“American Made” makes many points about government, drugs, and society, but one rings particularly true: that imperialistic nation-building has done little good and much harm for American citizens.
Articles published in Culture
Critical reflections on art and culture.
“I Am Your Father”
Star Wars’ popularity means—for better or for worse—that it’s one of the most well-known stories in human history. I’m only talking numbers: 7.5 billion people on Earth today, far more than any previous era. A fifth of them, which I think is a conservative estimate, are probably aware of Star Wars, a good portion of them having seen the movies and experienced the decades-long marketing hype.
Blade Runner 2049
All of this makes “Blade Runner 2049” sound like a movie of a thousand ideas. In fact, it is a movie only of recycled ideas, reminding me of a dozen films and videogames that it imitates.
Album Review of Beast Epic by Iron & Wine
This makes Beast Epic one of Iron & Wine’s most accessible albums. It’s not as eccentric as Beam’s most recent efforts and it’s more polished and has more sonic variety than his earliest work.
Logan Lucky
For two hours, “Logan Lucky” offers many great jazz-like riffs on the familiar melodies of the heist-movie plot. Its reworkings of those melodies bring new delights to the tired notes of heist films, including “Ocean’s 11” and its two sequels. It also reminds us, while altering those melodies, how much we like those worn-out old plots.
The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower destroys, through its reductive vision, creative possibilities for good fantasy storytelling.