Looking Back and Ahead
If you’re reading this, it means you’re seeing the new look here at Pop Culture Commentary for the first time. I hope you like it! Though this aesthetic refresh is something I’d been considering for a while, the bigger change I’m making here is the introduction of the “Commentary” page. This new section, which will host any and all posts I make to PCC, is the main feed from which you’ll receive the email updates about new pieces I write. This work will encompass a broader spectrum of cultural writing, from my usual film reviews to things like television, podcast recommendations, and, occasionally, theater. Without diving into the technical nitty gritty of it, in the past, only my film reviews were attached to the email updates, while anything I posted to other sections of the site would likely go unread. With this new format, everything will be posted to “Commentary,“ and then cross-posted to its appropriate sub-page.
In other words, you don’t have to change anything, and you’ll be seeing some new writing topics from me soon, starting with a review of the stage musical about The Temptations, Ain’t Too Proud, which is on its way to Broadway after runs in Berkeley, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.
The only oddity you’ll find in the new Pop Culture Commentary is that if you click on the “Movies“ page, there’s nothing there. Well, that’s because what was the “Movies“ page is now “Commentary,” so nothing has really moved. The new “Movies“ page will be populated with film reviews beginning with the next one I write. Speaking of which…
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus from writing reviews, my last being for Mission: Impossible - Fallout. As can sometimes be the case, life intervenes and makes things hectic, but you can rest easy that I’ve been to the movies since Fallout, including three encore viewings of that barnstormer of a film. In the last three months I’ve seen BlacKkKlansman, Crazy Rich Asians, Eighth Grade, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Pick of the Litter, Christopher Robin, Searching, A Simple Favor, The House with a Clock in Its Walls, 22 July, A Star is Born, The Old Man & the Gun, Bad Times at the El Royale, First Man, and Halloween.
Most of these films are worth seeking out, and some I plan to dedicate full reviews to, but for now I’ll say that Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is as thoroughly entertaining as it is chillingly relevant; Crazy Rich Asians is a vibrant and heartfelt romantic comedy that is fresh yet as comfortable as most classics of its genre; Bradley Cooper’s update of A Star is Born is a terrific directorial debut with an excellent performance from him and a great screen presence from Lady Gaga; David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun is a low key charmer featuring wonderfully laid back, yet layered, work from Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek; Bad Times at the El Royale bursts with personality and noir-ish flavor, though its parts are still greater than their sum; Damien Chazelle’s First Man delivers a level of intimacy and visceral grit to Neil Armstrong’s story that makes it feel like a spiritual cousin to Jackie, and it features an emotional gut-punch of an ending; finally, David Gordon Green’s Halloween sequel (which ignores all other films in the franchise after the original) is a suitably scary slasher that gives Jamie Lee Curtis an opportunity to play the trauma and steely determination of being the only living victim of a ruthless force of evil.
That’s all for now, but I wanted to take this moment to share my thoughts on a few movies you might try to catch in theaters, or catch up with on streaming. Though it’s almost November, with the awards and holiday movie season just heating up, it feels like we’re only halfway through the movie-going year. I hope you join me for what comes next.