‘Shaft’ (2019): The Father-Son Comedy That Cops Out
The 'Shaft' remake fails to capture Blaxpoitation's rebellious spirit.

On a snowy wasteland a body awakens with no memories. By following a trail of footprints in the snow he reaches a car, where he finds a diary and driver's license with a name: Eerik Traat. From the last diary entry, Eerik reads about eye drops that help visualize memories and memory-erasing tablets. In the hope of restoring his memories and identity, Eerik decides to recreate the memories by using the eye drops. At first, everything seems normal, but gradually inconsistencies and distortions begin to arise.
The 'Shaft' remake fails to capture Blaxpoitation's rebellious spirit.
Unlike other documentaries about Princess Diana, Perkins’ film, 'The Princess', is an entire documentary consisting of media coverage and public opinion, rather than a typical series of people interviewed with firsthand experience of the Princess. 'The Princess' beautifully depicts how we perceive Diana as a media figure rather than a real person, specifically creating her persona as a fairytale figure turned saint and icon.
The concept of male fragility is explored (interestingly, by a male director) in The Sun Never Sets
At least we got the original cast back, right? Not even that saves it. None of them could bring a sliver of hope to this special. Rather, they bring dread as we witness the light leaving from their eyes.
Strangers in a crowd, exchanging glances, looking away, continually managing to run into each other then part ways, end up at the same diner, find they've rented the exact same vehicles, and are then made to travel together to learn once more whether they can both find genuine adoration and companionship again. This really does, in so many words, sum up the foundational gist of of this new feature film from writer Seth Reiss ("The Menu") and director Kogonada ("The Acolyte", "After Yang"). Yet, it's all only the set-up for the REAL wonder of everything that happens before, during, and in the aftermath of a magical, meaningful journey.
This list was made with the intention of celebrating the craft. I love seeing more women of colour on this list than before and more newcomers on the scene as well!