in which I am surprised by ‘The Suicide Squad’ (I hated the first one)
everything that happened at Flick Filosopher from Monday, August 2nd, to Sunday, August 8th
August is always a doldrum-y month for movies, but it feels extra slow and stagnant this year. All our notions of “seasons” for movies have been thrown out in the last year and a half. We’ve now lost a second summer of blockbusters and popcorn flicks. The festival period that starts in summer and runs through early autumn and usually introduces us to what will become the most acclaimed films of the year is off to a muted start. Will autumn 2021 be another lost “serious season” of awards contenders and other more adventurous movies?
(Plus there’s the whole big transition to premium VOD and big movies debuting on streaming services.)
I suspect we will look back at this confusion and eventually recognize it as a good thing: the movie milieu needed to be shaken up. Where will our future film normal end up, I wonder? It’s definitely something I have been thinking about intensely since the beginning of the pandemic, and will continue to watch closely.
—MaryAnn
new at flick filosopher, Aug 02–08
new and ongoing cinema releases, US/Can, Aug 06
Comic-book sequel The Suicide Squad; crime drama Naked Singularity; and that’s it… [get the full rundown]
new and ongoing cinema releases, UK/Ire, Aug 06
On-the-road black comedy Zola; romantic drama The Last Letter from Your Lover; more… [get the full rundown]
new and ongoing dvd/blu/vod releases, US/Can, Aug 03–06
Drama Pig, starring Nicolas Cage, on VOD; comic-book sequel The Suicide Squad on HBO Max; more… [get the full rundown]
new and ongoing dvd/blu/vod releases, UK/Ire, Aug 02–06
Action comedy The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard on premium VOD; animated musical Vivo on Netflix; more… [get the full rundown]
question of the weekend: what movie would you delete the dialogue from so you could just enjoy the visuals and music?
This might be a movie you love and want to experience on a different level. Or it might be one that would only be improved if you could delete the dialogue. (My choice is one of the latter…) [post a comment at Flick Filosopher | post a comment at Substack | post a comment at Patreon]
Riders of Justice and Pig movies review: rethinking the revenge movie
Two brilliant dramas upend cinematic tropes of male vengeance with precision, patience, and grim humor. These are radical rethinks in emotional maturity surrounding men’s grief, remorse, and shame. [read the review | Riders VOD US, cinemas UK; Pig cinemas+VOD US, coming soon cinemas UK]
curated: “Loki as Other: Why Do Queer and Female Viewers Love the Trickster?”
E.J. Beaton has written a fabulous thing at Tor.com about the appeal of Loki, particular as portrayed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tom Hiddleston, and even more particularly as he is depicted in the Disney+ series Loki… [read more]
The Suicide Squad movie review: primrose psychopaths (#HBOMax)
Spanks the 2016 film and sends it off to the corner to think about what it did. This one is the definite article: Gory, grim, bleakly funny. Full of feverish, anarchic energy and exhausting cynicism. [read the review | cinemas UK; cinemas+HBO Max US]
Tweet of the week…
coming up at Flick Filosopher…
Ryan Reynolds in Free Guy
Netflix’s animated musical Vivo
Space Jam: A New Legacy (leaving HBO Max in the US on August 15th)
Mark Wahlberg as Joe Bell
Old, the latest from M. Night Shyamalan
Summer of Soul
The Forever Purge
Gunpowder Milkshake
Fast & Furious 9
Luca, the new Pixar animated feature
The Tomorrow War, starring Chris Pratt
Oscar’s Best Animated Feature Soul and Best International Feature Another Round
Disney origin story Cruella
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