Everyone knows…

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DESIGN: Shenmue – Fruda Soda

Jared Mobarak

It’s hard not to find yourself infatuated with Fruda Grape soda after watching the @RunButton gang play through the old Sega action/adventure Shenmue. They literally go to the vending machine to purchase one in-game two or three times a session. I wanted to give the crude design in the game a more contemporary update while still retaining the fun bubble letters and circular bullseye motif. These are all bilingual, but I made sure to do two each so both English and Japanese could be highlighted depending on your preference. And…

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REVIEW: RBG [2018]

Jared Mobarak

There’s a china doll in the bullpen. If you asked me which branch of government’s members I know least, the answer would be easy: judicial. The reason is even easier: I don’t vote for them. It’s an interesting truth because they’re the ones given lifetime appointments and therefore the ones who will potentially impact our country the most. But we don’t learn their political views, votes, or names in school unless those things also carry a “first” along with them. Thurgood Marshall was the first black justice. Sandra Day O’Connor…

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REVIEW: Filmworker [2018]

Jared Mobarak

I want to work for that man. When studios gave Leon Vitali a hard time about requests made on behalf of Stanley Kubrick, the director would tell him to stand firm and be exacting. Vitali relays a story within Tony Zierra‘s documentary Filmworker of Kubrick faxing these places his demands with Leon’s signature so they would be forced to see him not as a lesser voice, but the voice. If you’ve ever heard tales about the late auteur’s working habits you know why this would be necessary. Anyone taking the…

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REVIEW: La Ciénaga [2001]

Jared Mobarak

Get me some ice. The debut feature from Argentinian writer/director Lucrecia Martel is entitled La Ciénaga or The Swamp in English. That’s a name no American circa 2018 can read without conjuring allusions to the Donald Trump campaign motto “Drain the Swamp”. And it’s not a superficial thought either once you start to meet the characters she puts onscreen. We’re talking a not-SO-well-to-do middle class family dripping with a classist sense of entitlement and a racist superiority complex. The adults bask in the sun of the Salta summer, stumbling around…

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REVIEW: Curvature [2018]

Jared Mobarak

Trust yourself and nobody else. It’s been a week of grief and mourning for Helen (Lyndsy Fonseca) after finding her husband Wells (Noah Bean) dead by suicide at their secluded cabin. She’s dealing with his absence like anyone would by closing off spaces they shared together in hopes of avoiding too many easy triggers for memories that only bring sadness. Work should distract her during the day and Wells’ business partner Tomas (Glenn Morshower) continuing their secretive scientific research should honor his legacy. This doesn’t mean she’ll forget him, forgive…

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REVIEW: Laskovoe bezrazlichie mira [The Gentle Indifference of the World][2018]

Jared Mobarak

Only love is real. Sometimes it isn’t enough to simply portray the type of eternal love that Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet. Watching two star-crossed lovers attempt to fight the injustices of this world to be together only to sacrifice themselves can still ring hollow because it’s hinged upon the naiveté of children not looking for another solution regardless of whether the result would be the same. To take the poison is to admit defeat against the external forces proving too strong to combat. Love therefore becomes our sole…

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REVIEW: Le Redoutable [Godard Mon Amour] [2017]

Jared Mobarak

I was lucky enough to admire my lover. We’re introduced to Emile (Marc Fraize) halfway through Michel Hazanavicius‘ Le Redoubtable [Godard Mon Amour]. He’s a local Frenchman with a car and the means to procure enough gas to drive an argumentative Jean-Luc Godard (Louis Garrel), his wife Anne Wiazemsky (Stacy Martin), and their friends (Micha Lescot‘s Bamban, Bérénice Bejo‘s Michèle, and Grégory Gadebois‘ Michel Cournet) home from Cannes. His inclusion moves the film forward from place to place while also providing a stand-in for we the viewers caught watching Godard’s…

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REVIEW: Tully [2018]

Jared Mobarak

You’re empty. After loving their first collaboration (Juno) and disliking their second (Young Adult), I didn’t know what to expect with director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody‘s third pairing behind the camera. The best I could do was enter the theater unprejudiced and hopeful for the best since I do like most of their work regardless of that mutual misstep. I can’t say Tully initially made it easy, though. Just because Marlo (Charlize Theron) and Drew (Ron Livingston) aren’t the generic rich, white, suburban couple able to afford a…

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