The Fantabulous Style of "Birds of Prey"

by Cláudio Alves

There was a time when super-hero movies were colorful circuses of artifice and joy. Remember the pop iconography of Christopher Reeves' Superman, Tim Burton's Batman or the Punk stylings of Tank Girl? It all changed with the dawn of the 21st century. X-Men brought on an era of heroes dressed in many tedious iterations of leather jumpsuits, while Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy made grittiness cool again. Explosions of poppy color were out and grim pseudo-realism was in.

The DC Comics flicks took the trend to its desaturated limit, but even the MCU is guilty of indulging in this aesthetic stagnation. Fortunately, some films break the convention, be it the Afrofuturistic haute couture of Black Panther or Aquaman's glitzy excess. We can add Birds of Prey to that elite club of stylish super-hero flicks…

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The Emmas of Yore: Miramax's "Emma"

by Cláudio Alves

Following the Jane Austen cinematic frenzy of 1995, the author was Hollywood's it-girl. At least, as far as classic writers were concerned. The following year nobody could get enough of Emma, with Clueless being adapted into a sitcom, and two other adaptations of the book being produced on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, we're here to talk about Miramax's lavish Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, and Ewan McGregor, among many other wonderful thespians. It's one hell of a cast.

Still, despite its enviable collection of actors, this isn't the best screen version of Emma. For one, the project could have used a bit less fidelity to the source material and a lot more narrative ingenuity…

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The Linkman

• New York Times Ben Affleck on leaving The Batman and drinking away the pain and his ongoing recovery
• IndieWire Missing Jennifer Lawrence? The superstar of the mid 2010s will be back in force soon with a new Adam McKay sci-fi comedy Don't Look Up and a PTSD soldier drama that's as yet untitled co-starring Brian Tyree Henry

After the jump Byronic heroes, Mulan, Parasite's win (again), Alamo Drafthouse subscriptions, gay stuff, and two exciting restorations...

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Review: Birds of Prey

by Chris Feil

Cathy Yan returns Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn to the screen after the regrettable Suicide Squad, and it’s somewhat of a rebirth in more was than one. Now single but not fully exorcized from her sublimating relationship with the Joker, Harley is looking to stand on her own two feet. Yet Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) again aligns her with a newly birthed group of crimefighters, this time in an all-female set of not-so-anti heroes.

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Retcon this, link

• Vulture are Spider-Man Far From Home and Call Me By Your Name the same film? (hilarious read)
• IndieWire upsetting account of turmoil behind the scenes of Big Little Lies season 2 as Andrea Arnold's vision was thrown aside during post-production. Well, we knew it didn't feel like an Arnold production so here's why
• Hard Drive "J.K. Rowling reveals that you, the reader, were gay all along" (this is a few months old but I LOL'ed so much I had to share icymi) 

more after the jump including Mindhunter, Disney's global dominance, Jack Reynor and Gus Kenworthy...

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