One Battle After Another
The Anomalous Duo sauntered out on this Saturday afternoon to the Quad Theater in the West Village to see a new American film. Could almost pass for regular movie consumers, but no bucket of popcorn and gallon of Coke, we snuck in some bagels and a seltzer.
What initially pulled us in was that the film was “inspired” by the novel “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon — a favorite author — and that the director, Paul Thomas Anderson, had done quite an amazing, fun job, with “Inherent Vice”, which was based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel.
I’m still not ready to write a review — if ever — but here are some that hit the mark.
We gave it ★★★★.5 out of five.
(Would have been five but in the first half hour the penis humor amidst the high level of “action” made us think this was going to be one of those American films we avoid. It wasn’t.
And okay — that was one of the best car chase scenes. 😀 )
A truly amazing, powerful and timely film.
Go see it on a big screen.
Aren’t you tired of fighting?
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” comes along at a time in world history in which conflict seems to be the daily duty, turning Thomas Pynchon’s ’80s-set Vineland into a deeply humanist story of rebellion that will be read as 2020s political commentary despite never using terms like MAGA or Antifa.
Brian Tallerico’s reviw at Roger Ebert blog > HERE <.
The Rare Movie That Could Rule the Cultural Conversation
There’s no one way to measure when a movie enters the cultural bloodstream —
I mean, when it does so as powerfully as a shot of heroin. But when it happens, you can feel it. It used to happen a lot, but it’s rarer in the world we live in today, which is swimming in a universe of content, most of it splintered into separate silos.
Variety Magazine review > HERE <.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Rallying Cry
The director, at the height of his powers, delivers a startling, present-day American epic, with Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed-up radical and doting dad.
“One Battle After Another” is an exciting, goofy and deadly serious big-screen no — a no to complacency, to oppression, to tyranny. It’s a carnivalesque epic about good and evil, violence and power, inalienable rights and the fight against injustice; it’s also a love story. The film speaks to the failures of the past and of the present but insists on the promise of the future.
New York Times review > HERE <.
Other recommendations.
These are the things the Anomalous Duo watched in the last couple of weeks – all receiving four+ stars from us. Trailers linked. Highly recommended.
Throne Of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) (1957) ★★★★
Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn (Radu Jude) (2021) ★★★★★
X rated
In case you get scared of cinesex, here is a great review that might lubricate your opinion towards seeing the film.
Decalog 10 (Krzysztof Kieślowski) (1988) ★★★★
Sayat Nova / The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov) (1969) ★★★★.5
Schnick Schnack Schnuck (Maike Brochhaus) (2015) ★★★★
X rated
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