Daddy Longlegs feels like a missing link between the Safdie Brothers' mumblecore efforts and later efforts like Uncut Gems. It's a personal piece of work from the Safdie Brothers about their relationship with their problematic father. A lot of Safdie Brothers' films are concerned with people being incapable of breaking their cycles of abuse, trauma, and self-sabotaging behaviour. Daddy Longlegs explores this idea with tact, nuance, and depth with Lenny(Ronald Bernstein). The

The Pleasure of Being Robbed is an interesting first feature from Josh Safdie. It feels like a piece of the NY guerrilla filmmaking and the mumblecore movement in the early 2000s. It's certainly an odd feature in its own right. The mumblecore movement defined the indie filmspace in the early 2000s. It was a product of digital technological advancement, offering cheaper video and a low-fidelity approach for independent filmmakers. However, the mumblecore movement was driven by

Buffy Season 2 is a fascinating beast in many ways. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of losing yourself and your identity in any person. With this, the twisted imagery of sexuality, blood, and vampirism constantly recur throughout the second season. Buffy's second season is centered on the interrogation of what it means to be a slayer for Buffy. Existentialism is a core theme in Buffy's second season, with the second season ruminating on the emotional cost of being a

Hamnet is a cathartic exploration of grief and its relation to art. Its themes of grief, motherhood, and the expression of grief resonate heavily in the modern cultural and social landscape of the post-COVID era. It fits right into Chloe Zhao's oeuvre. A lot of the critical discussion surrounding Hamnet appears to be its idea of "emotionally manipulative" for audiences. However, it feels odd to call out Hamnet for it. As major film critic Roger Ebert pointed out, "Cinema gene

The first season in network television is a learning curve for both the production team and the show. Buffy's first season is no exception to the rule. It contains its fair share of clunkers but remains a trial run for the rest of the show. It's interesting to revisit Buffy Season 1 in the postmodern context of 1990s pop culture, with films like Scream and Pulp Fiction capturing the zeitgeist of the postmodern era. In that sense, Buffy's postmodernism feels very attuned to th

Eternals is destined to be a footnote within the larger MCU. It's messy, flawed, and a beautiful anti-superhero biblical epic. It's a film filled with ambitious ideas and a sense of intimacy. It's a fascinating MCU film that feels constrained by the formula of the MCU. Eternals, unlike its contemporaries within the MCU, is critical of the idea of fetishizing power in and of itself. The central thesis of Eternals lies in the question of wielding power and pondering the existen

Nomadland serves as a capstone for Zhao's unofficial Western trilogy. Nomadland is a film that resonates with the early 2020s, focusing on the erosion of the middle class due to late-stage capitalism, grief, trauma, and a subversion of the frontier myth. Nomadland is a subversive take on the western with the Nomads marking the American Western frontier, but they have no land to settle, no future to work for, unlike cowboy frontier myths. This subversion is a recurring feature

Amy's Dead End Dreamhouse blends surrealism with dark comedy, wrapped in a cheerful veneer, much like Pee Wee's Playhouse. It's also a show that speaks to the existential ennui of Gen Z and to the Internet. Themes of misogyny, criticism of late-stage capitalism, consumer culture, Gen-Z disillusionment, and existential horror are thematically explored within the veneer of laughter and a surreal drumhouse. It's a fascinating show. Essentially, the dreamhouse feels like a repres

The Rider is a powerful deconstruction of American masculinity and the American cowboy archetype. It's a minimalist drama that feels lyrical and poetic in nature and form. The Rider stands out for its vulnerability, trauma, and the idea of broken dreams promised by American masculinity. It feels timely in an era where masculinity is in crisis and constantly interrogated in modern-day culture and politics. The Rider redefines the American West for the 21st century with its fra

Songs My Brothers Taught Me offers a restrained, lyrical perspective on reservation life, with portrayals of marginalized communities that are nuanced yet purposeful and cathartic. Themes of adult dysfunction, poverty, and quiet neglect dominate the narrative with a focus on realism and identity. John Winters(John Reddy) is defined by his identity in his community and the trauma that comes through systemic discrimination. Landscapes in Songs My Brothers Taught Me are integral

Homebound is a powerful indictment of modern-day India with rich character drama and a personal character piece at the forefront. Themes of religious and caste discrimination are explored in Homebound. Ghaywan's films focus on the exploitation and suffering of marginalized people deemed outside of the normative society. In Homebound, religious discrimination is linked to caste discrimination, with the rise in Islamophobia in modern-day India. Homebound is a more cynical film,

Juice is powerful and unflinching. Highlighting the banal evils of patriarchal societies and caste discrimination, it's a striking and effective piece of work from a confident filmmaker. Gendered roles and spaces are common in Indian households that are patriarchal constructs in nature. It's a society that entraps women in labor while exploiting and casually humiliating them in everyday life. Characters trapped by circumstance seem to be a recurring theme in Ghywan's work (i.

Masaan is a poetic meditation on the cycle of life and death. Themes of discrimination, grief, loss, separation, freedom, and cyclical systemic abuse are explored and conveyed through the protagonist's arcs. Masaan conveys the idea that people are trapped in small towns with forces bent on keeping them in the same manner. Devi's exploited by the police, and Deepak's lower caste badge finds him unable to be with the love of his life. This is juxtaposed with Benaras and its im

Ironheart is a flawed yet fascinating show. It's a character study wrapped in bloated legacy-quel fan service armor. However, Ironheart presents an interesting counterpoint to Sinners on the idea that creative compromise is a necessary aspect of art. Ironheart works best when it focuses on Riri's personal life, drawing from her trauma, lived-in experiences, and her interactions with her family, guiding her motivations. It gives the series an emotional anchor and depth. This a

IRON Man 3 is a marked improvement and the best Iron Man film of the trilogy. Iron Man 3 subverts the power fantasy and soft propaganda that permeate the first 2 Iron Man films and the MCU. Iron Man 3 provides some of the richest material and a neat character arc for RDJ's Tony Stark. Iron Man 3 presents Tony Stark as a three-dimensional character, with his arrogance, ego, and flaws coming to the surface. Consequently, the film frames Tony's Iron Man suits as a metaphor for a

Iron Man 2 is the MCU's first major misstep. Interesting ideas are buried within convoluted worldbuilding, Cold War stereotypes, and glossy power fantasy for a passive, middle-of-the-road summer blockbuster. Iron Man 2 is preoccupied with themes of legacy, as well as American capitalism, as reflected in the characters of Tony Stark and Ivan Vanko. Tony Stark is the embodiment of the military-industrial complex, while Vanko is the victim of American capitalism. However, Iron M

Eyes of Wakanda feels like excess content. While part of the D+ Streaming Model, it evokes a certain sense of tiredness and fatigue about the brand and its future, given that the streaming bubble is being broken. Eyes of Wakanda is formally an ambitious show that critiques isolation, specifically Wakanda's self-isolated utopia, while dabbling in various genres and conventions. However, Eyes of Wakanda often feels aimless with no thematic coherence. Eyes of Wakanda lacks ident

Iron Man built the groundwork for the MCU with a blend of military propaganda and power fantasy, framing superheroes as noble soldiers fighting wars against vaguely defined political enemies(Ten Rings). Iron Man is recontextualized for the American military industrial complex and its commentary on the War on Terror. However, its commentary tends to skew the American military complex in a favorable and neutral light, making it a fantasy. Iron Man's muddled arc is about a war p

Devs is a science fiction piece that needs to be savored. Hinging on themes of determinism, free will, and commentary on Tech Worship...

Sinners is a cautionary tale about cultural appropriation and the importance of ownership. It’s the first film that resonates with the...