Jonathan Lack
- Podcast Host, Japanimation Station Season 6 - TOMINO-THON!
- Host, Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman
Boulder
As seen in:
Japanimation Station Season 6 - TOMINO-THON!,
Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman,
Substack,
The Times of Israel,
Letterboxd,
Chicago Agent Magazine,
South Florida Agent Magazine,
Houston Agent Magazine,
Atlanta Agent Magazine,
Boston Agent,
Phoenix Agent Magazine,
Anchor.fm
and
I'm critic, scholar, and podcaster Jonathan Lack, Ph.D. Scholar in Residence at CU Boulder. Links to podcasts and more at linktr.ee/jonathanrlack
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Articles by Jonathan Lack
Fangio Frustrated By Jonathan Greenard's Lack Of Practice
Ross Tucker on the 94 WIP Morning Show debates Nick Sirianni’s coaching effectiveness and listen to Vic Fangio’s blunt assessment of Jonathan Greenard's limited practice time.
The Inner Worlds of Neon Genesis Evangelion
“When did it start? Since when did animation stop being interesting? That is, animation itself may have stopped being interesting, and I myself may have been unable to maintain interest in animation. Both may be true. Animation may be over.” Hideaki Anno wrote these words in 1993, just two years before he would definitively disprove them with the creation of his magnum opus, Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–6).
The Blogs: Israel-Diaspora Partnering for Shared Society
Dining in Tira with a close friend and resident of this Arab city in central Israel, I expected hummus, kebab, and young men gathered around a television watching the Africa Cup. Instead, we ate at a crowded Italian restaurant, where a third of the patrons were Israeli Jews and most of the rest were Arab women dining independently, dressed as if they were going to a wedding. This may sound modest, given the scale of challenges facing Israel and the region.
The Blogs: The American Jewish stake in Israel’s shared society
As an American Jew who has loved Israel since my youth, I believe the future of the Jewish state depends not only on its strength in defending against external and internal threats but also on the ability to nurture trust and equality between its Jewish majority and the Arab population who comprise more than 20 percent of its citizens. My commitment to this vision is rooted in my family.
‘F1 The Movie’ review by Jonathan Lack • Letterboxd
Oh fuck to the hell to the yeah. This is so my shit, I was in heaven start to finish. F1 is the old-school 80s/90s Jerry Bruckheimer formula executed to a totally different level of technical excellence than we’ve seen before, other than in Top Gun Maverick - also directed by Joseph Kosinski, who is absolutely on the pedestal at this moment next to Chad Stahelski and Christopher McQuarrie as the best American director of action and spectacle.
Review: "28 Years Later" is bold, bizarre, and beautiful
I watched the original 28 Days Later for the first time earlier this week. Inexcusably late to the party, I know, but the film has been such a massive influence on the last 25 years of horror and zombie fiction that I thought I had perhaps already absorbed it through cultural osmosis. I was very wrong.
‘Ballerina’ review by Jonathan Lack • Letterboxd
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
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
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
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 Anderson Originally 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
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
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING" is a messily exhilarating goodbye For me, at least, the series sticks the landing By Jonathan R. Lack
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING" elevates the series to its apex
“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
“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
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
“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.
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III" reminds us J.J. Abrams was always mid
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.” If one goes by the metric that the quality of a Mission: Impossible movie is directly proportional to how much Tom Cruise furiously runs in it, then Mission: Impossible III is quite possibly the best of the best. There is some top-tier, Grade-A, premium uncut Tom-Cruise-running-like-a-maniac action in this one, particularly at the climax. And it is, as always, extremely fun to watch.
Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II" is a blissful slice of John Woo excess
“We just rolled up a snowball and tossed it into hell. Now let’s see what chance it has.” God I love this stupid movie. Mission: Impossible II is an amazing film, one that transcends petty squabbles over ‘good’ versus ‘bad.’ It goes about as hard as it is possible for a movie to go, and is ‘extra’ in a way few movies are ever truly ‘extra.’ Watching it feels, at times, like an out-of-body fever dream, and if I am being perfectly honest, I love every second of it.
Review: The original "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE" is a stone-cold spy movie classic
“You really think we can do this?” “We’re going to do it.” Mission: Impossible is my favorite film series to emerge in my lifetime, and at a whopping 29 years old now, it has been going for damn near all of that life. Tom Cruise first portrayed Ethan Hunt when I was three-and-a-half years old, and his journey as the character will seemingly culminate with The Final Reckoning next week, when I’m 32-and-a-half.
