David Corenswet Archives | Deep Focus Review

Superman

Brian Eggert — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:25:30 +0000

Listen to the audio version of this review. Punk rock may seem loud and nihilistic to some, but when it emerged in the 1970s, its performers aimed their angry sound at tyrannical mainstream ideologies. In particular, Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, The Clash, and others sought independence from the traditionalism, religious dogma, and social norms reinforced by popular culture. Their aggressive sound and lyrics condemned authoritarian politics, questioning the systems of power that keep people under control. They sang about the oppressed rising up against—or at least flipping off—their oppressors. By now, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing about punk music in this review of Superman, writer-director James Gunn’s new feature about Krypton’s last son. Gunn’s highly entertaining summer release, which might just be my favorite Superman movie yet, looks at our world and considers where a morally upright hero like Superman would fit. Would humanity embrace him as a beacon of hope? Would his presence become politicized? In the end, Gunn acknowledges that, sadly, believing in the value of all life, regardless of politics or personal motivation, as Superman does, represents a rather punkish, outsider point of view, and he weaves that concept into his film. Along […]

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Twisters

Brian Eggert — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:33:39 +0000

Although storm chasing existed before Twister—the 1996 blockbuster that earned a half-billion dollars and became a marker of the decade’s culture—the movie popularized the phenomenon. Storm chasing went from a few enthusiasts and meteorologists to a pastime among thrill-seekers less interested in weather research than a rush. Likewise, it piqued the public’s interest in weather-related disasters as entertainment. Along with The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 2012 (2009), and Geostorm (2017), several storm-obsessed reality TV shows appeared on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and The Weather Channel, along with D-grade direct-to-cable movies that capitalized on the idea. See Christmas Twister (2012), the six Sharknado movies, or the dozens of other tornado-centric titles that have saturated the non-theatrical marketplace ever since. Moreover, it’s curious that no major studios attempted to duplicate Twister’s success with a tornado-centric disaster movie at the time and that a sequel didn’t immediately follow. So when multiple storm-chasing crews compete in Twisters, it’s as though Twister exists in their world, and they’ve set out to replicate its energy. However, Twisters resists any such meta-ness, supplying what will surely be a mid-summer box-office smash with crowd-pleasing appeal. Banking on today’s rampant ’90s nostalgia, Twisters delivers a product that’s difficult to […]

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Pearl

Brian Eggert — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:26:25 +0000

Pearl opens on a storybook farm soaked in rich colors and splashy titles, images that recall Douglas Sirk’s melodramas of the 1950s. Director Ti West’s deliberate camp aesthetic returns moviegoers to the scene of the crime from X, distributed by A24 earlier this year. That throwback slasher, set in Texas during the 1970s, found the elderly Pearl horny and bloodthirsty for an amateur adult film crew, whom she slaughtered and fed to the resident alligator—something she’s been doing to passers-by for years, apparently. But West’s prequel isn’t the blend of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Boogie Nights (1997) that X was; it’s not a blazingly gory exploitation romp that delights in testing our limits—and for that, it’s refreshing to see that West has other things on his mind besides repeating a proven formula. Still, some viewers may take time to adjust to Pearl’s pacing and tone, which conveys Pearl’s disturbed mind through dream sequences and a heightened visual style. While it’s an origin story that adds to the expanding X mythology, it’s also a showcase for the considerable talent of Mia Goth. She reprises her role as Pearl and delivers an unforgettable performance. West and Goth conceived of the prequel […]

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