White Noise (2022) - Movie Review

Up to this point, writer/director Noah Baumbach has operated in the chattier sectors of American indie cinema. We’ve look at three of his films on this blog already, and they have all involved intimate and unvarnished looks at families with a shared interest (or even disinterest) in the arts. And despite a couple disagreements here and there in the film craft or the framing of their central ideas, I’ve come to look forward to seeing new films from the guy. So you can imagine my surprise when his new film is a major switch-up from his usual wheelhouse.

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017) - Movie Review

Mahan’s Media, at its core, is me spilling my post-film thoughts into writing. Sometimes, the film being discussed tries so little that thematic analysis is barely required, while other times, I go out of my way to bring up what I think is relevant to the conversation. The Human Centipede III led me to talking about the U.S. Constitution, Hotel Transylvania 2 got me thinking about the modern attitude to the classic Universal monsters, and Aaaaaaah! gave me an excuse to polish off my high school drama education; basically, I write about whatever I want to write about at that given moment.

 

However, while I do pride myself on being able to discuss media at this level, I will always admit that I am hardly a seasoned expert on any of this. Any grand statements I have made in the past concerning the human condition are mostly personal observations and whatever unifying theories I’ve expressed to explain certain films could very well be 100% incorrect. Every word I’ve ever written here and elsewhere is done with the possibility that I could be talking completely out of my arse on the subject; all I care about is being able to explain the reasons why I hold those opinions, not necessarily whether they are “correct”. I just say what I believe to be true, and if I’m wrong, so be it; I learn from it and move forward.

 

I bring all this up because, every time I get to a film of this nature, I get self-conscious that maybe I’m just too stupid to get it. I’m willing to bet that this is a common reaction to today’s subject, but I’ve never let that stop me before. Hope you’re ready to get both confused and depressed.

Tomorrowland (2015) - Movie Review

If you’ve seen Krusty the Klown being put on trial for robbery, Tom Cruise teaming up with Hawkeye or heard Edna Mode get unsettlingly excited about how indestructible clothing is, then you’re familiar with animation superstar Brad Bird. Starting out in the formative years of The Simpsons, shaping the show into what it is now, he went to blaze a trail through the industry with his feature films from the cult religious classic The Iron Giant to the universally lauded The Incredibles. Then, in 2012, he made the transition to live-action with the surprisingly awesome Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. With this kind of filmography behind him, in case all this gushing didn’t make it obvious enough, I was really looking forward to this latest film from one of my favourite directors. But, given the divided reaction to it so far, how did it turn out?