American Psycho’s Soundtrack to Duality and Deception
American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman is the spiritual ancestor of the Rotten Tomatoes addict, the Metacritic worshipper, the Spotify listener who judges worth by stream count.
dark comedy
Hard Ticket to Hawaii’s Accidental Feminism
In his explicitly women-objectifying film, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, Andy Sidaris has accidentally created situations that demand feminist narrative solutions.
British Identity Interrogated in Three Films
Where Roddam’s Quadrophenia asks of British identity, “Who am I?” and Anderson’s If…. asks “Can I be myself?”, Cammell and Roeg’s Performance declares, “There is no self.”
‘They Live’ in Your Mind in the Digital Age
If “they live” because we sleep, it’s time to awaken to the reality that John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi satire is more relevant now than it ever was in the 20th century
Posh ‘Sirens’ Digs Up Dirt on the American Family
Posh miniseries Sirens may appear to be just wealth-porn, but it digs into the dirt of individualism and familial ties.
Naughty Naughty Joe Orton
Screenwriter Joe Orton’s specialty was throwing in queer and polymorphous sexuality during a period when English laws were loosening but homosexuals were still being arrested.
‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Lets You Pick Your Poison
Like Homer’s The Odyssey, Mike White’s The White Lotus is a parable for its times, warning viewers about the dangers of temptation.
‘Death of a Unicorn’ Substitutes Hot Splatter with Soft Satire
The satire in the Grand-Guignol fantasy Death of a Unicorn is not barbed enough to really skewer viewers with its point about greed.
David Lynch Nailed and Skewered Us
On the passing of legendary director David Lynch, we share five films that nailed us in our hearts and guts and skewered us to our soft, squishy, emotional cores.
Dark Comedy ‘Patriot’ Illuminates Neoliberalism’s Dark Reality
The dark comedy Patriot illuminates how neoliberalism makes choices for us disguisedly, using entrepreneurial agency as a fig leaf to obscure manipulation.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ and the Death of Hollywood Franchises
Hollywood franchise films may not have started as theme parks, but the drive to eliminate risk will quickly turn them into the very thing their detractors fear.
‘Slow Horses: Season Four’ Subverts the Spy Genre
The good, the bad, and the ugly dance to Slow Horses‘ strange game, which reminds viewers that solidarity is essential to fighting oppression.