Overstreet

The trailer for this was so bad that it looked like an SNL spoof. I'd be hard-pressed to think of prosthetics that made me laugh out loud the way Branagh's new dome did when I first saw it.

Let's strive for greater specificity, shall we? There are, after all, quite a few educators in this community — educators who care deeply, who work hard, and who are devoted to making the time and effort count.

I've already posted my deep dismay about this elsewhere, and I don't want it to appear I'm not acknowledging it here. Yes, this is a grievous loss to Christians, to seekers, to readers. The whole sequence of events leading up to her death seems maddening, avoidable, a complete nightmare. I cannot fathom the challenges now and in the future for her husband and two very young children. We are witnessing, though, just how deeply this is rocking a whole world of struggling believers who have found a lifeline in her honesty, her courage, her authenticity, her desire to know the truth and to be set free. May her example inspire a great host of new voices and similarly generous hearts.

Must I preface this note with a SPOILER WARNING or are we past that now? TIME TRAVEL RUINS STORYTELLING. Almost all of the time. As I exited the theater from Infinity War, I turned to my friend Danny and said, "Welp, Ant-Man will save the day. Quantum Realm makes anything possible. And so the next one will be all about time travel to fix things." I was not excited by this prospect. And sure enough, this made for a suspense-free experience for me... and a long, long three hours. Oh well. These movies have never been for me. I have three or four I enjoy, but I'm ready to move on. And besides, Spider-Verse spoiled the MCU for me by showing me how everything could be 100 times better.

Another thing I love about A-List is I can go see something twice in quick succession, which is extremely helpful with reviews. I saw Amazing Grace twice, which never would have happened if I was paying full price. I'm also finding that I much prefer to see movies with a typical audience at a typical screening than my old press-screening routine, which was either a nearly-empty theater (if it was press only) or a theater 3/4 full of an audience of screening-chasers who tend to be loud, obnoxious, and enthusiastic about anything they see. That particular crowd of free-pass-enthusiasts has a reputation in Seattle — there was a cover story in the Seattle Weekly once, branding them "The Passholes." Anyway, I get a better sense of how a movie plays with a typical audience by seeing it with — gasp! — a typical audience.

Same — for all of this.

AMC A-list is awesome. I'm seeing movies in theaters — and good movies, too — once a week at least these days. I was a happy Moviepass user for a while, but wow — that service fell apart spectacularly.

(Sigh.) Due to the number of classes I'm teaching this quarter, and the two conferences I'm attending in the next two weeks, I'm not going to have time to prioritize seeing more titles Ibefore the final vote deadline — and I've only seen 18 of these finalists. So I'm doing a lot of spitballing if I vote in Round 2. I almost wonder if it would be better for me to bow out of voting at this point.

I'd be up for any of these, but I should probably write no more than three. 1. Faces Places (since Gleaners is already take, and I've already written so much about that one) 2. 35 Shots of Rum 3. Another Year I'd also be willing to write about 35 Up, if necessary.

Voted!

Time to re-title this thread. Saw it last night, and I am impressed, perplexed, and strangely unmoved... all at once. I suspect this will be a second-timer for me... or maybe a third, if I can muster the will to stick with it. It tried my patience, as I had difficulty tracing lines through these bizarre outer-space circumstances that led to any kind of insight. From her opening shot onward, Denis is clearly keeping both Stalker and Solaris in view — Pattinson's fuzzy dome and shots of a train running through wilderness are just a couple of the obvious reference points — and there's also a heavy dose of Lynch, with long shots of pipes and industrial equipment that emanate a vaguely sinister influence. But the relentlessness of the focus on sexual cruelty was somehow extreme without ever becoming... I don't know... interesting. The big leap forward in time at the end complicates matters by burdening my suspension of disbelief and generating a ton of questions about "Wait, but... how...? Are you telling me that, in the interim, all of this has happened?" I'm hoping to read something insightful soon that will help me say, "Okay, I'm glad I sat through this." I admit it — I'm disappointed. I love some of Denis' films, and others have left me puzzled, but this one frustrates me.

FWIW, I loved the original Gloria — enough so that I'm really reluctant to see it done again. (Here's my original review, which was part of a series of reviews I did in 2014 about movies focused on complex, nuanced female leads.)

Wow, Joel — congratulations! I can't wait to read your coverage. You've been writing some wonderful stuff lately. I'm thinking about including Silence in my Faith & Film class so that I can share your new essay about it.

My 40 freshman this quarter agree: Star Wars movies are "dad movies." Nevertheless, they gasped — and a couple of them applauded — when I played this teaser for them and they realized what it was. If I knew Rian Johnson was in charge, I'd be intrigued. But it's Abrams, so I wouldn't call my perspective "a new hope."

Do you mean Newman's character?