Monday, May 28, 2018

"SOLO: A Star Wars Story (2018)"

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This piece was originally written for the excellent MovieJawn.
Below is my original final draft before and revision / editing.
Plus pictures for added pizzazz.
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Solo: A Star Wars Story is the least satisfying of the new era of Star Wars films.



I wasn't sure what foot I wanted to start my review on, as there is good as well as bad to talk about here, but then I asked myself: "What would Han Solo do?" The answer, famously the subject of much nerd argument, is that Han would shoot first. Shooting first is one of the many things that define who the character of Han Solo is.

What I mean is, were you to make a list of "HAN SOLO AF" qualities and visual trademarks, the phrase "Han shoots first" would most definitely be on there. And that's what this movie is, at its core: a "Han Solo AF" checklist that we watch get crossed off, one box at a time. You knew that's what it would be, deep down. Search your heart. You know it to be true. We all did, right? Maybe not when it initially, but most definitely after the trailer premiered. There's no story here that needed telling to make anything about the Star Wars universe better or fuller or more impactful, it's just: Hey, you wanna see where Han got that blaster? Wanna see him meet Chewbacca? Etc. etc. And the thing with a list like that is, deciding which things are "more important" and should take precedent over others is highly subjective.


Monday, May 21, 2018

"Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (2018)"



Taken as a whole, Boom For Real is an attempt to contextualize Jean-Michel Basquiat by shining a light on his early teenage years, when he was learning to be the artist he would become. Filmmaker Sara Driver brings together the familiar documentary materials to create a portrait of Basquiat that may seem simple, but is as nuanced and meaningful as his works themselves are.


Friday, May 4, 2018

EVERYTHING OLD is NEW AGAIN 3

Everything Old is New Again
Vol. 3 - May & June 2018
By: Hunter Bush
For: MovieJawn



Howdy, cinemaniacs! Welcome to Everything Old is New Again (EOiNA to her friends), your bi-monthly update on Hollywood's long-standing love of Adaptations, Remakes and Legacy Sequels. In fact, now that I think about it, the last two movies I watched as of this writing were both adaptations: Wayne's World was inspired by the popular SNL sketch and Full Metal Jacket was based on the book The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford. See what I mean?