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- Better Call Saul: There Are No Happy Endings between a “Rock and Hard Place”
- Black Widow Keeps It in the Family for Natasha’s Last Ride
- Loki Finds New Purpose in the Man behind the Mischief
- In its Debut, Star Wars: The Bad Batch Decides Whether to Obey or Rebel
- Nomadland: A Film Out of Time, For Our Times
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Author Archives: Andrew Bloom
Better Call Saul: There Are No Happy Endings between a “Rock and Hard Place”
It’s a fool’s errand to wish for happy endings in the world of Better Call Saul. But I had a faint bit of hope for Nacho Varga. I thought maybe, just maybe, he would find some way to get out. He could leave this life behind and start again with his father by his side. I even imagined Jesse Pinkman arriving in Alaska years later and meeting Ignacio under an assumed name. Wouldn’t that be nice? Mike’s two surrogate sons coming together, looking after each other the way he might have done himself.
(more…)Black Widow Keeps It in the Family for Natasha’s Last Ride
We’re at a point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where when a film is set matters as much as where. Past MCU outings have planted flags in 1942, 1995, 2023, and everywhere in between. More to the point, who’s alive (not to mention who’s on speaking terms) varies with each jump across the timeline. So when an adventure is set can tell the audience plenty before the story’s even started.
Black Widow, then, is set very deliberately after the events of Captain America: Civil War (or most of them, anyway). The story seizes on a time when Natasha Romanoff had just witnessed the break-up of one found family, as the Avengers split over the Sokovia accords. Their divide makes it even harder for her to process the break-up of another — a group of undercover Russian spies she lived with as a child a la The Americans.
Loki Finds New Purpose in the Man behind the Mischief
What would you do if you went through life convinced that you were “burdened with glorious purpose” when you were, in fact, just another cog in the machine? What would you do if you found out the artifacts of power you so desired were mere trinkets that other folks used as paper weights? What would you do if you believed you were in control of your own destiny, only to discover that you are the plaything of greater beings whose life story has already been written? And what would you do if you thought you were the protagonist, only to realize that you are a mere springboard to help others become their best selves?
It would probably drive you to do some soul searching. What I like about Loki in its opening stanza is that the show is equal parts meta, goofy, and existentialist in the shadow of these big questions. There’s not a lot of action in the series’s debut. Instead, there’s a lot of table-setting, throat-clearing, and conversation. But this first episode, aptly titled “Glorious Purpose”, ably sets the tone for Marvel Studios’ new villain-fronted series. The vibe is irreverent to be sure — as befits the “mischievous scamp” at its center — but also willing to delve into personal pain and deeper self-examination that feels just as true to the MCU’s trickster god.
Posted in Marvel Television Shows, Television
Tagged Episode Reviews, Loki, mad men, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Owen Wilson, Tom Hiddleston
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In its Debut, Star Wars: The Bad Batch Decides Whether to Obey or Rebel
From the beginning, Star Wars’ iconography featured the motley, earth tone-draped freedom fighters of the Rebellion against the pristine, black-and-white perfection of the Empire. Before the audience ever knew the details of the conflict at hand, this imagery told us everything. The rigid, overpowering force of the film’s Imperial villains contrasted with the shaggier, freethinking rebels who dared to oppose them.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch follows in those vaunted footsteps. The series — from Star Wars animation impresario Dave Filoni, head writer Jennifer Corbett, and supervising director Brad Rau — frames itself as a contrast between the wilds of personal choice and the strictures of mandated conformity. As the Empire emerges from the ashes of its predecessor, those who fought for the Republic must decide what their place will be in this new galactic order. Will they stay good soldiers or become free but wanted men?
Nomadland: A Film Out of Time, For Our Times
Nomadland is an unassuming period piece. Its key events take place roughly a decade prior to its release date. You wouldn’t know that, though, beyond a few stray mentions of certain dates and the presence of a few old cell phones. The film centers on the voyages of its titular nomads, who seem removed in time and space from the rest of the world. They get by on parking lot largesse, desert campgrounds, and the other wide spots in the countryside. And the places they inhabit feel weathered and distant enough to seem both ancient and timeless.
