Candyman begins with inversion, as the studio logos of Universal, Monkeypaw Productions and MGM are presented in reverse. From here, we move into low-angled shots of the Chicago skyline. These imposing buildings express wealth, power and privilege, but rather towering over the viewer, they are inverted, viewed from above. Clouds wreath the building crests but…
With an event as significant as the COVID-19 pandemic, it can feel like a race to the finish line to create art inspired by this monumental point in history. And while some might give the side eye to a movie like Together — which follows the lives of a husband, wife and their son through…
Some genres are easily identified by tropes. Science fiction can be identified by spacecraft, time travel, extra-terrestrial life, artificial intelligence. Horror can be identified by an initial journey, a focus on victimhood and suffering, unsafe environments, a loss of control. While reductive and far from the whole story of these genres, tropes such as these…
Even before I really knew who she was, I remember my mom talking about Princess Diana nearly all the time. There were stacks of magazines at home with her face plastered on the cover, with many attempting to replicate her style. The royal wedding between Diana and Prince Charles was all that anyone could talk…
The superhero genre is accused of many things. Politically, it is described as conservative, reactionary and downright fascist. The genre has a tendency towards being white male centric, with exceptions like “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther” highlighting rather than resolving the problem. As the Marvel and DC franchises have become more popular, studios opt for…
If the title of the film Naked Singularity piques your interest, a brief investigation via your favorite search engine will reveal that it’s a term used in astrophysics to describe a theoretical phenomenon that may exist in black holes. But since this is a film review and not an entry for a layperson’s guide to…
After helming the disastrously unfunny “Dirty Grandpa,” director Dan Mazer returns with a more quiet and small-scale comedy than his tenure in shocking and gross-out humor. Mazer is mostly known for his Academy Award-winning “Borat” screenplay, and his collaborations with Sacha Baron Cohen are the funniest things he’s ever done. In The Exchange, he and…
