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The Rocketeer

4/27/2023

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C
​2.12

A 1930's stunt pilot finds a top secret jetpack.

Directed by Joe Johnston
Starring Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, and Timothy Dalton
Review by Jon Kissel

Picture
​Two late-century blockbuster filmmaking trends clash in Joe Johnston’s The Rocketeer.  Combining the WWII-era preview serials that inspired Indiana Jones with comic book stories like Batman and Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer is uniquely situated between genres.  As a mid-tier action director, i.e. the kind of guy who directs the third Jurassic Park movie after Spielberg’s established the first two, Johnston might’ve made his career on The Rocketeer.  With the marketing power of Disney behind it, things should’ve worked out better than they did, as The Rocketeer goes in for a modest landing and the would-be franchise only has its one entry.  Johnston’s film presents this outcome as neither justified nor tragic, allowing for the possibility of future entertaining Nazi-punching sequels but not so accomplished or rousing that their loss is a blow to cinema.  The Rocketeer is a fun throwback to American can-do unity and earnest adventure filmmaking, but it’s fine that lead Billy Campbell didn’t become a household name.


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The Square

4/12/2023

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TBD

The art director of the Swedish Royal Art Museum navigates personal and professional crises.

Directed by Ruben Ostlund
Starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Terry Notary
Review by Jon Kissel

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Swedish director Ruben Ostlund makes big, heady films, and The Square is certainly one of those.  Ostlund’s Force Majeure began with a split-second decision and played out its ramifications over the proceeding runtime, interrogating the bargains that families make with each other and nothing less weighty than what it means to be a man.  For The Square, he turns his eye towards himself and creators like him, asking what is and isn’t art while also poking fun at the lifestyle of exactly the kind of person who would ask such a question.  Each scene is about many things, both for the characters and for broader society, making The Square the kind of film that encourages the viewer to try and divine what it is the director is trying to say.  That kind of intellectual work lands side by side with a film that constantly entertains in absurd conversations or broad set pieces, making The Square a delight across all cinematic avenues.


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Force Majeure

4/5/2023

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TBD

A family has to reevaluate itself after the father has an unflattering reaction to a fake avalanche.

Directed by Ruben Ostlund
Starring Johannes Bah Kuhnke and Lisa Loven Kongsli
​Review by Jon Kissel

Picture
The 21st century Golden Age of Television spent its first decade saying a lot about modern masculinity, from Tony Soprano to Walter White.  These great TV protagonist, and others like them, were many things, but near the top of the list, they were deconstructions of the myth of the American male, the strong and silent type that Tony often extolled.  No matter what misdeeds these guys committed, they repeatedly fell back on the 'doing it for my family' excuse.  In Ruben Ostlund's excellent film Force Majeure, this theme is transported to a French ski resort, as a family's innate expectations about protection and self-sacrifice are thrown into question.


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