REVIEW: Spin Me Round [2022]

You seem so open-minded. The last thing Amber (Alison Brie) expected when coming into work as manager of Bakersfield, CA’s popular Tuscan Grove, an Olive Garden-esque shingle of minimum wage employees squeezing microwaved alfredo sauce onto linguine, was an all-expenses paid “retreat” to Italy. It’s what she got, though, courtesy of her location’s owner (Lil Rel Howery‘s Paul) submitting her name to the exclusive managerial team building week annually held by TG’s charismatic CEO and face of the franchise, Nick Martucci (Alessandro Nivola). Having just broken up with a toxic…

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REVIEW: The Comedy [2012]

I need you. If a privileged white asshole acts racist and misogynist as a rule because of the emotional pain created by the slow death of a rich father he may not even really like, should we feel empathy for his plight? I think this is the question Rick Alverson is asking with his film The Comedy and yet I want to believe it isn’t because he should know the answer is unequivocally “No.” Maybe Swanson’s (Tim Heidecker) sister-in-law (Liza Kate) can forgive his actions towards her because she knows…

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REVIEW: Us [2019]

We’re Americans. If you’ve never questioned whether you’re a good person, chances are you’re not. That second-guessing of our actions and motivations is what makes us human—fallible creatures striving to be better and do right. Nobody wants to believe he/she is the villain in another’s story, so we generally find a way to learn and change upon discovering when we are. Some, however, don’t. Some discover the spoils of greed, lust, vanity, and the other seven deadly sins as too great to abandon. They spin a new yarn of self-sufficiency…

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Posterized Propaganda March 2012: Gimmicks and Blurs

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably. We’ve come to March and still no posters to really write home about. The season of blockbuster tent poles and their litany of character posters begins, proving once more that…

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