I haven’t been a fan of Pixar for a while. Part of that’s inevitably because I’ve just grown out of the age range they’re aiming at, but it’s also because of a lack of originality. There’s been too much reliance on nostalgia with sequels like The Incredibles 2 and Finding Dory, and the studio doesn’t even seem invested in its own worth when it decides to plonk entries like Luca straight onto Disney+ before letting them bask in the big screen sun. The fact that the company recently dropped 175 of its employees in the biggest remodel in Pixar history isn’t a great sign either.
Continue reading “Review: Inside Out 2”Review: Gawain and the Green Knight
Gawain and the Green Knight lets its literary origins be known from the outset, informing us that the author of the text is unknown before planting it solidly in its Middle English scripture origins as the title adorns the opening images in an array of decorative fonts. When text from a letter is read out by a character, the camera bears witness to each individual written word as it is spoken. Materiality is at the heart of director David Lowery‘s luxurious feature, which follows Gawain’s journey after his fateful encounter with the mythical entity.
Continue reading “Review: Gawain and the Green Knight”Review: Paper Mario – The Thousand Year Door
I’m a newbie to the Paper Mario series. A noob, if you will. I’ve played plenty of other games in the series, whether that involved venturing through the stars in my main series favourite Super Mario Galaxy, yeeting friends and foes off the stage in New Super Mario Bros or serving a fresh can of whoop ass to anyone who dared enter my dojo in Mario Kart Wii.
Continue reading “Review: Paper Mario – The Thousand Year Door”Faux Holiday Fun
Various members of the household have had nice holidays away recently, so I felt justified to have a nice holiday of my own. In the house. By myself, mostly. Hooray.
Continue reading “Faux Holiday Fun”Physical Bodies, Physical Violence: The ‘Ripped’ Figure in Love Lies Bleeding, Road House and Monkey Man
The spectacle of the human figure on film is hardly a new thing. One of Thomas Edison’s first images back in the late nineteenth century detailed the flexing muscles of French bodybuilder Eugine Sandal. The bare torso of Steeve Reeves dominates the poster of Pirates of Malaysia, as does that of Reg Park in Hercules the Avenger. Commando acts as an extended advertisement for Arnie’s bulky physique, beginning not with a calm wide shot of green vistas but an extreme synecdochic close up of the actor’s ripped bicep. The camera is the perfect vessel to exhibit the human body in all its physicality.
Continue reading “Physical Bodies, Physical Violence: The ‘Ripped’ Figure in Love Lies Bleeding, Road House and Monkey Man”