More Than One Lesson

Tyler is publishing a new book of reviews, called Cinematic Suffering: Reviews of Terrible Movies. He plans to release it in late March, and you can help!

You can now pre-order the book for $20, which will help with publishing costs. For your contribution, you will receive your signed copy of the book as soon as it is available and your name will be included in the “Special Thanks” section.

Unfortunately, right now, we can only ship within the United States, but we are looking for ways to ship out of the country.

Just click the “Buy Now” button below to pre-order your copy of Cinematic Suffering! Thank you for your support!

It may have helped his career and general pedigree, but it would seem that the worst thing for director Adam McKay’s artistic sensibilities was winning that Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 2016 for The Big Short. In rewarding his comedically-anarchic approach to would-be dramatic material, the Academy essentially communicated to McKay that his throw-everything-at-the-wall instincts were much more of an asset than a liability. And while it can be refreshing to portray harrowing real life events in a humorous fashion – see Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin as a recent example – it can lead to an unevenness of tone and execution that amounts to a sort of thematic wheel-spinning; making a lot of noise, but ultimately going nowhere. This is most certainly true of McKay’s new film, Vice, which purports to portray what lay behind the actions of former Vice President Dick Cheney. The instincts that may have served McKay well with the event-centered Big Short fail him here, as his attempts to make an illuminating character study are undercut by his own incredulity. The final product is a film that is self satisfied, condescending, and – perhaps worst of all – exceedingly uncurious. 

In this minisode, Tyler recounts his experiences as a grad student and teacher.

In this episode, Tyler and Reed discuss Alex Garland’s Annihilation and Danny Boyle’s Sunshine.

In this episode, Tyler and Reed discuss Jordan Peele’s Get Out and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. 

In this minisode, Tyler and Josh discuss Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

In this episode, Tyler and Josh welcome back Tyler Straessle to discuss the NBC sitcom The Good Place.

In this minisode, Tyler discusses the value of the Boba Fett action figure.

In this episode, Tyler and Reed discuss the Erwin Brothers’ I Can Only Imagine and James Mangold’s Walk the Line.

In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story.