The Fanatic (2020) - Movie Review

Well, ain’t this a nice pick for April, otherwise known as Autism Acceptance Month? A film about an obsessed superfan that pretty much everyone who has seen and written about it has pinned down as being on the autism spectrum. And yeah, this technically came out last year, but it only made it over here fairly recently and, after the utter trainwreck of Gotti, I’ll admit that I’m aiming at low-hanging fruit with Travolta’s latest. I also definitely get the problems with Travolta passing like this, but quite frankly, that’s not even close to the worst of it.

Gotti (2018) - Movie Review

 

Crime stories tend to appeal to a rather seedy part of the human fascination. Something about tales of men who took their own piece of the world by force, obeying no law other than their own, is somewhat appealing in a morbid way. As a result of this, although crime dramas can result in highly potent storytelling, there needs to be an understanding of the moral ambiguity of the subject and their actions. An acknowledgement that, no matter how squeaky-clean they may have appeared as people to whom family meant everything, they are still criminals. This film, a biopic on legendary underworld figure John Gotti, made with the blessing of Gotti Jr. himself, fucks that up worse than any other crime flick I’ve sat through.

Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief (2015) - Movie Review

Scientology is an unfairly marginalised religion that works for the betterment of mankind, and their members are all upstanding moral citizens that do nothing but good for the people.