Sunny, but significantly cooler... jacket & hat!
Out & about, & not damp though...
30 January 2025
24 January 2025
14 January 2025
13 January 2025
06 January 2025
Cinema list 25
Nosferatu: well, that was very Gothic indeed... who would have thought?
Lovely photography & art; coupla great performances (Hoult & Defoe)...
but, long, gobby, & plenty of stilted dialogue (& acting... the Depp lass).
Glad I was on my own for this... not necessarily glad I was at this!
Gladiator II: was I not entertained?
Denzel has hoots revamping his Training Day bastardy; Pascal was good if wasted.
Bad baboons, rhino riding, shark show, & upwardly-mobile monkey aside,
it was pretty much a lesser remake of Gladiator. Bum-numbing, but
I didn't hate it! A mass of CGI, crass dialogue, poor characterisation,
& a hugely portentous testicle of an ending. Sequel doesn't mean replay!
Bring Them Down: very naughty shepherds go on (various, linked) rampage!
Early loss, trauma, & toxic masculinity has been done (& done, & done) before,
but Chris Andrews, writing & directing his first feature, gives us tense, tight,
gory unpleasantness in spades. The story constructs as a juggernaut.
Cinematography is central & brilliant. The cast act the fuck out of it...
& there's no 'dee-idlee-idlee Oirish' humour breaking the bleak!
Very much not an easy watch...
the more I reflect, the more I feel this is a really good movie!
Nickel Boys: a truly magnificent artistic event!
A harrowing tale from Jim Crow America, yet brimmed with love & hope.
Characterisation & acting was uniformly great; with the leads scintillating!
Visuals were beautiful, oft entrancing; the POV cinematography on occasion stunning, subtly mirrored by the actors emotional responses to 'the camera'.
I really need to see this movie again!
A Real Pain: this one needs thinking about
I'm Still Here: Salles offers up poignancy, resilience, & ultimately - weird, given the horror that encompasses the central driver of the narrative - a rather optimistic movie. The dictatorship's boot on the neck of Brazilian citizenry is superbly brought to life in the retelling of the Paiva family history. Fernanda Torres easily takes the laurel for the restrained elegance & eloquence Eunice maintains over the decades of trauma, search, & rebuilding... but the family of young actors surrounding her are also wonderful, individually and collectively. Cinematography is top hole, chucking photographs, super-8 family movies, & '70s stock footage throughout the film to add layered depth to a normal family finding ways to 'be' in the face of unnatural brutality & repression. Gripping. Emotional. Hopeful. There were tears!
September 5: really enjoyed this tight media-procedural.
Yes, there's a fair bit of ignoring context & consequence (which I guess will lead to the film taking a kicking given current Israeli-Palestinian 'relations')...
but the focus on the callous voyeurism at the heart of professional journalism maintains pace & engagement... whilst questions of morality & ethics,
as well as political demand & bias, sussurate alongside.
There are some clunky additions - young German translator determined to aid the transparency; French-Algerian engineer offsetting the Jewish journos & managers - but, on the whole, a well-made, gripping ensemble piece.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig: b
Mickey 17: this ain't a subtle movie!
A pure white planet filled with superior people... the fantasy of a snake-oil-selling political grotesque (who he, Mark?), christo-fascist backers, & unthinking acolytes.
This film blends Moon, Studio Ghibli enviro-manga, & Fifth Element nuttiness...
all the while remaining so very, very Korean (or Bong Joon-ho-ean!)...
& so very, very contemporary American! The comedy can fall a bit flat, the contrivance smack one in the face... but I quite enjoyed this hokum!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)