GUNBUSTER: AIM FOR THE TOP! Review - The Classic 1988 Anime OVA by Gainax | Japanimation Station S5E9
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. Before Anno Hideaki and the team at Studio Gainax changed the course of anime history with Neon Genesis Evangelion, they produced Gunbuster, aka Aim for the Top!, a 6-episode OVA with some of the era’s most spectacular animation, and an overwhelming amount of personality.
Xbox Price Hikes, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Outlandish Nintendo Switch 2 Accessories & More!
It’s time for the first May installment of Purely Academic, a variety podcast hosted by Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman. For ‘The Monthly Stuff,’ we talk about what’s going on in the news, what we’ve been watching and playing, and share a silly Top 10 list. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
‘Thunderbolts*’ review by Jonathan Lack • Letterboxd
This movie is frustrating because of how much of it is genuinely good. It’s really well-directed. It looks shockingly good for Marvel. The action works. It has several great characters in Yelena, Bucky, Red Guardian, and a bunch of good performances from Pugh, Stan, Harbour, plus Julia-Louis Dreyfuss and Lewis Pullman. It actually invests in trying to build up a team of new heroes, which Marvel should have been doing 5 years ago.
20 Years On, “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” Isn’t Fantasy - It’s Prophecy
The grim historical poetry of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith celebrating its 20th anniversary now, in 2025, with American democracy crumbling before our eyes, is sobering.
YU-GI-OH! ‘Season 0’ Review - The Forgotten 1998 Anime by Toei Animation
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. Takahashi Kazuki’s Yu-Gi-Oh! is a worldwide phenomenon that needs no introduction, since the anime has been airing in one incarnation or another every week for the past 25 years, and the card game is still going strong.
The Great Gatsby 100th Anniversary Celebration Spectacular!
It’s time for another episode of Purely Academic, a variety podcast hosted by Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman. Each month, we talk about our favorite video games, movies, anime, and more, having fun and maybe even learning something along the way. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This month, we’re trying something new by releasing the individual segments once a week, to spread the mountain of content we recorded out over the whole month.
Review: Robert Altman's "Popeye" is playful, sweet, and utterly singular
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. Last week, in my “Animation and Identification” class at CU Boulder, I showed my students Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980).
WELCOME TO THE NHK Review - The Paranoid 2006 Anime by Gonzo
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.
The ANIMERAMA Trilogy - A Thousand & One Nights, Cleopatra, and Belladonna of Sadness Reviews
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 Grand Tour reaches one of its strangest destinations this week as we complete our trilogy of Tezuka Osamu-themed episodes with a look at the Animerama Trilogy, a collection of three experimental animated films for adults created by Mushi Productions between 1969 and 1973.
MAPPA’s DORORO Review - The 2019 Modern Anime Remake
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.
‘A Minecraft Movie’ review by Jonathan Lack • Letterboxd
Well that was pretty dire. I actually kind of liked the first 20 minutes. The Jack Black-narrated opening is a fun intro to the world, and the stuff in “reality” lets Jared Hess’ quirky voice come through loud and clear. It’s charming. But then they get to the Minecraft world and the movie gets so unbelievably loud and hyperactive and directionless. It’s occasionally funny, but it’s mostly just grating, a giant dose of weapons-grade cinematic sugar with no complex calories.
Tezuka Osamu’s DORORO Review - The 1969 Original Mushi Pro Anime
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.
DRAGON BALL GT Review - Part 2: Super 17 & Shadow Dragon Sagas (Eps. 41-64)
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 Grand Tour continues with the second half of Dragon Ball GT, which marked the end of the 18-year ‘Toriyama Block’ on Fuji TV, and the end of new Dragon Ball stories on TV until Dragon Ball Super nearly 20 years later.
A Silent Dream of Sexual Cacophony: Psychoanalyzing E. A. Dupont’s VARIETÉ - Part Two: The Fetish
For this week’s Movie of the Week, we’re doing something a little different, covering one movie, but over four days. The film is E.A. Dupont’s Varieté, from 1925, and instead of a ‘review,’ we shall be reading a very peculiar essay I wrote in graduate school, for a class on Psychoanalysis and cinema. It is presented in the form of 4 letters from my alter-ego, Dr. Johnathon R. Black, to a fictive colleague, Dr. Reginald G. Winterbottom.
