James Gray looks back on his past in an anti-nostalgia piece, Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry dig into a low-key drama and Weird Al mythologizes himself.
I haven't seen Armageddon Time yet, but there's a very interesting and fraught split between the reviews I've seen like Scott's or Richard Brody praising it, and the reviews from Black writers like Odie Henderson pillorying it for its racial tropes. It's like they saw two different movies.
Excited for Causeway as a fan of Jennifer Lawrence in indie mode, I remember watching Winter's Bone and immediately knowing she would be a movie star. (Same with Anya Taylor Joy.)
“Nostalgia pieces like this are supposed to engineer happy endings, when teenagers survive a bittersweet crucible and emerge as enlightened adults.”
I wouldn’t call this film’s ending happy, exactly, but it absolutely concludes by showing us evidence of Paul’s enlightenment. For all that Gray beats up his younger self, he couldn’t resist last-minute self-valorization of the “finished with this bullshit” variety. I’m perhaps being overly harsh toward the film as a whole due to hating that final shot so much.
Well, I have a new favorite Gray film now. I could've spent ten hours in the world of Armageddon Time. That family...so much warmth and pain, inexorably bound together, like all families. How good was Banks Repeta? So amazing how good kid actors are nowadays. In case you want to read a great piece on this fantastic movie: https://www.indiewire.com/2022/10/james-gray-interview-armageddon-time-1234771770/
In Review: 'Armageddon Time,' 'Causeway,' 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'
I haven't seen Armageddon Time yet, but there's a very interesting and fraught split between the reviews I've seen like Scott's or Richard Brody praising it, and the reviews from Black writers like Odie Henderson pillorying it for its racial tropes. It's like they saw two different movies.
oh, man. I am so disappointed to hear that about Al Jankovic
Causeway's running time gives me hope for the future. I'm sure Tar is great and anything, but jeez that length
Excited for Causeway as a fan of Jennifer Lawrence in indie mode, I remember watching Winter's Bone and immediately knowing she would be a movie star. (Same with Anya Taylor Joy.)
“Nostalgia pieces like this are supposed to engineer happy endings, when teenagers survive a bittersweet crucible and emerge as enlightened adults.”
I wouldn’t call this film’s ending happy, exactly, but it absolutely concludes by showing us evidence of Paul’s enlightenment. For all that Gray beats up his younger self, he couldn’t resist last-minute self-valorization of the “finished with this bullshit” variety. I’m perhaps being overly harsh toward the film as a whole due to hating that final shot so much.
Well, I have a new favorite Gray film now. I could've spent ten hours in the world of Armageddon Time. That family...so much warmth and pain, inexorably bound together, like all families. How good was Banks Repeta? So amazing how good kid actors are nowadays. In case you want to read a great piece on this fantastic movie: https://www.indiewire.com/2022/10/james-gray-interview-armageddon-time-1234771770/