Movie Reviews
Titles starting with B
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
When I heard about this I reacted the same way I did when, quite a few years ago now, there was a spate of “interactive” books, where you made choices and turned to page X or Y to proceed. My reaction was simple. Why? Why would anyone want to read such a book? When I pick up a book I want to be told a story, not have to thread my way ... Read more »
Black Mirror, Season Two
Well, it’s back, the most dystopian science fiction anthology series I’ve ever seen. I mean, these stories are black, really black. Normally I’m much in favor of stories that take the protagonist from a terrible situation, through a series of hardships and struggles, but it all comes out okay in the end. These stories do not. But they are so imaginative, so ... Read more »
Black Orpheus
I don’t know what Italy had to do with this Brazilian film, but that’s what it says at Wiki, and they usually know what they’re talking about when it comes to movies. It was done on a shoestring budget, and the director, a Frenchman named Marcel Camus, actually slept in the park some nights, he was that broke.
I’m afraid this just isn’t my kind of film. It is a retelling of the ... Read more »
Black Panther
I think I may have finally learned my lesson. They said Wonder Woman was good, not the same old shit. And it was, for about the first half. Then it was the same old shit. Now this one has been praised to the skies so I broke my rule and gave a superhero movie one more shot. And it’s the same old shit. Putting a rubber suit over a black body doesn’t change the ... Read more »
Black Rain
I’m a big fan of Ridley Scott, but even the greats sometimes fall short. This one is more interesting to look at than to think about. Michael Douglas, transplanted from New York to Tokyo, is pretty irritating most of the time. Occasionally it comes alive here and there with examples of the culture clashes between East and West, and some of the settings are almost as alien to me as if they ... Read more »
Black Sea
I think all submarine movies are basically alike, except for the depth charges in wartime movies. From Run Silent, Run Deep to The Hunt for Red October to Das Boot, we see the same scenes of high pressure water squirting into the interior, the plunge toward depths the hull just can’t ... Read more »
Black Sheep
“There are 40 million sheep in New Zealand, and they’re pissed off!” I never saw the cult classic, Night of the Lepus, in which giant bunny rabbits terrorize Arizona, but I understand it was played straight. This one isn’t, thank god. Mutant sheep on a remote station (what they call a ranch Down Under) in New Zealand turn carnivorous and our heroes must prevent ... Read more »
Black Snake Moan
What this movie ‘bout, it be ‘bout de blues, dog! One man, his baby done lef’ him … for his younger brothah! I ax you, there be anyt’ing more likely to give a niggah de blues dan dat? And dis girl, she sleep around, don’t get no respect, and get whup upside her head. An dis other ... Read more »
The Black Stallion
For some reason this movie reminds me of Full Metal Jacket. Not that they have anything in common in terms of outlook or subject matter or anything else. It’s just that both movies have a first act that is pretty much perfect, and a second act that is just … very, very good. Each is really two movies shoved together, and might have been better if they had existed ... Read more »
Black Swan
Here’s a film that will really knock you out. You may not understand it all—I didn’t—but it’s fascinating, audacious, and beautiful to look at. A young ballet dancer lands the part of Odette in Swan Lake, also playing the black swan. She is technically perfect, but the director keeps telling her she is too cold to play the black swan, that she doesn’t feel the ... Read more »