The Beach Bum (2020) - Movie Review

I’m not the biggest fan of Harmony Korine. In past reviews, I’ve dropped shade about how I don’t like his depictions of the dregs of society (The homeless, the lower-class, the celebrity impersonators, etc.), but that’s more of a surface-level detail for me; something that makes me hesitant to approach his films, even for a re-watch. What makes me reluctant to rough it out once I start is this vibe I keep getting from his films that I don’t have any use for them, as entertainment or as thematic text. I at least respect films like Ken Park (although that’s mostly for its place in one of my favourite moments of Aussie film critic history), but his habit of lackadaisical narratives just doesn’t work for me. I walked away from Spring Breakers feeling like I didn’t get anything out of the experience, and despite Korine’s best efforts, the same is true for his latest.

Mid90s (2019) - Movie Review

Coming-of-age stories seem to take on a more meta aspect once it sinks in that, over the last couple years, they’ve served as ample ground for actors to come of age in their own way and become filmmakers in their own. Greta Gerwig went out on the solo tip with Lady Bird, Bo Burnham struck gold with Eighth Grade, and Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart is one of the single best things she’s ever been attached to. And it seems that Jonah Hill, a figure at the nexus for the rises of filmmakers like Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, is stepping into the arena with his own take on when a kid starts to learn how to be an adult. And fucking hell, I don’t know what it says about me that this film appeals to me so damn much, but yeah, that’s what we get here.