Wrenches Thrown In the Works

20th Century Fox

Review: Ford v Ferrari (dir. James Mangold, 2019)

It seems impossible for any comment on James Mangold's latest crowd-pleaser Ford v Ferrari to not at least make one mention of Dads. And make no mistake, I couldn't help but think of how fucking much my Dad would've loved this movie. Perhaps the best part of the Ford v Ferrari Dad Movie discourse is that it is all in sincerity. People love it because of that. It is indeed a movie to love, something that feels like they just don't make 'em like that anymore. I cannot overstate how loud, fast, and FUN this movie is. I will watch this movie on rainy days for the rest of my life.

Thursday Movie Picks -- Childs Actors Venture Out

The movie where the gifted little kid actor takes off his/her clothes and grows up, at least in the case of my picks this week.  Sometimes it plays better than others. Either way, the ones who become the best need this sort of breakthrough in order to simply make the transition to "real actor." All three of these actors have proven that they had an ability to transcend what made them famous first.

Someone to Hold Me Too Close

Netflix

My 18-month old boy was up from a nap and walking around making a bunch of noise as my wife and I watched the final few scenes of Marriage Story in our living room. Netflix had allowed us to experience this movie in pieces, a fact with which parents have to contend. And I felt so very moved because of all of that. There's just no other way to put it: Noah Baumbach's latest film is an honest, painful, lovely and loving experience. It is aptly titled. "It's what is is," to quote another recent Netflix conversation-starter and awards-contender. It is a common story, the story of most of us.

Thursday Movie Picks -- Super Long Titles

I'm playing this week...for the first time in a long time...because I want to get back in the game. My grad school journey is winding down, and I'm ready to start talking movies with everyone again.

So...welcome back...and welcome me back! I'll be around to everyone's blogs soon, reading and commenting on your great writing.

I love a good, long movie title. And I have some gems to offer up this week as part of Wandering through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks.

Taking What's Owed

STXfilms

Review: Hustlers (dir. Lorene Scafaria, 2019)

The hype is real for me. J. Lo's performance. The movie itself. A movie that critic David Sims of The Atlantic rightly called "a lush, lavish joy that's difficult to forget." And that's not just because it is one of the most visually striking films of the year (and not just because J. Lo, at 50, is some sort of freak-goddess of sexual power). In its way, Lorene Scafaria's film, based on the story of NYC strippers who took control of the excess of their excessive world and got way more than a stack of singles.

This Gun's for Hire

Warner Bros. Pictures

Review: Blinded by the Light (dir. Gurinder Chadha, 2019)

I am someone who loves. Full stop. It is hard to be a "critic" when you are that way. I have trouble being snarky or controversial. I have to actually try hard to not be nice about the movies, books, and songs I watch, read, or listen to. I love them all, and, honestly, I have the luxury of avoiding those media that I feel I might not like, so I do. With movies, I seek out what's driving the conversation of the moment and pounce, and the ones that don't feel as well-received I avoid.

The Saddest Music Video

Thoughts in retrospect on the masterful video for "Hurt" by Johnny Cash. 

"I cried the first time I saw it. If you were moved to that kind of emotion in the course of a two-hour movie, it would be a great accomplishment. To do it in a four-minute music video is shocking.” - Rick Rubin

Postmodern Explorers, Lost Fathers

Thoughts on Power, Voice, Choice, and the Manhood through an exploration of Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and James Gray's Ad Astra.

Enjoying the Fiction of Things

Thoughts on Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

American Pie at 20: Masculinity Now and Then

An Essay on American Pie, 

written as an application of Masculinity Studies 

for my graduate course in Literary Theory.