Check out our reviews of what’s new to home video 5/17/22:
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, possibly the best working American filmmaker, has now set two thirds of his films in the past. Like the Coen Brothers, he seems interested in dredging up different eras to explore American identity and how certain cultural trends shape its people then and now. While his films evince a fleeting affection with elements of those times – music, clothes, certain expressions and ways of speaking that have lost relevance – they are not at all what I would term nostalgia pieces. You watch a movie like There Will Be Blood or The Master, you (well, I anyway) come away terribly glad to live any other time. Even the grooviest of them – Inherent Vice or Boogie Nights – are also quick to turn up the sordid underbelly fueling the good times… Review
Mamoru Hosoda is in love with the outcasts, the loners, and the beautifully imperfect introverts who yearn for nothing but love and acceptance. His characters reconcile this massive rift between the fantastical world and the real one because he genuinely believes that everyone, regardless of their imperfections, is beautiful and deserves to be loved. Does that sound saccharine, even a little corny? Well, it is. So is it possible for Hosoda to make a film that appropriately explores said themes without courting some degree of cheese? Abso-fucking-lutely not… Review
Michel Franco’s Sundown opens with a shot of a gasping fish out of water. It’s upsetting in its casualness, a matter-of-fact gaze at the world’s capacity for cruel indifference. It’s also more than a tad obvious, which makes it an altogether fitting introduction to Franco in general, a director who seems to have endeavored to carve out a reputation for himself best described as “poor man’s Michael Haneke.” Burnishing that brand is the fact that the protagonists his films tend to take lazy pleasure in victimizing are often affluent, just like those in Haneke’s work… Review
Also new to home video 5/17/22: Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time, A Day to Die
Battleship Pretension is a movie discussion podcast started in 2007 by Tyler Smith and David Bax. Since then, we’ve done live comedy shows, written reviews, commentaries and more.
Battleship Pretension is a film discussion show and a film review website founded by Tyler Smith and David Bax. Beginning in March 2007, Battleship Pretension the show (known to fans simply as “BP”) embodies the type of laidback, free-flowing conversations had by lovers of film around the world. Battleship Pretension the website is dedicated to being a destination for those seeking worthwhile opinions on current releases, be they foreign, independent, studio pictures, theatrical, home video releases, etc. From its meager beginnings in Los Angeles, Battleship Pretension has amassed a worldwide audience and readership. From Germany to Korea to Australia, people have tuned in to share in Tyler and David’s love of film. As Battleship Pretension’s following continues to grow, the purpose remains the same: Reach out to the international cinephile community, invite them to join in the discussion and perhaps even start one of their own.
