Jonathan Lack

Boulder

Host at The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

I'm critic, scholar, and podcaster Jonathan Lack, Ph.D. Scholar in Residence at CU Boulder. Links to podcasts and more at https://t.co/uGooSph0Hm

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Articles

‎‘Ballerina’ review by Jonathan Lack • Letterboxd

3 weeks ago | letterboxd.com | Jonathan Lack |Len Wiseman

Not as good as any of the 4 main JOHN WICK movies, but not unworthy of the title, either. It’s narratively messy and overburdened with backstory, and the dialogue is pretty rough - JOHN WICK dialogue is always portentous, but usually with a twinkle in its eye, whereas this is cliche-ridden and self serious - but the action fucking rocks. Ana de Armas is very physically convincing, and they give her a lot of very different kinds of set pieces than what we expect from Keanu.
BERSERK: THE SWORD WIND ROMANCE Review - OLM’s 1997 Anime Masterpiece

3 weeks ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

Welcome to Season 5 of Japanimation Station, our Grand Tour through the wide and wonderful world of anime! You can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com.
Legends’ review by Jonathan Lack • Letterboxd

4 weeks ago | letterboxd.com | Jonathan Lack |Jonathan Entwistle

This movie has some definite problems, but you know what? I enjoyed the hell out of it. And I don’t think that’s just because I’m an absolute sucker for these kinds of movies (though I definitely am). This is a Karate Kid movie that gets the ‘Karate Kid’ part dead on, with a GREAT lead turn from Ben Wang, who is extremely charming and charismatic, and probably the most physically convincing lead in any of the Karate Kid films when it comes to the actual martial arts.
Review: "The Darjeeling Limited" is Wes Anderson at his most uniquely emotive

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie, with writing of mine that’s never been published online before. Enjoy…2007, Dir. Wes AndersonOriginally published in the book 200 Reviews, based on writing from 2008, 2013, and 2023.
DIRTY PAIR 2 & PROJECT EDEN Reviews - The Sequel OVA & Film by Sunrise

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

Welcome to Season 5 of Japanimation Station, our Grand Tour through the wide and wonderful world of anime! You can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com. Our dirty pair of Dirty Pair episodes continues this week with a look at the theatrical feature film and cavalcade of OVAs that followed in the wake of the original TV series.
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING" is a messily exhilarating goodbye

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING" is a messily exhilarating goodbyeFor me, at least, the series sticks the landingBy Jonathan R. Lack
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING" elevates the series to its apex

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

“I swear your life will always matter more to me than my own.”“You don’t even know me.”“What difference does that make?”Ethan Hunt is a fan of magic tricks. We learned this way back in the first Mission: Impossible in 1996, in a delightfully goofy scene where a baby-faced Tom Cruise confuses and outwits Jean Reno’s turncoat spy character by playing sleight-of-hand with a data disc like he’s a street magician.
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT" is one of the century's defining action epics

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

“Fate whispers to the warrior.”“A storm is coming.”“And the warrior whispers back?”“I am the storm.”After Ethan Hunt engages in this prophetic code-phrase exchange, he is handed his latest mission orders inside a copy of Homer’s Odyssey. It’s a statement of narrative and thematic intent that would come across as absurdly pretentious were it not followed by two-and-a-half hours of the most ambitious and virtuosic action filmmaking ever achieved.
DIRTY PAIR Review - The Outrageous Original 1985 Series by Sunrise

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

Welcome to Season 5 of Japanimation Station, our Grand Tour through the wide and wonderful world of anime! You can subscribe on all platforms at JapanimationStation.Com.
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL" is a playful action-adventure treat

1 month ago | jonathanlack.com | Jonathan Lack

“Mission…accomplished!”Brad Bird was born to direct a Mission: Impossiblemovie. That fact becomes readily apparent five minutes into Ghost Protocol, as soon as one realizes that Bird has, indeed, committed to scoring a violent prison break sequence to the sounds of Dean Martin. No other director could infuse such brutal fight choreography with such a passionate sense of fun.