[5]

So bad it's funny, but diverting for the same reason. Also, I'd forgotten that Brian May doubled as the dude from REO Speedwagon.

p.s.: The scene where Queen is playing "BoRhap" for the record company executives is particularly egregious, and not only because they hired Mike Myers just for a stupid in-joke. The way he keeps dismissing "bismillah" as a nonsense word, and Singer keeps closing in on Mercury's face, is clearly an attempt to show how the white…

[6]

In the midst of its scathing critique of the repressive government of the People's Republic of China, a totalitarian state that "disappears" its critics and rips families apart, A Family Tour does something of which, ironically, the old Maoist regime would probably approve. This film is a rigorous act of self-criticism on the part of director Ying Liang, a melancholy look at the life of a dissident artist and the impact their political decisions have on those in their…

[6]

I miss the old Kiyoshi. The can't-be-sold Kiyoshi. Back in the fold Kiyoshi. That was the bold Kiyoshi. Remember Cure Kiyoshi? That wasn't your Kiyoshi? 'Cause that was my Kiyoshi. Damn, that was fly, Kiyoshi! You came with Kairo, Kiyoshi. That shit was fire, Kiyoshi! Even Bright Future Kiyoshi, that ill repute Kiyoshi. I dug it all, Kiyoshi. So why'd you stall, Kiyoshi? And then that Journey to the Shore? You got some gall, Kiyoshi!

I miss the real…

[4]

If you happen to follow my Twitter feed, you'll know that I've already gotten a bit hot and bothered about this film. In retrospect, it was probably a good deal of energy wasted, or at least misdirected. I tend to forget that useless dreck like The Imitation Game is pimped on every streetcorner around Oscar season by an industry that considers movies as product, not art. Most of the time, that product is slathered in Adam Sandler, and it…