patronus Reviews

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Paths Unknown (2024) Season 3, Episode 2

The Suspense continues to build

[7/10 · 10 March 2024]

After a satisfying in-depth episode about Omega, we go back to the Batch, but only part of it. They wouldn't be who they are if they weren't doing all the good to find and rescue Omega.

Hunter's paternal role is beautifully evoked in his painful sidelong glance at Omega's doll (a nice visual parallel to the previous episode), and it stokes our desire to see them reunited. But it is the tests they face that defines heroes.

The episode rolls out the monster-of-the-week plot to structure this step in their search for Omega's whereabouts. We know, as fans, that Hunter and Wrecker are more than capable of facing this one, but it's still enjoyable to watch them fight to complete their mission and get one step closer to Omega.

It also sets a baseline of stakes for the season, as we know that the tests that lie ahead of them will be even tougher. It wouldn't be satisfying if it were too easy, and here they come away with only a meager clue.

Add to this some decent new clone characters, an appearance by a beloved droid, an exciting guest star vocal talent, some of the coolest non-John Williams soundtrack work yet in the series, and impressive animation. The season is off to a strong start.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Confined (2024) Season 3, Episode 1

Off to a great start

[8/10 · 9 March 2024]

This is honestly one of the best TV episodes I've seen in past year. I love the patient, suspenseful storytelling that carefully sets up Omega's situation and her goals. The character design shows that she has grown just a bit physically, and it's established that she is growing more independent. But will she be able to meet this test?

In this episode we see Omega's intelligent and principled defiance (her rebelliousness, if you will) and watch and she begins to realize that her heroic and caring heart could lead her into danger as much as it can help her.

Classic writing, elegantly executed. Another reminder that the Star Wars cartoons have quietly become one of the very best parts of the franchise. And I'm thrilled with the casting of Keisha Castle-Hughes and eager to see how her character unfolds.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Defenders of Peace (2009) Season 1, Episode 14

Strong premise, pretty good execution

[6/10 · 12 July 2020]

What an excellent idea to explore a pacifist point of view in the Star Wars universe. But the Lumen Chief's position is so extreme that it ultimately turns into a straw man argument, and it becomes easy to dismiss his point of view as head-in-the-sand, suicidal stupidity. It would be interesting to see a stronger war critique explored as the series goes on.

Dr. T & the Women (2000)

An enjoyable screwball, though nothing great

[7/10 · 23 October 2000]

This film is hardly Altman's best, but it doesn't deserve the drubbing people are giving it. It has no plot? Please. This is an Altman film. His schtick is to assemble a bunch of quirky characters and let it fly. Character over plot. If you want plot, stay at home. Any tv drama will suffice. I'm most concerned about people calling this film misogynistic, because that's just not true. You might see the film as sexist (that's your choice), but it is not hate-filled.

WARNING: SPOILERS!! STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. Dr. T works as an OB-GYN!! The film opens with a shot of him examining an older, elegantly dressed society-type woman. If there's laughter here, it's because anyone looks awkward with their pants down. But the scene quickly establishes Dr. T's professionalism and care towards the women he serves. The ending is a birth scene, a close-up. It's the real deal, here. Amazing, and beautiful! How could this be hateful?! The Dr. laughs when he sees the baby, saying, "Thank God it's a boy!" or something. That might sound sexist, but I see it as the opposite. He starts off at the beginning with this confident attitude that he understands women, he knows what they want. And as the film goes on, his smug (if sweet) confidence is undone. He basically suffers from good old-fashioned hubris, and by the end he's humbled. It's not that women are bad. It's that women are so wonderfully diverse and human that he's an idiot for ever having thought he could preside over them like a king. Altman pushes to make this point. He shows that the Dr. has smothered his wife when he thought he he was treating her like a queen, that he is blind to the love of his secretary even though that love was there all along, that he doesn't even really know his daughter. Topsy-turvy! The scenes with him and his hunting buddies are hilarious--the men seem to shrink as the film goes on, little faces poking out of the plants, puzzling over what women want and mean.

