Article by: An Amy Schumer Apologist (Josh Bradley)   In my limited experience (limited because I’m consistently uncool), I've found it’s usually gratifying when you’re an early adopter of something before it gets big. When you’re a champion of something small, when you’re constantly recommending it to your friends, when you build

Article by: Josh Bradley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqcZtz8VXXE I have a feeling Spanish writer/director Nacho Vigalondo used to color outside the lines when he was a child. What is genre if not a guiding line within which to tell your story? And Mr. Vigalondo has no use for such confines in his new film, Colossal (2017),

Article by: Josh Bradley   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c9IpI_pNGI There’s a cynical way and an idealistic way to view Patriots Day. Is it exploitive or is it paying tribute? At a post-screening Q&A last week, Mark Wahlberg said repeatedly that his goal as an actor and producer was to pay tribute to law enforcement and first-responders with

Article by: Josh Bradley   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqrgxZLd_gE A couple years ago, after watching Mark Cousins’ exhaustive 15-part documentary The Story of Film, I decided to dive headfirst into my blossoming cinephilia and begin exploring some of the titans of world cinema. At first, I mostly stuck to the handful of directors most-heavily featured over

Article by: Josh Bradley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whldChqCsYk Way back in late September, I was in line at the Hollywood Arclight on Sunset, hoping to get a seat for an advanced screening of The Birth of a Nation, which wasn’t due out in theaters for more than a week. Particularly in Los Angeles, signing up

Article by: Josh Bradley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-ZYPVRQbc Your opinion of Denzel Washington’s Fences may very well depend on your feelings about what movies are supposed to be and what they’re supposed to do. Are they supposed to simply tell a story, period amen, even if that means nothing more than setting up a camera

Article by: Josh Bradley   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pdqf4P9MB8 I said in my review for Moonlight that 2016 has been a pretty great year for movies (of which I still believe Moonlight is the best) despite being a pretty shitty year otherwise. Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is emphatic proof of the former and yet is

Article by: Josh Bradley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdj1zb9sMY Almost exactly a year ago, I was the guy who excitedly pulled up the live stream of The Force Awakens red carpet premiere, grinning like a stupid little kid as Anthony Daniels and Oscar Isaac answered Star Wars trivia. I was the guy who had bought his

Article by: Josh Bradley   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdKk_sYQNI Manchester by the Sea is a masterfully-crafted misdirect. Judging from the trailers (or any of the marketing), it clearly presents itself a certain way and establishes certain audience expectations, namely that it will be an emotionally-taxing, grief-stricken journey that ultimately proves to be uplifting(ish) if not a little