

Joy Ride (2023)
Buckle up for a gloriously raucous hot rod in female-led comedy. It’s unabashedly ribald, fiercely sex-positive, and a welcome reprieve by flipping burnt-out gender stereotypes; although its brazenness may eject sensitive viewers. Even a perfunctory “finding roots” theme and the Deadeye character equivalent to a flat can’t stop it from punching the accelerator. Rare proof that empowerment and raunch can both ride in the front seat.
The Idea of You (2024)
A piquant romcom deploying familiar tropes yet elevated by the taboo pairing of an older woman with a younger man revealing societal hypocrisy. While the male interest is the unfortunate embodiment of the manic pixie dream guy, a charming undercooked fantasy, Solène’s family-first sacrifice adds emotional ballast, making the happy ending feeling earned. Formulaic but compellingly human.
Robot & Frank (2012)
A warm, quirky tale about a retired thief and his android caretaker forging an unlikely bond. Sadly undermined by extraneous subplots, the most egregious is Madison’s irrelevant character; and a forced revelation defies credulity. Thankfully, its brisk runtime and central heart prevail.
Wyrmwood (2014)
Aspires to be a hybrid of Mad Max’s chrome fury and Dawn of the Dead’s dreadful horror but misfires and sputters into shambling neutral. Campy absurdity sparks too late amid tonally jarring shifts, while neither horror nor humour properly ignites. Brief spurts of fleshed-out scenes injects potential but is ultimately devoured by the undead. Choose a lane.
Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
“Americans know entertainment, but don’t know pleasure” is this film’s inadvertent epitaph. Profoundly American superficiality, tailor-made for “live, laugh, love” audiences mistaking spiritual tourism for enlightenment. It fully embodies the banal aphorism of its title, pleasant Kodak sunsets masks the starvation of authenticity. A hollow triptych of postcard profundity.
All this vehicular imagery was fun and a little exhausting to write.
Brokeback Mountain (2006)
A lifelong forbidden love ignites when Ennis’ stoic repression and Jack’s yearning defiance collide in one fateful Wyoming summer. Despite the vast wandering vistas, they soon find society’s suffocating edifice still shackles, which shapes their lives through decades of concealed ache. This transcends far beyond just “gay cowboys”, it’s a catholic howl against social conformity’s cage, where love festers in shadows and self-denial becomes survival. Two decades since release, its tremors still fracture the soul. A paradise lost, “old Brokeback got us good” Jack whispers.
Hair (1979)
A verdant time capsule of hippie idealism, its kaleidoscopic costumes and vibrant choreography elevates the anti-war anthems filling us with Electric Blues euphoria. We’re all debutantes seduced by the Aquarius dream, Ain’t Got No care but freedom, mocking societal rigidity and hypocrisy which villainizes Hashish yet metes out death. Though late to Vietnam, its spirit remains evergreen showing there’s no difference between Black Boys and White Boys all asking Where Do I Go? Hare Krishna indeed, we’re all Going Down but feverously reminded that I Got Life and needless war is the perennial foe.
Falling Down (1993)
We witness Douglas’ character the day he descends into societal anomie, his villainy masquerading as righteous fury. An autopsy of the American psyche; prejudices laid bare, he’s lucid rage erupting between banal bigotries and it chills as he coherently rationalizes each outburst. His hope for martyrdom and his final plea reveals the true underlying universal issue. No catharsis, only collapse.
@memfree@piefed.social as promised!
Hanu-Man (2024)
This anachronistic parody flip-flops between Bollywood buffoonery and earnest heroics. Subpar CGI is the least of its worries as the villain’s sidekick gratingly proclaims “shazam” in nearly every sentence while the villain is a ludicrous relic of 80’s B-movies. Not saved by the monkey god’s might, but by the power of familial bonds and its song and dance numbers. However, I’d sooner re-watch this over Shazam!
Gladiator II (2024)
Stultifying spectacle of sequel decay, a thunderous CGI colossus with lightning absent from its veins. Mistaking magnificence for majesty, its marquee celebrities and grand visual opulence siphons essential vitality to leaden choreography and a moribund script. A two and a half hour threnodic parade to inter the deceased Muses.