In the inchoate days of COVID, like everybody else, I reached out to old friends with whom I hadn’t spoken in months, maybe a year. One of whom, a cineaste and crime writer in California, echoed one of my early observations: “There’s going to so many pandemic movies now.” This stands to reason. Whatever the crisis, whether it’s Vietnam, 9-11, the Iraq War, the 2008 recession … [Read more...]
Shymalan holds ‘Glass’ up to his devotees, but few others
How many times can an artist deconstruct his craft and still surprise us? How often can a magician reveal his illusions and still leave us flummoxed? This is the challenge facing M. Night Shyamalan, Hollywood’s most esoteric trickster, as he burrows ever deeper into the cocoon of his cinematic universe, not so much playing to mainstream audiences as to film theorists, comic … [Read more...]