Review: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Struggles to Justify Its Place

Following a fifteen-year hiatus, Indiana Jones has returned to the big screen in The Dial of Destiny. This time around though instead of being directed by the original creator Steven Spielberg, James Mangold takes directorial control. The previous Indiana Jones film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was met with very mixed reviews as it came out 19 years after the conclusion of the trilogy.  Many felt that it was a poorly done money grab profiting off of nostalgia for the previous three films.  So, the question going into Dial of Destiny is: what is its justification for once again coming back after all this time, besides being another easy money grab?  Upon watching, it’s hard to really see a reason for its reemergence besides to once again revel in nostalgia for the wildly successful original films.  As a film based purely on nostalgia bait though, it does a decent job at giving fans of the series what they want and making the experience a relatively good time.

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Retrospective: Tsai Ming-liang: The Art of Isolation

Tsai Ming-liang makes movies that so perfectly speak to our modern day communal, lived experiences; yet the three films I’m going to be talking about were made in times ranging from the early 90s to early 2000s.  This just speaks to the power of his work, since it can still be so relevant to our lives, yet it was made before I was even born.  Tsai Ming-liang is a Malaysian-Taiwanese filmmaker who is considered one of the best “second new wave” directors in Taiwanese cinema.  He has made many films but the three I’m covering are The Hole, Goodby Dragon Inn, and Rebels of the Neon God.  I immediately became infatuated with his work from the latter of the films mentioned above and couldn’t stop watching his work after that.  Thematically all three of these films really tie together and provide a beautiful look into the world we live in by encouraging the audience to take time to analyze the world around them in order to better live within it. 

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Review: ‘M3GAN’ Brings Fun Back to the Movies

Recently it’s felt like a lot of movies don’t know how to have fun anymore, they’re either too serious or take on a self-aware tone when dealing with any dramatic or over the top elements.  M3GAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone, is a step forward towards creating films that can be over the top and crazy.  Yet, these films totally embrace that and don’t feel the need to make it more than it is, they’re okay with it just being a silly movie.  A summation of the plot reveals how absurd this film really is.  M3GAN tells the story of an orphaned child named Cady (Violet McGraw) who becomes attached to a new type of doll which her adoptive Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) gifts her, M3GAN.  She is a robot that can perfectly fill the place of a human friend.  Things go awry though when M3GAN goes too far in her defensive and caring nature of Cady and people get hurt. 

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Review: ‘Bones and All’ Intertwines Beauty and Ugliness

Beauty and ugliness are seemingly two opposing things, but what happens when you combine them?  What you get is Bones and All.  The very title alludes to this, it refers to a quote from the film when a man is describing the extreme high he gets from consuming a human, bones and all.  Yet towards the end of the film this very line is tenderly spoken between two lovers as one of them bleeds out in the arms of the other. This stark contrast is where the film’s power really shines through, and the audience can experience the true brutality of identity and life.  

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