Blogit

Night Visions: Hundreds of Beavers is like Jeremiah Johnson as told by a lunatic

In the vein of Buster Keaton, Looney Tunes, Benny Hill, Monty Python, and The Simpsons, comes this delightfully demented oddity from Wisconsin that defies all explanation. Set during the frontier era of the American west, Hundreds of Beavers plays like a demented version of The Revenant, where things like realism matter very little. A drunken applejack salesman finds himself without shelter, customers, or even food. To avoid starvation, he starts a new life hunting rabbits, then beavers. Eventually, he finds himself wooing the beautiful daughter of a fur trapper. The plot is familiar in the way that Charlie Chaplin once described his cinema: “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a po

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a fun and wholesome adventure for the whole family

It’s an undervalued skill knowing what kind of film you’re making. Today, most blockbusters try to be a bit of everything. As a result, they often feel glib and pointlessly snarky. Like they’re ashamed of what they are. Shazam!, released in 2019 amidst DCs “I’m darker and edgier than you” phase, was not that. Instead, it was a heartfelt and surprisingly fun romp that worked because it knew what it was – and who it was for. Four years later, Shazam! Fury of the Gods pulls off the same trick, which is no small feat. Some months after the first film, Billy Batson, Shazam, suffers from imposter syndrome. His family now shares superpowers, but life is pus

Ted Lasso Season 3 is the first season of the show I’ve liked

John Wick Chapter 4 feels like a parody of itself

John Wick: Chapter 4 begins by copying the famous edit from Lawrence of Arabia, where a blown-out match cuts to a blinding sunrise. It’s a kind of mission statement for the overblown madness that follows. This is an epic, it says. But also, it has little personality of its own. Every visual flair or inventive set piece is a reflection of something else. There are lifts from Hong Kong cinema, Italowesterns, and even the Hitman videogame series. By the end, most of Chapter 4 is a repetition of mindless action and barely coherent storytelling. The plot, such as it is, can be summed up in a sentence. John Wick must kill a Marquis, another stand-in for The High Table, to secure his freedom

Extrapolations

Charting the effects of climate change over the coming decades, Extrapolations is a haunting and gorgeously crafted mini-series that doesn’t quite stick the landing. If you go in with that expectation, you’re bound to get more out of it. Written and directed by Scott Z. Burns, who wrote the sublime pandemic thriller Contagion, Extrapolations is even more ambitious and well-intentioned. Its highs are way higher than most TV series ever get. Which makes its lows feel that much worse. As a forward history, the series’ first half captures the horror of what we’re about to face with haunting brutality. The second half, dealing with the fallout, is less successful. Taken to

Luther: The Fallen Sun

Escalation is a fickle mistress. The first series of Luther, released 13 years ago, felt massive. In retrospect, it’s almost quaint how small its scale was. But because it knew the strength of its locale, characters, and mystery, it reached mythic heights on charisma alone. There was a sense that what we’re seeing was an urban legend coming to life. A story of a husk of a cop, a beast pretending he’s still a man, facing a monster so comfortable in their skin it made him question his very existence. Out on Friday, March 10th, Luther: The Fallen Sun is a whole other beast. Bigger, showier, and less effective than any of the previous series. It’s a film so invested in em

Perry Mason Season 2

After three years, Perry Mason is finally back. For most series, that kind of time usually spells disaster. Luckily, Mason proves himself enduring once again. The long wait was worth it. After a superlative revival in 2020, season 2 is a self-assured continuation that brilliantly expands on every promise of its predecessor. Six months after the devastating climax in season 1, Perry Mason is even more of a wreck than before. Fraught with insecurity, he has dropped any criminal prosecution work in favor of low-stakes civil law. Leaving his partners, Della Street and Paul Drake, adrift in a world where white men have the luxury to put a pause on everything – all others do not. But when an

Perry Mason: Cast and Crew Interview

I spoke with the cast and crew of Perry Mason, which returns to HBO MAX Nordic on March 7th. During our roundtable talk, we spoke about masking, existing in a compromised society, and how little humanity has changed in a hundred years. This interview is edited and condensed for clarity. Where do we find everyone this season? Chris Chalk: It’s six months later, and what we were promised last season was a partnership – and Paul hasn’t heard anything back from Perry. So he is still broke. He’s given up his old lifestyle. He’s lost. He’s trying to figure out what this life for a non-cop black man in the 1930s is like. Because that gave him protection, it gave him power. So there’s this compressi

Cocaine Bear

Some films sell themselves on the title alone. Movies like Snakes on a Plane or Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Big ideas, limited budget, lots of blood. Cocaine Bear belongs to that crowd. All you need to know is there’s a bear high on cocaine, and it kills people – mainly because that’s about as much plot as you get. The pitch serves as a litmus test as to whether or not you’ll enjoy the film. Does the thought of a coked-up bear mauling a pack of oddballs on a mountain make you snicker? If it does, you’re in for a good time. All others need not apply. Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a new incarnation of a bear-