Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Year With Which We're Still Making Contact, or We Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts But It Would Be Better If We Were

The ghostbustin' Class of 2016.

With the release of a new iteration of Ghostbusters — Sequel? Reboot? Don't know; the DC screening conflicted with the first session of the new Boxing Fundamentals class I'm teaching at Y — every single one of 1984's ten highest-grossing films has either been sequeled or remade. I believe '84 is the only year for which this is the case. In terms of what ruled the box office, it resembled 2014 a lot more than it did '83 or '85. Because I enjoy staring at box office charts, apparently, I wrote about this discovery for NPR Monkey See.

When the Legend Becomes Fact: Tarzan, reviewed.

Samuel L. Jackson as real-life Renaissance man George Washington Williams, with Alexander Skarsgård as fictional he-man Tarzan. (Jonathan Olley)

For NPR, I wrestled with the 201st (give or take) iteration of The Legend of Tarzan, a movie wherein in the Uncanny Valley is often represented by a valley. 

ID4ever: Independence Day: Resurgence, reviewed.

Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman showed up for the 20-years-later sequel to Independence Day.

The barely-screened-for critics Independence Day: Resurgence is not by any stretch a good movie, but neither was Independence Day, a film I saw at least twice and possibly three times during the grim summer of 1996. I'd even go so far as to say I enjoyed this barely-coherent follow-up a little more. Here's my alien autopsy, for the Village Voice.

You might also enjoy the War of 1996 website, a neato but apparently unsuccessful marketing tool for the movie. It offers a fictional timeline of the last two decades in the Independence Day-iverse, a couple of primitive but weirdly addictive games, an invitation to volunteer for the Earth Defense Force, and of course, information on real U.S. Army careers that might be right for you.

This Time It's Personal Again: The Shallows, reviewed.

Blake Lively v. Shark.

My NPR review of The Shallows, a Blake Lively-versus-sharks movie from Non-Stop and Run All Night director Jaume Collet-Serra, arrives just when it is needed. I am sorry I did not name the cinematographer in this review of a film about a woman trying to avoid becoming a shark's meal, because the cinematographer's name is Flavio Labiano. 

While I'm being crude, Iet me point out that Collet-Serra cuts directly from a shot of Lively reading a text message from her friend that says meeting up with that cute guy from last night; don't wait up for me to a shot of crabs scurrying along the beach.

Spy School Confidential: Central Intelligence, reviewed.

Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson (Claire Folger/Warner Bros.)

My NPR review of the not-great-but-plenty-good-enough-for-the-drive-in comedy that I keep thinking is called National Security but is in fact being released under the equally bland title Central Intelligence is up now.  You are alerted.

Bonfire of the Vanitas: De Palma, reviewed.

1987's The Untouchables exhibits director Brian De Palma's dazzling skill, but not his (or screenwriter David Mamet's) obsessions. It's probably the least challenging film he's made, but I love it still. (Paramount)

For NPR, I reviewed Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow's documentary De Palma, wherein the man behind Carrie and Dressed to Kill and The Untouchables and about three dozen other features walks us through his long, idiosyncratic career. This film won't change anyone's mind about the guy, but it's a candid, briskly edited retrospective. I enjoyed it.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue. X-Men: Apocalypse, reviewed.

Apparently that's Oscar Isaac under there. (Twentieth Century Fox)

I've enjoyed these last couple of period-piece X-Men movies, but with the 1980s-set Apocalypse, the DeLorean may at last have run out of Plutonium. Here's my NPR review.

Wanna see a terrific movie this weekend? I recommend The Nice Guys or, if you've got the constitution for it, The Lobster.