Movie review: "BlacKkKlansman"

THROND'S CHOICE
dir. by Spike Lee
written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmot, and Spike Lee

For a good while now, Spike Lee has balanced his for-hire work with much more idiosyncratic projects, every Oldboy remake or NBA 2K story mode balanced with oddities like a Chicago-set adaptation of an ancient Greek play, or a story about a man cursed with a thirst for blood. Given that recent history, BlacKkKlansman is one of his more straightforward premises, a biopic based on a particularly strange piece of history, with a lot of work already done by the premise. On the other hand, the film comes as not only Lee's first Palme d'Or competitor since 1991's Jungle Fever, but also as the winner of the second-place Grand Prix at that same festival.

Indeed, it's the relative accessibility of the film which is its greatest strength. Here, Lee has crafted a funny, tense crowd-pleaser while intertwining pointed social commentary into the humour and narrative, and the result is a film which is equally thoughtful and entertaining. The film is professional and straightforward without being mindless, and at the same time it's intelligent and righteous without being self-indulgent... well, mostly. Come for the crazy premise, stay for the sharp critique of American institutional racism.

Movie review: "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"

THROND'S CHOICE
dir. and written by Rian Johnson
Star Wars has been successful for 40 years. It's a testament to the strength of this franchise that it's never fallen from the popular consciousness, but it's also a testament to the sheer force of marketing which has always surrounded these films. Any franchise as successful as this risks falling victim to complacency, delivering exactly what its fans expect for fear of alienating them, and while The Force Awakens gloriously tip-toed the line between paying tribute to all that came before it while still providing a new, exciting future for this universe, its deviations from series formula were related to theme and character, whereas its plot structure remained similar to the the original film from 1977, albeit purposefully so.

The Last Jedi matches its predecessor for thematic impact, fascinating characters, and astonishing action scenes, but it adds an almost total refusal to give in to fan expectations, and this is what makes it a more challenging and ultimately superior movie. There's nothing predictable about this latest Star Wars, which renders it ultimately more mysterious than this franchise has been in ages, and it benefits further from the considerable skill of director Rian Johnson, who is among the greatest visual stylists to ever operate on this universe. It's a long, often grim, at times even surprisingly talky, and yet it's also relentlessly gripping, punctured by strong comedic beats and some of the greatest action scenes the series has ever seen. Despite all of its idiosyncrasy, this is unmistakably Star Wars at its very finest.

Movie review: "Silence"

dir. by Martin Scorcese
Silence is a film which Martin Scorcese has been trying to get made since the 1990s. An adaptation of Shūsaku Endō's 1966 novel of the same name, the film dramatizes the oppression of Catholics in Feudal Japan, following a Portuguese Jesuit mission. What drew Scorcese, an auteur who frequently deals with themes regarding faith, to the material is obvious, and Silence is remarkable both for the obvious passion which went into its creation, as well as for its nuanced themes on the nature of faith, sin, guilt, and arrogance. However, at nearly three hours, the film is a monotonous and frequently unengaging sit, and while its fascinating concepts and enormity of vision make it worth seeing, it stands on the line between art and homework.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie review

BEST NEW FEATURE

dir. by J.J. Abrams

It's every bit as good as everyone had hoped.