RED ROCKET — CANNES 2021

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal! Your generosity keeps the reviews coming!

"Red Rocket" is as good as American Independent Cinema gets.

Fantastic.

Sean Baker, don't you dare go Hollywood.

It's worth repeating, Sean Baker is our modern-day John Cassavetes.

But if Baker ever directs a Marvel movie it will be all over. 

Don't make the same mistake that Chloé Zhao ("Nomadland") made. What a sell out.

"Red Rocket" is an emotionally intense Trump-era satirical drama that lands every punch of betrayal, selfishness, and senseless greed for ego fulfillment.

Simon Rex deals a virtuosic portrayal of an inveterate narcissist porn star taking those near him on a downhill ride to hell.  

Wow.

American narcissism's days are numbered. 

Hallefuckinglujah. 

Rated R. 130 mins.

BENEDETTA — CANNES 2021

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal! Your generosity keeps the reviews coming!

 

Daring, and bristling with bold artistic license, this social satire burns at the stake.

It's dizzying.

Virginie Efira is electric as Benedetta, a 17th century lesbian nun living in a convent in Renaissance Italy.

Fearless.

Catherine Deneuve's baton has successfully been passed down.

Based on Judith C. Brown's book "Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy," "Benedetta" juggles religion, politics, and sexual identity like so many electrons in a social atom attempting to split.

Holy fucking hell.

Paul Verhoeven's cinematic mastery just gets sharper.

This is a high-wire act that not many seasoned filmmakers would attempt, lest they fall flat on their blushing faces.

Long live Paul Verhoeven.

No prisoners taken. Many gifts given.

Not Rated. 131 mins.

SMOOTH TALK — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

Joyce Chopra's no-nonsense adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" is an apt response to America's puritanical mindset that still refuses to responsibly address sex education.

Not knowing who, how, why, where, or when to fuck, results in exploitation.

Dishonesty breeds dishonesty.

Coming of age. Kids gonna fuck. Adults too.

Such is the case for Laura Dern's 15-year-old character Connie, whose heated confusion over losing her virginity sets her up as a ripe target for a thirtysomething pedophile (Treat Williams) to take advantage of her volatile situation.

They didn't call 'em shopping malls for nothing.

Rated PG-13. 92 mins. 

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal!