Some Dude Reviews Movies

I am a huge fan of Steve McQueen. No, not that one. The British auteur who delivers intense, thought-provoking cinema at its finest. I fell in love with his debut, Hunger  (2008), and had my jaw dropped by his recent heist thriller, Widows  (2018). It occurred to me recently that I had no idea what McQueen was up to. It turns out he was up to a lot. He's made five (count 'em, FIVE) films as part of a collection called Small Axe . And those five films are dropping on Amazon Prime over the next few weeks. I had little to go on: the trailer is a mood piece more than a story spoiler; and I have no real knowledge or understanding of British Civil Rights history (so the word "Mangrove" meant nothing to me at first glance). And, if I'm being honest, going in absolutely fresh made my viewing experience all the more intense and memorable. What is It? Small Axe (2020) is a collection of five films that explore the black civil rights movement in Britain in the sixties, seven...

If you've read this blog at all, you know that I am a fan of the western film genre. One of the things I really enjoy about it is that it is a set of archetypes that can be laid over just about any other genre. One of the most successful pairings has been what I call the "Space Western." The Space Western maintains the character archetypes and themes of the classic western, but trades the windy plains of America for the wild alien frontiers of space. The inherent danger of being stuck in an environment that will kill you (lack of oxygen, alien biomes, radiation, etc.) enhances the western genre's great themes about survival and the struggle of morality in a lawless place. Enter Prospect (2018). Prospect  is a film written and directed by Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl (Earl also handled cinematography duties). It is the story of a father-daughter duo who make planetfall on a frontier moon where they hope to harvest some valuable gems. Those gems being their ticket...