Tag Archives: LGBTQ

Knife+Heart (2018) [LA&M Film Fetish Forum]

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Playing at the LA&M Film Fetish Forum Saturday, January 20th at 7pm; it will be Co-Presented by Cinematic Void.

Director Yann Gonzalez’s “Knife+Heart” is a movie that’s too silly to be taken as a giallo, and too serious to be taken as a dark comedy. It’s constantly shifting in tones and storylines which makes its narrative frame work feel so disorienting and ultimately kind of unbearable. Truth be told I slept through a quarter of “Knife+Heart” because it has so much trouble maintaining its multiple plot threads that it just rambled for long periods of time. Any kind of momentum or tension that picks up during “Knife+Heart” feels accidental as director Gonzalez can never quite decide on what kind of story he’s trying to tell.

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Dress Code (2022)

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I had a lot of respect for Joseph Pupello’s desire to deliver a gangster picture that’s less about gangsters and more about our personal lives. It’s rough around the edges, and the screenplay by Peter Panagos isn’t entirely cohesive, but they do manage to concoct an interesting storyline for a central character who is being pulled in all kinds of obligations. The one big goal in his a life involving mobsters, and assassinations, and a pregnant wife is to live as the person he really wants to be, and that makes his struggle pretty turbulent.

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Lightyear (2022)

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Even though we were under the impression that Andy loved Buzz Lightyear because he was this new special toy, we’re told in 1999’s “Toy Story 2” that he was actually a part of a TV series, which was further canonized in the 2000 animated show “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.” Now we’re told that in 1995 Andy actually loved Buzz Lightyear because he originally came from a hit movie within the “Toy Story” universe. And this is that movie. That we’re watching—uh, somehow. Despite the absolutely elaborate concept behind it, “Lightyear” is a meta-movie that features pre-toy Buzz as an adventurous space ranger and bonafide hero. All the while there are some fun allusions to “Top Gun,” “Flash Gordon,” and “Aliens” to be explored here.

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Poor Things (2023)

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Emma Stone is an actress that has continued to challenge herself time and time again with roles that we’d never expect her to take on. Originally beginning her career in a teen comedy, she’s managed to really escape pigeonholing by exploring new and interesting roles. Bella Baxter is probably one of the best performances of her career, one even better than her turn in “Birdman.” As Bella, Stone is remarkable in the way she evolves, and develops and grows in to something that we never quite recognize when the film has ended. Although “Poor Things” will get so many interpretations, I pegged Yorgos Lanthimos’ film primarily as a statement about the illusion of bodily autonomy.

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The War on Disco (2023)

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Lisa Quijano Wolfinger’s “The War on Disco” is a great documentary—if you have minimal to zero knowledge about disco music. For an hour long documentary it does very little to take advantage and explore the lesser known corners of the Disco boom of the 1970’s. It’s all pretty much a superficial and speedily paced buffer about the entire craze called Disco Music. Known for a long time as an enemy to rock music, Disco was a sub-genre of dance music that allowed for a lot more diversity, which prompted a lot more people to hate it.

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The Color Purple (1985) [4K UHD/Digital]

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What with Warner Bros moving forward with their highly anticipated musical remake of Alice Walker’s 2023 musical remake of “The Color Purple,” the 4K UHD release of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 classic just made sense. With the continued push for the 4K UHD format, this re-release includes the original dramatic masterpiece on 4K UHD only. For hold outs the 1985 masterpiece arrives in a more restored and crisp picture quality. Spielberg seemed like an unusual choice to steer the adaptation of Alice Walker’s iconic novel, but his film has aged pretty well even if it has some very rough narrative choices it never quite topples.

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Maestro (2023)

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Bradley Cooper’s film about the life of Leonard Bernstein is why I’m firm in my opinion that pretty much most music biopics are just terrible. Bernstein is an interesting figure that we learn almost nothing about by the time the movie ends. We explore his torrid private life, sure, but Cooper opts to kind of step back from the artist that was Bernstein in favor of the person. That’s understandable considering “Maestro” is a pitch for an Oscar from the starting gate.

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