Review: Captain Marvel

An abridged version of this review was previously published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad

by Nathaniel R

Captain Marvel‘s “Vers” (Brie Larson) can’t remember a thing about her past life. She has only known this: training with her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) and fighting with her fellow Kree warriors in Starforce. 

Their mission is to wipe out the evil shape-shifting alien race known as The Skrulls. Though Vers can’t recall her origins, Marvel Studios has their origin template memorized by now, 21 films into their world-conquering juggernaut franchise. It’ll involve:

• comic sidekicks (☑️☑️☑️)
• training sequences (☑️)
• losing an early battle (☑️)
• questioning old beliefs (☑️☑️)
• forming new alliances (☑️☑️)
• and the hero/heroes finally coming into their own, more powerful than they were before (☑️)

Cue end credits. But we'll get to those in a minute...

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25th Anniversary: "Four Weddings and a Funeral"

by Deborah Lipp

Four Weddings and a Funeral turns 25 today. This is probably not also the number of times I’ve seen it, but it might be. I’m sure if you add the times Professor Spouse and I have each seen it, we exceed that number.  To say, therefore, that this is a beloved movie is a ridiculous understatement.

Here’s what we’re going to cover after the jump to celebrate its birthday...

• Four Weddings is highly quotable
• It features the best use of "fuck," and its variations, this side of Get Shorty
• Screenwriter Richard Curtis excels at movies that are kind-heartd and generous
• Four Weddings isn't perfect, but I will teach you the trick of making it perfect

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Carol Danvers and Gloria Bell had good weekends

As expected Captain Marvel crushed the box office on weekend #1 as Marvel Studio's total domination of the planet continues. Was it its unique position as connective tissue between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame? Was it the novelty (which shouldn't be a novelty) of a female led superhero film? In other box office news Gloria Bell stirred it up on the dance floor with the weekend's second best per-screen average because Julianne Moore is her own super power.

Weekend Box Office Estimates March 8th-10th (ESTIMATES) 🔺 = New or Expanded Theater Count /  ★= Recommended
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
Captain Marvel	Gloria Bell
1 🔺 Captain Marvel $153 NEW REVIEW	1🔺 Apollo 11 $1.3 on 405 screens (cum. $3.7)
2 How to Train Your Dragon 3  $14.6 (cum. $119.6)	2🔺 Badla $614k on 94 screens NEW
3 A Madea Family Funeral $12 (cum. $45.8)	3🔺 The Kid  $505k on 268 screens NEW
4 The Lego Movie Pt 2  $3.8 (cum. $97.1)	4 Arctic  $182k on 208 screens (cum. $1.9)
5 Alita: Battle Angel  $3.2 (cum. $78.3)	5🔺 Furie $164k on 27 screens (cum. $395k)
6 Green Book  $2.4 (cum. $80.1)   ON ITS BEST PICTURE WIN	6🔺 Gloria Bell $154k on 5 screens NEW REVIEW ★

What did you see this weekend? I've been sick all week (ugh) so aside from a Captain Marvel critics screening a week ago I've only been watching old movies and catching up on some TV that I've always meant to watch (Five years late to the party but Broadchurch is soooo good).

SXSW Review: "The Wall of Mexico"

Abe Fried-Tanzer reporting from the SXSW Festival in Austin Texas

Of the many responses to Donald Trump that have come from the film community, nothing seems more overt a reference at the current moment than a film titled The Wall of Mexico. Yet our president doesn’t figure into the movie at all, and he’s not even referenced, explicitly or vaguely. Instead, the tables are turned and the wall referenced actually serves to protect a Mexican-American family from the uneducated Americans around them...

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Review: 3 Faces

by Murtada Elfadl

In 3 Faces, the latest from Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Taxi) we are plunged right into the story as images of a young woman on a smart phone talking directly to the camera. She is announcing that her life's in jeopardy because her parents have  forbidden her from realizing her dream of acting. She then seemingly kills herself. For the next 90 minutes we follow the recipient of this message, Behnaz Jafari playing herself, a renowned Iranian actress and Panahi himself as they travel to a tiny village near the Turkish border to investigate.

There’s a mystery to solve. What happened to the young woman (Marziyeh Rezaei)? But also a deeper moral mystery; who are the inhabitants of her tiny village? Are they as nice and welcoming as they seem at first blush when Jafari and Panahi meet them? Deeper still is the moral quandary of a society that could drive a woman to take her own life just because she wanted to be actress...

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