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Moviegoers defend themselves against media tyranny.
The gap between moviegoers’ interest and media approval is wider this year than ever before. Michael and Melania prevailed, winning viewer consent with no help from influencers and legacy media. We should be astonished that tastemakers and politicians operate against popular opinion.
The battle between power-mongers and the people is evident in the films that are highlighted in this annual Midyear Reckoning of the most significant movies so far this year. It’s a turning point in movie culture.
Citizen Vigilante, by Uwe Boll, begins this alphabetical listing as a fluke of the derangement exhibited by Hollywood’s ceaseless attempt to demoralize film culture (Wuthering Heights, The Bride, Supergirl). It took a European indie to address issues ignored by mainstream filmmakers. Reviewers and opinion-makers would rather viewers be brainwashed by divisive misandrist junk. They oppose Boll’s idiosyncrasy — and abuse the concept of “democracy.” Armie Hammer’s cornball toxic avenger bests the Marvel Cinematic Universe variety while also refuting the industry haters who canceled him. It must be emphasized that Boll bowdlerizes the global turmoil that satirists like Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor and great moralists like S. Craig Zahler and Brian DePalma had explored, yet Boll struck a chord among many who feel that the media just aren’t listening to their fear about the collapse of Western civilization.
Drunken Noodles, by Lucio Castro, explores the uses of art, desire, and enchantment. Bypassing the politicization of sexual identity, Castro’s protagonist Adnan enters an adult fairy tale amid worldly temptations to explore personal questions trivialized by the juvenile psychic mysteries of Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parsons’s Backrooms.
EPiC, by Baz Luhrmann, reassesses Elvis Presley in public performance to reveal the artist who existed behind the pop iconography.
In the Hand of Dante, by Julien Schnabel, conflates the medieval fantasies of rock critic Nick Tosches with 13th-century poet Dante Alighieri. Extraordinary cameos by Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese — Schnabel’s true muses — briefly course-correct his perspective on contemporary art-careerism.
Melania, by Brett Ratner, freed empathy from censorship. When “Billie Jean” on the soundtrack vivifies this FLOTUS bio-doc, the connection between Melania Trump and Michael Jackson becomes a matter of social and cultural redemption. It bests the return of the repressed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s grotesque monument to themselves and their political eunuchs.
Michael, by Antoine Fuqua, continues Melania’s counter-offensive simply by reminding the world of Michael Jackson’s great artistry — and the world responded by proving, despite the media’s ongoing vicious attacks, that MJ was rightfully beloved. Fuqua brings back the precious memories otherwise ignored or despised by tabloid media
Power Ballad, by John Carney, uses traditional song form as tall tale, examining modern ideas about art, honesty, brotherhood, family, and fame. Copyright litigants Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas expose the utter mediocrity of the Taylor Swift era.
The Stranger, by François Ozon, turns Camus’s definition of alienation into Millennial chic — a perceptive but honest artistic struggle that rivals Spielberg’s Disclosure Day (a dishonest, retrofitted sci-fi tale announcing metaphoric extraterrestrial open-borders immigration).
The Ties That Bind Us, by Carine Tardieu, discovers through the characterizations of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Pio Marmaï, and Vimala Pons the personal needs within the facile identities of modern women, men, and society.
Young Mothers, by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is a rediscovery of family and feminine tradition lost to progressive figments about reproduction.