Author: Ian D.

Downsizing is Director Alexander Payne’s first film since Nebraska in 2013 so of course there is reason to be excited.  Payne has always reveled in his brand of Americana – a view of the Midwest that is salty, sad and at times a bit sanguine – but nonetheless all his own.  He writes about what he knows and few Director’s have given us such assured vision and direction in the last several decades. So it pains me to report that the man that has presided over classics such as Election, Sideways and Citizen Ruth has almost completely whiffed with his most recent venture.

It feels like ages ago that Director Guillermo Del Toro stole our hearts and made us cover our eyes with his instant classic Pan’s Labyrinth.  In fact, that was only 10-years ago and Del Toro had been working on creature features (Mimic, Hellboy) and writing extensively dating back nearly two decades.  But when Labyrinth was released in 2006 in felt like a moment – a true visionary was being born and we were going to be reaping the cinematic pleasures for years to come.  But while Del Toro has steadily worked and stayed in the public eye he has only made 3-feature films since. 

My entire position on Justice League may have changed if they had failed to save the world. What an interesting twist on the superhero team up movie! The band of leaguers out for…justice try to stop the big computer bad guy and they fail and are imprisoned. Like the end of Seinfeld except with silly costumes. That’s a minimum 4-star film right there.

Anger is an emotion I rarely revel in, save for two scenarios – in the car with my family or during a Seahawks game at any given point and time during a game. Anyone who indulges on a regular basis knows the power of anger, the all-consuming, overwhelming nature of it. For most of us however, this subsides with time and in my case, is usually followed by a shame spiral as I release my can of Rainier from a Russell Wilson induced rage tunnel.

I’ve somewhat given up my resistance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  As long as Disney continues to pump money into the veins of these cash cows we’ll continue to get handsomely produced, wholly empty popcorn fare.  I’m not sure why I ever expected to see anything outside of the formula that has turned the MCU into a billion-dollar behemoth.  So, this year I vowed to give these films a chance, to try and watch them without my preconceived prejudice that years of this shit had begun to calcify on my brain.  And you know what? The MCU has largely delivered this year.