CATEGORY
Film
Wrestling With the Status Quo: A Review of The Peanut Butter Falcon
More often than not, challenging the status quo is seen as a threat to stability or “creating division” rather than an attempt at meaningful...
Of Sitcoms and Superheroes: A Review of WandaVision
As Marvel Cinematic Universe’s film characters’ first foray onto the small screen, the nine-part series WandaVision was a brief cultural phenomenon when it was...
Bollywood, Hollywood and the Globalization of Socially-conscious Film: A Review of 3 Idiots
Amidst ever-increasing globalization, American audiences are slowly beginning to recognize international film industries, as evidenced by South Korea’s Parasite (2019) being the first non-English-language...
The Humans Behind Labor Politics: A Review of American Factory
In Moraine, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, a former GM plant was bought by Chinese automobile glass manufacturer Fuyao in 2014, a decision that...
Bringing Home the Bacon: A Review of Okja
The world seems to be growing increasingly complicated, as evidenced by the past several decades, years or even months of—well, everything. And with more problems come more proposed solutions; how do we solve the coronavirus pandemic, systemic racism, political division or world hunger? But behind every solution is a who, a what and a why. This is exactly what South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho confronts us with in his Netflix original Okja: as an egotistical CEO hailing from a powerful family proposes to solve world hunger with a new species of super-pigs bred for their meat, complications soon arise that question the validity of such a solution, as well as whose problems it ultimately solves.
A Murder Mystery of Privilege & Politics: A Review of Knives Out
The palace—a potent symbol of wealth with its intricately-embellished architecture, remote and wide-open spaces and Instagram-worthy scenery—is a place that is far removed from the rest of society, often gated off and separated by a long driveway to keep out the woes (and the people) of the real world. Rian Johnson’s (The Last Jedi, Looper) 2019 mystery-comedy Knives Out is a movie of veneers and misdirection situated in such a palatial mansion.
War! Who Is It Good For? A Review of Da 5 Bloods
Da 5 Bloods, this June’s Netflix-exclusive Spike Lee joint, opens with archival footage from the American Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, prophetically...
No, Ignorance is Not Bliss: A (2020) Review of WALL-E
The summer of 2008 saw the glorious and yet understated release of Pixar’s robot romance WALL-E. A post-apocalyptic film made for kids, it bypasses...
On the Value of Simplicity: A Review of Song of the Sea
In times of chaos, uncertainty and conflict, children’s movies maintain an attractive simplicity in their lessons and morals: kindness, responsibility, harmony, getting along… And...
Travel Advisory: A Review of Train to Busan
Yes, it’s another zombie movie. With the inescapable presence of both the coronavirus and information about it, apocalyptic plague narratives featuring this particular breed...