Thunder Force (2021) - Movie Review

Over this blog’s lifespan, I have reviewed (almost) every film written and directed by comedian and Melissa McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone. The only exception is Superintelligence from last year, and that was only because I legally couldn’t leave the house to see it when it came out (not that I’m exactly shedding tears about that development, given how lame the trailers made it look). While I can’t say I have any special affection for his films thus far, and I recognise him being one in a string of filmmakers who seemingly exist only to prop up their spouses, I can’t say I have any real hate for them either. Tammy was alright, The Boss had its fun-crazy moments, and Life Of The Party ultimately got a pass for having its heart in the right place. I am unable to be anywhere near as charitable with his latest, however.

The Most Hated Woman In America (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Atheism activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair (Melissa Leo), her son Jon (Michael Churnus) and her granddaughter Robin (Juno Temple) have been kidnapped by Madalyn’s former work colleague David Waters (Josh Lucas) for a ransom. As they try and find a way out of their situation, Madalyn reminisces about the events that led her to this point, from working with her other son William (Vincent Kartheiser) to ban in prayer in public schools to founding the organisation American Atheists to her frequent clashes with the Christian populace. It seems that no good deed truly goes unpunished.

Snowden (2016) - Movie Review

As a whole, 2016 has been a primarily emotional year for cinema, more so than any of the last few. From the heavy fan reactions to Ghostbusters and the DC cinematic canon, to the emphasis on pathos in some of the higher-profile releases of the year, filmmakers have been aiming mostly at the heart all year. Hell, just look at my current list of the year’s films that I’ve seen: The top is populated with films that focus intently on traits associated with the best of humanity like family, courage and community (albeit rather sexual community), while the bottom is populated by trash that exhibits the worst of humanity like sexism, racism and ableism. It is this need for more emotionally potent, yet relevant, cinema that is pretty much my only rationalisation for why this film exists at this point in time.

After last year’s as-close-as-we’ll-ever-get-to-the-subject documentary Citizenfour, I thought that details concerning the most infamous whistle-blower in recent memory would have been tapped out already. Then again, we’re in Oscar season and these sorts of stories are prime material for that brand of filmmaking, so it isn’t all too surprising that this exists, especially considering who made it. So, on top of delivering as a film in its own right, this biopic now has to prove its right to exist alongside a fairly in-depth feature that’s not even two years old.