Let me just start off by saying this, San Andreas is a fucking awesome movie! Whew, I feel good that I’ve gotten that out onto the page and now we can move past cursing and exclamation points. San Andreas represents all that is wonderful about the summer blockbuster season: characters you can root for, crazy spectacle, and most importantly, elements that allow you to commune with it in pure ways. Cinema can do many things, but first and foremost, it must entertain.
Simply put, Heaven Knows What is a film by the Ben and Joshua Safdie about a young girl, Harley, who is dumped by her seemingly on-and-off-again boyfriend, Ilya. After a loving decision to try and get his attention, she proceeds to try to find love in ALL the wrong places. This is the scariest film I have seen so far this year! From the very beginning the Safdie Brothers do not let you from their grasp (even when the credits roll at the end). They remind us that this a lifestyle that never ends, and we don’t even know how it started. It just happened.
There is much discussion about ideas and amazement in Tomorrowland, the new Disney film directed by Brad Bird. And for all intents and purpose, this is an wonder driven movie. Wonder in different worlds, wonder in humanity’s purpose, wonder of technology, all of these come up in the film.However, these ideas never settle into more than words and the scenes in this film fail to cohere into a film. In short, Tomorrowland spends its time concerned about the concept of amazing without actually amazing its audience.
Sometimes you hit on a podcast topic that happens to be pretty topical which is what happened when On the Floor decided to talk about Hollywood’s sequel and remake obsessed culture right after Pitch Perfect 2 made $70 million and Poltergiest is about to open. We get into a pretty animated discussion about what this
At what point does the credit you give a film for being progressive and different override a thin story and themes that feel on the surface? If you are like me and you have just seen Mad Max: Fury Road this is a question you feel yourself wrestling with.
On the Floor is back this week and we have an incredibly animated podcast wherein we discuss what gets us to rewatch or not rewatch a film and the recent Hollywood Reporter interview and our thoughts on diversity in Hollywood. We also spoil portions of movies such as Perks of Being a Wallflower and Weekend so…yeah. Enjoy!