{"id":25834,"date":"2022-12-30T18:29:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T02:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25834"},"modified":"2022-12-30T18:29:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T02:29:37","slug":"white-noise-is-overstuffed-but-has-some-fun-bits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25834","title":{"rendered":"WHITE NOISE is Overstuffed, But Has Some Fun Bits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This feature will be available to stream on Netflix\nbeginning December 30<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/24_0007_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10908\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the year is coming to end, it certainly seems as if there have been a lot of grandiose (and lengthy) features striving to combine many elements and ideas into a cohesive whole. Based on a well-regarded book by Don DeLillo, <em>White Noise <\/em>attempts to combine comedy with personal drama, as well as elements from disaster pictures. Heck, it even throws in a dance number for good measure. It\u2019s all a bit messy and the results are ultimately uneven, but at least there are individual sections that do work and a few fun moments to behold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/White-Noise-06-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25839\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The film starts in 1984 and focuses on a charismatic but\ndeath-obsessed college professor named Jack Gladney (Adam Driver). He spends\nhis days teaching \u201cHitler\u201d studies, as well as hearing colleagues like Murray\nSiskind (Don Cheadle) talk about subjects like popular culture, he returns home\nto a very eccentric family. Despite a pleasant home life, he still harbors\nfears, especially when wife Babette (Greta Gerwig) exhibits some strange\nbehavior that concerns other members of their blended family. After a nearby\naccident results in an airborne toxic event that causes panic in the streets,\nJack is forced to confront his own issues with dying and attempts to find some\nform of psychological relief for his condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/White-Noise-02-fixed-1024x643.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25835\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As mentioned, the movie generally emphasizes humor when dealing with the lead\u2019s fear of death, but it does lead to various scenarios that are quite different in tone. The shifting plot elements could have resulted in a total mess, but the cast are all excellent and there are certainly some funny moments. Early on, a couple of lectures given by Siskind on popular culture will raise a smile from anyone who has taken a film or media studies course. Some of his theories on violence and its effects on the psyche are both intriguing and rib-tickling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/White-Noise-04-fixed-1024x482.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25836\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And when literal disaster strikes the town and the family\nare forced to evacuate, the movie effectively pokes fun at tropes common in\ndisaster pictures. Some of these really enjoyable bits include the family stuck\non a highway and peering into other cars to figure out the proper reaction to\ntheir surreal situation. When events turn chaotic, there\u2019s a humorous bit\ninvolving Jack reentering a fracas to retrieve a young family member\u2019s stuffed\nanimal. And the best scene involves the leads taking their car on an\nill-advised back route to avoid the masses of reckless drivers.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for all of the successful bits, there are several that\ndon\u2019t hit the mark. The last third of the movie deals with marital strife and a\nvery extreme act that Jack takes in order to both deal with a problem and make\nhimself feel more alive in the process. Besides a joke involving a light\nsource, the humor doesn\u2019t work as effectively in this part of the film as the\ntone becomes more dramatic. And the movie\u2019s summation on how and where to find\nhope results in an unexpected musical sequence &#8211; while the setting is visually\nimpressive and the choreography is elaborate, in the end it doesn\u2019t overwhelm\nor leave a big impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/White-Noise-05-fixed-1024x485.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25837\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, <em>White Noise<\/em> is a bit of a mixed bag, both in terms of its content and the effectiveness of the end result. We are seeing a man going through an existential crisis on how to deal with his own inevitable demise and some of the story\u2019s humorous observations are sharp. When the movie satirizes the disaster genre, many of the gags earn chuckles. Unfortunately, it is also overstuffed and suffers from a slower-pace during its final third and a finale that doesn\u2019t overwhelm. In the end, this is an ambitious effort with enough goodwill to earn it a modest recommendation\u2026 viewers just shouldn\u2019t be expecting a major awards contender.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This feature will be available to stream on Netflix beginning December 30th. As the year is coming to end, it certainly seems as if there have been a lot of grandiose (and lengthy) features striving to combine many elements and ideas into a cohesive whole. Based on a well-regarded book by Don DeLillo, White Noise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,724,3295,4660,6058,6251,8650,14429,14680,24215,24216,24217,24218],"class_list":["post-25834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-adam-driver","tag-book-adaptation","tag-comedy","tag-don-cheadle","tag-drama","tag-greta-gerwig","tag-musical","tag-netflix","tag-white-noise","tag-white-noise-film-review","tag-white-noise-movie-review","tag-white-noise-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}