Films and Feelings

  Despite the internet's passion for griping over the state of the union, including and especially Hollywood's passion for remakes and reboots, the process of retelling and readaptation within art has been around for a while. Some of the earliest, most beloved films were themselves adaptations of famous texts of their day ( The Wizard of Oz , Gone with the Wind , etc.) Sometimes if the beloved text is beloved enough, we can see multiple film versions of the same stories throughout time. Adaptation is nothing new to film.    Yet the process hits a nerve in the context of the 21st-century pop culture scape, what with the constant refrain of "when did Hollywood run out of ideas??????" This most contentious of all dialogues is clearer nowhere than with the warzone of Disney live-action remakes.          It’s likely because of the sheer wealth of remakes on board that we use apocalyptic rhetoric to condemn them—they are plagues, they ...

"Concrete Cowboy" has Stranger Things alum Caleb McLaughlin saddle up with Idris Elba in a father-and-son tale set against the backdrop of urbanization. McLaughin stars in the film as "Cole," a troubled teen whose escapades into trouble have him teetering on the edge of a life of aimless ruin. In an act of desperation, Cole's mother drops him off in Philadelphia at the apartment of his father (played by Elba) whom he hasn't seen in years. It's a drastic change of scene for Cole, but there's a chance for him to make something of himself here. If he can avoid the toxic influence of Smush, a local kid with dubious ties to local gang activity.  The premise sounds intriguing enough, but the finished product is so textureless that even after actually watching the film, you somehow don't feel you've learned anything more about it. The movie relies a lot on the audience bringing their own preconceptions to the table. Opening with a shot of Cole looki...