Archive
BABYLON – Justin Hurwitz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The first half hour of Babylon, director Damien Chazelle’s epic look at the excesses of early Hollywood in the 1920s, is a sensory overload that feels like too much of everything. It’s a literal orgy of sex, drugs, and debauchery, drinking and dancing and music and good times blended with the sort of bacchanalian overkill that would make even the most hardened party goer question their judgement. Within the opening few minutes we are treated to scenes of, among other things, a grossly overweight man receiving a golden shower, someone snorting a literal mountain of cocaine, dwarves on phallus-shaped pogo sticks ‘ejaculating’ onto a crowd, a lounge singer crooning about playing with ‘her girl’s pussy’, and an elephant with the worst case of diarrhea you have ever seen. But, somehow, out of this initially overwhelming celebration of Pasolini-esque depravity, a compelling story emerges focusing on three main characters: silent film matinee idol actor Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), ambitious but damaged starlet Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), and idealistic Mexican immigrant Manny Torres (Diego Calva), who just wants to work in the movies. Read more…
FIRST MAN – Justin Hurwitz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Since almost the beginning of human civilization, man has had a special relationship with the moon. For millennia it fascinated and lured thinkers and scholars, all of whom theorized about what was up there, what it was made of, how did it get there, and – eventually – whether we would ever visit it. Many of those questions were answered on July 20, 1969, when three brave American astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins – touched down on the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, and Armstrong himself became the first human in history to set foot on our celestial partner in the sky. Director Damien Chazelle’s film First Man tells the story of these events, with Ryan Gosling playing Armstrong, Claire Foy playing his wife Janet, and character actors such as Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Ciarán Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Patrick Fugit, and Lukas Haas in supporting roles. Read more…
LA LA LAND – Justin Hurwitz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There has been so much cynicism and negativity in the news in 2016, that a film like La La Land is not so much a breath of fresh air, but a necessary antidote to the political and social upheaval that has swept across far too much of the world. It’s a sincere, optimistic love letter to the power of dreams and the joy of romance, an homage to classic Hollywood musicals, and a celebration of art and dance and music that wears its heart on its sleeve and looks you straight in the eye as it does so. Directed by Damien Chazelle, it stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as Sebastian and Mia, two struggling artists trying to make it in contemporary Los Angeles. Sebastian is a jazz pianist frustrated by his lack of opportunities and the fact that no one seems to love the music he loves any more; Mia is an aspiring actress working in a coffee shop on a studio lot whose dreams are continually crushed by an endless parade of failed auditions. A series of chance meetings between the two slowly leads to a romantic relationship, and together the pair seeks to find a way through the perils and pitfalls of being young and creative in the City of Angels. Read more…
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