Movie review by Greg Carlson Following a work-in-progress premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, Brendan Mertens’ “Ghostheads” moves to Netflix to capitalize on the theatrical release of Paul Feig’s “Ghostbusters” reboot. Pitched to crowdfunders as a “documentary that explores the extreme side of Ghostbusters fandom, and looks back at the impact the franchise has had […]
Ghostbusters
Movie review by Greg Carlson The insightful Caity Birmingham recently said, “Someday we’ll be able to give ‘Ghostbusters’ an honest B- and cite ten movies that did the female scientist action buddy movie so much better.” You gotta admire the optimism in Ms. Birmingham’s note, since the discourse in the almost two years leading up […]
Posted by GBC on July 23, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3241
What We Had Was Good: Prince and Girl 6
Movie reflection by Greg Carlson In 1996, six years following the disappointment of “Graffiti Bridge,” Prince agreed to provide the soundtrack music for director Spike Lee’s “Girl 6.” The project would mark the artist’s final full-scale cinematic collaboration, even though filmmakers continued to use his material and seek him out. Functionally, the “Girl 6” record […]
Posted by GBC on July 15, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3234
Maggie’s Plan
Movie review by Greg Carlson Based on a story by Karen Rinaldi, Rebecca Miller’s adaptation of “Maggie’s Plan” imagines the intellectual, white, fairytale New York City familiar to Woody Allen fans as the backdrop for a screwball-inspired comedy of amour fou and remarriage. Featuring Greta Gerwig as the young woman who comes between, and then […]
Posted by GBC on July 8, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3230
Graffiti Bridge
Movie reflection by Greg Carlson “Graffiti Bridge,” Prince’s final theatrical film as director and onscreen performer, was the sequel to “Purple Rain” that nobody wanted. Ridiculed, dismissed, and derided upon release in November of 1990, the movie serves as an ideal object lesson in artistic hubris. Just a few short years earlier, Prince’s look and […]
Posted by GBC on July 2, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3225
Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
Movie review by Greg Carlson Once its cult bona fides were established at the 2002 Butt-Numb-A-Thon (when Eli Roth presented a VHS dub to Harry Knowles as a birthday gift), the adaptation of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” made by kids over the better part of a decade in the 1980s enjoyed a run of […]
Posted by GBC on June 20, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3218
All My Future Crimes: Prince and Batman
Movie reflection by Greg Carlson Following “Sign o’ the Times,” his third theatrically-released feature as performer and second as director, Prince’s next cinematic surprise was the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s juggernaut “Batman” in 1989. Unfortunately, the prolific artist did not appear in the film, even though I recall discussing with friends the wildly nerdy notion […]
Posted by GBC on June 18, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3210
The Lobster
Movie review by Greg Carlson Pitch-black absurdist Yorgos Lanthimos uncorks another of his signature brain-scramblers in “The Lobster,” an allegorical examination and satire of human behavior framed by the filmmaker’s speculative imagination. As divisive as any of his previous films, “The Lobster” marks the Greek auteur’s first principally English-language feature, as well as his first […]
Posted by GBC on June 11, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3206
Sign o’ the Times
Movie reflection by Greg Carlson The third theatrically released feature starring Prince, as well as his second directorial effort, “Sign o’ the Times” remains a concert film par excellence. The movie’s curious production history has been marked by stories that the vast majority of the visual content was captured at Paisley Park when footage from […]
Posted by GBC on June 3, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3202
The Nice Guys
Movie review by Greg Carlson Shane Black’s most satisfying film to date, “The Nice Guys” absolutely pulverizes lurid period milieu, shaggy dog private investigation, “Chinatown” corruption narrative, odd couple buddy bromance, and slapstick noir parody in an industrial blender set to emulsify on maximum torque. Pairing Ryan Gosling – as the world’s worst shamus – […]
Posted by GBC on May 27, 2016
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=3193