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Kicks (2016)
Kicks (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I grew up in a time and place where it was very real to have concern about a pair of kicks being stolen from you by force, or even death. Surely my thoughts on this movie are reflective of that.

Brandon is a boy who is struggling to completely fit in anywhere in his world. He has a couple of loyal friends, but struggles to understand his place in society. He believes that the ultimate pair of Air Jordan 1's will help solve all the issues he carries internally.

After copping a pair out of the back of a van, he is promptly beaten at gunpoint and they are stolen by a known heavy in his urban neighborhood. The rest of the movie essentially involves his efforts to return the shoes to his feet and the lengths that he is willing to go (and the sacrifices he's willing to make) to make that a reality.
  
The Avengers - Season 4
The Avengers - Season 4
1965 | Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Difficult not to use words like iconic to describe this; the two seasons with Diana Rigg (this is the first of them) is what defines this series in the public recollection. Gentleman spy John Steed and his leather-clad friend Emma Peel investigate a wide range of threats to British society as we know it, ranging from the relatively mundane (attempts to assassinate visiting dignitaries) to the positively outlandish (man-eating Martian plants with mind-control powers).

Occasionally a bit tonally uneven, but still mostly a joy to watch even after all these years: the two leads are clearly enjoying themselves hugely and so are the characters (most of the time). The best episodes have a sort of intelligent silliness about them which is almost irresistible: they sustain a mixture of spy spoof, black comedy, and science fiction which many have tried to copy but few have achieved. This is the Avengers in its imperial phase.
  
The Vast of Night (2019)
The Vast of Night (2019)
2019 | Mystery, Sci-Fi
High-concept, low-budget SF movie. It's the night of the year's first basketball game somewhere in Texas, and most people are watching. But small-town DJ Everett and switchboard operator Fay aren't, and they start to get strange reports of mysterious radio signals and peculiar lights. The same phrase recurs again and again: there's something in the sky...

Framed as a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits pastiche, and while the subject matter is certainly similar, much of the style is not: long takes, either static or mobile, rattling dialogue, a sort of self-consciousness about form which is only to be expected in a directorial debut. Interesting subtext about the aliens' agenda and the people prepared to speak up about their experiences (generally speaking, it's people from the lowest strata of society). Genuinely tense and even a bit eerie in places: Rod Serling would never have written something so oblique, but I think he would have appreciated its quality regardless.