And then there's fabulous Helen Hunt, the best actor in the film (as far as I'm concerned). She is a truly liberated woman, Dr. T's foil. She knows what she wants, she's a true grown-up. And when he tries to take her for his own, he finds he can't have her. And his daughter--the scene where she chooses at the altar is a beautiful, funny moment that establishes her liberation, too! Obviously she inspires her dad at that point, because he follows her example by wanting to run off with Hunt's character in the very next scene.

This film makes perfect sense. It may have some fluffy stereotypes in the way it treats *rich* idle women, but it is no hate-fest. Memorable, surreal ending.

Get Carter (1971)

Darkly poetic look, hypocritical message

[6/10 · 9 September 2000]

The film makes incredible use of interiors and locations (and fashion and style). Combined with the minimal acting style (pretty standard for these kinds of films--Melville's Le Samourai, for example), the setting seems to poetically express what's in Jack Carter's soul, ending in a stunning finale. It's a wonderfully cold film, capturing the revenge mood perfectly.

Where the film lost me is in its seemingly unconscious double-standard. It develops a theme of (female) innocence corrupted (that one perfect tear!), with Carter smiling warmly at a girl and her mother on the boat. On the other hand the film is grossly exploitive of its actresses, reveling in phone sex and seduction. (Dig the rocking chair scene!) The sex was ok (and seemed daring for its time), but the puritannical streak tries to get it both ways.

I thought The Limey (which obviously owes a debt to this film) was much better at portraying an agent of vengeance discovering his own responsibility in the mess he tries so hard to be coldly superior to. Having seen Croupier recently, I feel like Hodges is greatly talented but has something crucial missing.

The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (1999)

Inspiring short story of one girl in Senegal

[8/10 · 14 November 1999]

The Sun is a newspaper, and the girl is a crippled girl living on the streets of Senegal in poverty with her blind grandmother. The film is basically a parable of her fortitude and the adversity she faces, with inspiring gestures of solidarity and thought-provoking elements of strife--even her enemies are sympathetic in the sense that they, too, struggle with poverty. This would be a wonderful film to show to children for discussion.

Romance (1999)

Did I miss something?

[4/10 · 14 November 1999]

As a feminist story, Romance would make a pathetic celebration of a woman's ability to make choices because its heroine's are so lousy. The film's true theme is a division between sexual pleasure and love--unfortunately, it's the most tired stereotype of women perpetrated by culture for centuries. Call it the Madonna/Whore split. Instead of attacking this kind of dichotomy as unhealthy, Breillat presents it as the quirky sickness of one individual woman. Worse, the film espouses a relentlessly gendered view in highly contradictory terms. Marie's generalizations are truly gross. Based on her whims and limited experience the protagonist assigns obviously universal traits to one sex or the other (an ability to enjoy the "disgusting," i.e. the smells of the body; an interest in domination; passivity, etc.). In terms of sexual politics, the film could have been written by a misogynist male--or Camille Paglia. It indulges in unhealthy shame-mongering.

It's too bad, because the film does demonstrate the need (despite the danger of exploitation) for frank sexual nudity in film, to explore stories that involve characters' struggles with sex and sexuality. But this film is so poor in its vision, so wrong in its philosophy, that most audiences (who probably already stood to be disappointed that the film isn't actually pornography) will be doubly disappointed and may assume that films which use graphic sex for literary purposes will always be negative and unsatisfying.

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998)

Frenetic, glossy, OTT, sexy

[14 November 1999]

A drama queen's wet dream. It offers up a magnificent, almost epic gloss of the melodrama of at least 14 characters. The problem is that with a Robert Altman-sized cast crammed into 2 hours (Altman would take 3 or more), and screen time distributed more or less democratically, it's hard to get to know the characters--but some are very compelling anyway. The film is narrated and edited ridiculously, as if a novel had been tossed into a blender. Most scenes feel like they're less than a minute long yet are packed with dialogue. You might wonder if the filmmakers are trying to obscure script problems by making routine exposition an unusual chore.

However, the film's melodrama is presented in a lushly dark, romantic, Gallic way. There's something heady about the experience. And the film has some extraordinary settings. The cemetery is one of the most stunning locations since Scarlet O'Hara walked through the endless Confederate dead. And the train, crowded and zipping through the French countryside, is metaphoric in an undeniably physical way. Since Americans don't support public transportation, esp. trains, this experience struck me as unique.