A Silent Dream of Sexual Cacophony: Psychoanalyzing E. A. Dupont’s VARIETÉ - Part One: The Dream
For this week’s Movie of the Week, we’re doing something a little different, covering one movie, but over four days. The film is E.A. Dupont’s Varieté, from 1925, and instead of a ‘review,’ we shall be reading a very peculiar essay I wrote in graduate school, for a class on Psychoanalysis and cinema. It is presented in the form of 4 letters from my alter-ego, Dr. Johnathon R. Black, to a fictive colleague, Dr. Reginald G. Winterbottom.
Review: "Captain America: Brave New World" is potently political, whether or not it wants to be
I walked into Captain America: Brave New World with fairly low expectations, not justbecauseof thegeneralMarvelmalaiseof thepast six years, but for the extremely weird hodge-podge of properties this film follows up on: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (mostly bad despite some good moments), Eternals (Marvel’s worst movie), and The Incredible Hulk (a 17-year-old Marvel movie few people saw, has mostly been ignored since, and whose two main characters – Bruce Banner and Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’...
Review: David Lynch's "Dune" is as singular as Lynch himself
David Lynch was, until his death last week, my favorite living American filmmaker, as you’ll probably know if you’ve read or listened to my work for any length of time.
Review: "The Brutalist" is a monument to America's broken promise
NOTE: This review contains spoilers for The Brutalist, specifically its ending. These days, I am inclined to love any movie carrying the kind of ambition Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist brings with it: three-and-a-half hours long, complete with a guaranteed Intermission built into the body of the film itself, its story spanning many years, filmed in a long-dormant format (VistaVision), with images that tower, envelop, and invite us to wander, to inhabit.
Review: Yasujirō Ozu's "Tokyo Story" remains towering and devastating
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! Of all the movies that are exhaustively evangelized to pupils in film school, Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story might be the one I sense the most resistance towards from students. I cannot say I don’t understand.
Review: Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" is a classic, and "Sanjuro" is even better
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo is perhaps the greatest and most classic example of a film with such a terrific central character that all the propulsive weight of the story is centered in our transfixed gaze upon the protagonist.
The Top 10 Films of 2024
When it came to movies, 2024 didn’t have the sheer breadth of greatness as some recent years (like 2023 or especially 2021). I was easily able to fill this list of 20 (the top 10 and 10 runner-ups), but I didn’t have to agonize too much over what was left off. That said, when the movies were great, they were truly something special, and there is an awful lot of depth on this list, the top 10 in particular filled with some truly remarkable features I’ll be carrying forward long past 2024.
Review: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is a model of great adaptation
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column (coming out Thursday this time) where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers.
Review: "Wicked" lives up to the hype with an insane mic-drop ending
OK, yeah, the Wicked movie rocked. I’m late to the party, I know. By the time this review posts, the film has already firmly cemented itself as a cultural phenomenon; part of why I’m getting to it so late is that screenings were widely sold out through the entire Thanksgiving weekend.
Review: "Eyes Wide Shut" and the dying dream of 20th-century cinema
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers.
Review: "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie" is barely Yu-Gi-Oh!, and barely a movie
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! Sigh. I thought this was going to be fun. I thought this was going to be an enjoyably goofy change of pace.
Review: "Top Secret" is better, weirder, and funnier than ever at 40
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! “For as long as a single man is forced to cower under the iron fist of oppression, as long as a child cries out in the night, or an actor can be elected president, we must continue the struggle.” Amen sister. You tell ‘em.
Purely Academic for November! Gamera Heisei Trilogy, Metaphor Impressions, and Sean's Best Birthday Gifts
Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. It’s time for another episode of Purely Academic, a monthly variety podcast hosted by Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman. Each month, we talk about our favorite video games, movies, anime, and more, having fun and maybe even learning something along the way. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Review: Takeshi Koike's "Lupin the IIIrd" Trilogy, 10 Years On
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! Lupin the Third rejuvenated itself in more ways than one with the 2012 TV anime The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.
Review: “Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack” and the Allure of the Asteroid
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a weekly column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week. This column is usually for paid subscribers, but since there were 5 weeks in October, this one is free for everyone.
Reviews: "The Terminator" and "Terminator 2" form James Cameron's Perfect Duology
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column for paid subscribers where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! James Cameron’s The Terminator turns 40 this week, having originally opened in American theaters on October 26th, 1984.
Review: Ridley Scott's "Hannibal" is not Thomas Harris' "Hannibal," but I wish it was
Welcome to Movie of the Week, a Wednesday column where we take a look back at a classic, obscure, or otherwise interesting movie each and every week for paid subscribers. Follow this link for more details on everything you get subscribing to Fade to Lack! I wish I could see an actual adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal directed by Ridley Scott.
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