I watched 6 movies last week:
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- Clerks III never justifies its existence, and a lot of its jokes don’t entirely land. It’s even less effective as a return and farewell to the series than what I remember of the two-decades-old Clerks II. But it has its heart in the right place and offers some modest rewards if you’re at all fond of these characters.
- If scientists were trying to re-create a giallo film in the lab, they could do a lot worse than The Strange Case of Mrs. Wardh. The movie ticks just about every checkbox of the genre imaginable, from lurid sex scenes to over-the-top violence, and is a victory of style over substance. There’s a lot to enjoy in that style, of course; I’m just not sure there’s much of anything else.
- The Show is a neon-lit Kafkaesque fever dream courtesy of Alan Moore.
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- Jackass Forever may be a strange place to start watching the series, but nevertheless, here I am. I don’t know that I’d necessarily call what I watched funny—much less one of the funniest films of last year, as more than a few critics seem to have done—but there is something to it, beyond just the outrageousness. Maybe it’s that the Jackass crew recognize how stupid these pranks and stunts are, or maybe it’s just that they’re doing all of this to themselves, so the cringe never feels meanspirited. It’s often juvenile and gross, but also self-aware and clever enough to be entertaining.
- The Life of Emile Zola is maybe not a paragon of historical accuracy, or at least omits some key information as it speeds through decades of history. But Paul Muni is good in the title role, and it’s an effective old-Hollywood biopic.
- A few years ago, when First Man came out, I realized that I was growing to dislike Damien Chazelle’s films a little less with each new one. “At this rate,” I tweeted, “I may just kinda enjoy Chazelle’s next movie.” And you know what? I kinda did. Babylon is too long, and overly pretentious about the magic of film—even as it aims to take the business of filmmaking down several pegs—and it’s probably a lot less clever than it thinks it is. But it’s also audacious and ridiculous and brash, powered by dynamic performances and some fantastic set-pieces.
I also re-watched the Wachowski’s first movie, Bound. I can’t remember if I saw this before The Matrix, or shortly thereafter, but it’s been the better part of two decades either way. It remains a really stylish and seductive neo-noir.