And yet, it’s hard to imagine a film more salient for the present moment. Palpable in the very premise of Nomadland is a sense of the things left behind by a society without enough care for the least of us. The parade of precious possessions, pets, and even people cast aside, because there’s no one there to look after them anymore, runs throughout the film. It is, in its way, a blistering indictment of any community that would prompt its citizens to resort to such desperate (if resourceful) measures, for want of other options.
Posted in Prestige Pictures
Tagged Chloe Zhao, Film Reviews, Frances McDormand, Oscars 2020
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The Two Halves of Inside Out, and Ourselves, that Make a Greater Whole
The best compliment I can give Inside Out is that it would still be a great movie if you lopped half of it off. There’s a worthwhile story to be told about an eleven-year-old girl moving halfway across the country and struggling to adjust to her new environment. The emotional beats of Riley’s story — feeling the need to put on a happy face for the good of her parents, buckling under the pressure, and deciding to run away — are compelling and poignant all on their own.
Likewise, if Inside Out were just a wild romp through the mind of a child, it would still be uproarious and inventive from beginning to end. The movie works just as well as a buddy comedy, with Joy and Sadness traipsing through a colorful labyrinth, leaping over hurdles both literal and metaphorical, and eventually finding common ground. As I discussed on the We Love to Watch Podcast, you could take either of these tales, make it the whole movie, and still create something wonderful and stirring.
Posted in Animated Films, Movies
Tagged Amy Poehler, Film Reviews, Inside Out, Pete Docter, Pixar
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The 6 Dances That Define Freaks and Geeks
In Andrew’s first ever video essay, he covers the six dances that define the well-loved cult classic T.V. series Freaks and Geeks, from Bill’s “sexy” dance, to Sam’s Parisian night suit moves, and beyond.
Posted in Other Sitcoms, Television
Tagged Freaks and Geeks, Jason Segel, Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Martin Starr, Video Essays
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The WandaVision Finale Helps Us See the Rocky Road to Healing
The world is on fire. We are still very much in the throes of a pandemic that has cost untold human lives and inflicted even more misery. In the midst of all of this, many of us have retreated to the warmth of T.V.’s comfort food, where laughs are plentiful and problems are solved in thirty minutes or less. It’s a preferable alternative, albeit a temporary one, to the hurts and horrors of the real world, providing a little spiritual getaway in tumultuous times to soothe our pains or block them out entirely.
That’s part of why WandaVision has been so resonant and so successful. It certainly helps that the series was one of the very few big releases at a time when the entertainment industry has been collectively holding its breath. And it also doesn’t hurt that the show represents the first big MCU project in eighteen months.
“On a Very Special Episode” and the Painful Truth at the Heart of WandaVision
Caution: This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for S01E05 of WandaVision
There’s so much to buzz over at WandaVision’s halfway mark. Quicksilver from the X-Men as Quicksilver from the Avengers! Scarlet Witch’s stand-off with Sword! Pitch-perfect 1980s TV spoofs! Bulletproof hot pants!
But here’s the thing that grabbed me the most while watching this “Very Special Episode” — the sequence where Vision confronts Wanda over what’s happening to both of them. That harrowing scene has some extra oomph because of the special effects at play. There’s something eerie about the two of them arguing over the end credits until they stop. And there’s something scary about the couple rising into the air at the same time they’re raising their voices to one another.
The Evil Dead Remains Sam Raimi’s Scariest Bloodiest DIY Triumph
The most striking thing about The Evil Dead is that, after all this time, it’s still scary as hell. Maybe that should be no great achievement: Horror movies ought to, in theory at least, still manage a few scares even on repeat viewings. But the amount of fright-inducing spectacle that writer-director Sam Raimi and company pack into eighty-five blood-soaked minutes is still remarkable for so many reasons.
Posted in Classic Films, Movies
Tagged 1980s Movies, Bruce Campbell, Film Reviews, Horror Movies, Sam Raimi
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