Writer. Library person. First in the world to platinum Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two on PS3.
“Is that what you think we’re doing out here? Committing suicide?”
It plays fast and loose with the source material, but Alex Garland and company have still crafted a challenging, remarkable piece of science fiction that digs into humanity’s sense of self and asks substantial questions.
My VHS cover pull-quote: “Replicates your cells and doesn’t stop until you are something new! -Nick Perilli? Natalie Portman? Who are we? Who are any of us? What is next?”
“You haven’t eaten your primordial soup.”
Despite the American marketing team’s attempts to convince everyone otherwise, this is 100% a football/soccer sports movie about a primitive Manchester United. Even so, Early Man still has all the heart, stop motion artistry, absurdity, British tomfoolery, and general lovability of any of Aardman’s other films.
My VHS cover pull-quote: “*Various British noises*!”
“Is this your King?”
A superhero movie with heavy 007 vibes and both narrative and emotional complexity as important in the evolution of the modern genre as last year’s Wonder Woman. The celebration and incorporation of African culture in all aspects of the film, from the setting to the memorable score, offers a more than welcome new perspective to the MCU.
My VHS cover pull-quote: “Lest we forget the trailblazer Luke Cage, though, who took the MCU to aid Harlem and later beat up many ninjas for the good of the world. With how separate the Netflix shows seem to be from the Iron Mans of it all, I doubt these two worlds will ever meet, which is a damn shame.”
“No shit.”
One of Spielberg’s stirring serious swells of strings pictures, but still an important story to be told, especially right now. It often plays like an episode of The Newsroom, wearing its message on its really long sleeve that it keeps slapping you with the way kids used to do because they had small arms and their shirt used to be their big brother’s, but the film still hits the right spots at the right moments.
My VHS cover pull-quote: “Halfway through the movie, Meryl Streep broke character and addressed me personally, saying ‘Nick, literally everyone else at this theater is seeing Black Panther tonight. What are you doing here seeing this milquetoast country club shit?’ Only when I assured her and, later, Bob Odenkirk that I’d be seeing Black Panther this weekend did the picture continue. I’ve contacted Mr. Spielberg about this event during the 10:15pm showing of The Post at the United Artists’ King of Prussia, but received only a recorded message from him about how incredible Kendrick Lamar’s work on the Black Panther soundtrack is. Needless to say, I’m excited to see Black Panther in a couple days.”
“I don’t do nothing for nobody for nothing.”
This is the most charmed I’ve been by a movie since Hugo way back in 2011. Paddington 2 shares a distinct love of wonder and sheer entertainment with Hugo, as well as the visual craft that goes into every marmalade slathered frame. It also shares a nearly idyllic version of its splendorous setting, where it feels like the worst thing happening in the world is quite possibly a dissociative Hugh Grant stealing a pop-up book. Prison is an amazing place in a Wes Andersen sort of way, criminals are lovable and merely gruff or roguish, and most everyone has the capacity for self-awareness and change. I want to live in this world.
My VHS cover pull quote: “One of the most substantial and timely things this movie does is keep the Peruvian bear intact as a stand-in for immigration by way of Peter Capaldi’s Mr. Creary and his unfounded fear of the adorable Paddington. Dynamite!”
“I think we should form a Dahmer fan club.”
There is no sympathy here for (or glorification of) the cannibal serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, but there is a bit spared for Jeff Dahmer, who was a weird high school kid in need of a best friend and some hefty psychiatric care. Ultimately, this is a tragicomic coming-of-age film that’s, at times, hilarious and harrowing in equal measure.
Jeffrey Dahmer tried really hard to not become Jeffrey Dahmer.
My VHS cover pull quote: “In the context of watching this movie, I was worried that my fashionable hipster glasses might be too Dahmeresque.”
“I had a day of hoping which is more than I’ve had in a while.”
Whereas Martin McDonagh’s previous two films, In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, hid a heart beneath crackerjack dialogue and madcap goings-on, Three Billboards lays its bleeding, angry and wounded organs bare right from the start. It pulls comedy from the frayed ventricles, sure, but the comedy is always second to the pain.
My VHS cover pull quote: “Frances McDormand is so good in this I want to re-watch the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge where she was equally– if not more – – stellar. I mean definitely watch this now but check that one out too, bud.”
“I’ve never retired anything that was born before.”
A masterful sequel that solves some of the original’s mysteries while compounding a myriad of other ones and gives us sci-fi expressionism as hard as diamond. Like with Twin Peaks: The Return earlier this year, I somehow feel like this is a world from a bygone era the likes of which we may never be able to visit again. At least, not in the same way. In a film-making landscape with speculative films that are often so homogeneous, it’s as staggering to me as realizing I’m a replicant (but, like, in a good way) when a movie and a world that is so unquestionably its own in every aspect arrives. Well, returns.
My VHS cover pull-quote: “I watched this several moons ago and it still lingers in my thoughts. I dream of it during my counting of electric sheep.”
“It’s about stopping World War III.”
I remember–in the Before Times–when these movies that have somehow been a constant in my life were about street racing.
My VHS cover pull quote: “New career plan: get a PhD in film studies. Write dissertation focusing on the trajectory of Universal’s Fast and the Furious franchise. Chart its course from hollow street race flicks, to halfway clever heist movies that almost have a theme and care enough about character and reverence to pull bro tears from bro sockets, to a straight up comic book superhero picture that just does whatever the fuck it wants. Get tenure. Bring in guest lecturer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Bring in guest lecturer Vin Diesel on the same day by ‘accident’ so we can get to the bottom of this on-set beef. Bring in Vince McMahon. Oh shit, bring in Stone Cold Steve Austin. Here comes The Undertaker out of retirement!”
“I belong up here.”
A somewhat nihilistic entry into the outer space horror/adventure/let’s-watch-some-people-die-horribly-or-survive film genre that feels like the natural evolution of both Alien and Gravity at once.
My VHS cover pull-quote: “Remarkable! LIFE will have you up on your feet saying ‘You guys really shouldn’t be messing around with that. Just knock it off.'”
Nick Perilli