Babylon (2023) - Movie Review

Damien Chazelle might be the single most self-confident filmmaker working in Hollywood right now. No matter how idealistic (the grand romantic tones in La La Land), or familiar (the story of Apollo 11 in First Man), or just downright goofy (the colourful string of expletives in the script for Whiplash) his ideas get, there’s never an inkling that he’s meeting any of it halfway. And even when I find myself on the wrong side of some of those aspects, I’ve been unable to deny that there’s a certain infectious quality to how much conviction the man pours into each of his directorial efforts thus far. But his latest seems to be the ultimate test for that methodology, as we’ve gone from a film that would merely benefit from that much confidence behind the camera, to a film that outright requires it to work even slightly.

Bullet Train (2022) - Movie Review

Over the last few years, I’ve been riding 87North’s dick pretty damn hard. David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, ever since they gave Keanu Reeves a turbo boost with the first John Wick, have been remarkably consistent in delivering some of the most exciting action flicks in recent memory. If the term ‘elevated horror’ is allowed to be in common parlance, then what these guys do has to be called elevated action. As such, I was quite jazzed about the chance to see Leitch in the director’s chair again. But while it’s definitely fun, it seems that even he couldn’t keep up his enviable momentum forever; he had to hit a lag eventually.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019) - Movie Review

The latest from neo-exploitation junkie Quentin Tarantino is quintessentially him. A period flick set during the golden age of Hollywood, everything from the visuals to the soundtrack to the tan lines scream the 60’s as loud as they can. It’s a flurry of contemporary footage, new footage seamlessly integrated into the contemporary footage (seriously, this has some of the best integration of newer footage over older footage I think I’ve ever seen; Forrest Gump, eat your heart out) and recreated locales and old-school staples that create the most vivid picture of what Tarantino has spent his entire career doing: Tipping his hat to the old guard of cinema that made him who he is as a filmmaker.

War Machine (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: With the U.S. government really wanting to put an end to their military campaign in Afghanistan, they send in renowned general Glen McMahon (Brad Pitt) to lead the charge and, more importantly, prepare an assessment on how to resolve the matter. However, it seems that McMahon doesn’t want the troops to leave before the job is done, and so sets out to “win” the War On Terror. Everyone outside of his main platoon look at him aghast that a single person can get so much wrong in so little time.

Allied (2016) - Movie Review

While the popular conception of the period drama is usually confined to stuffy and immaculately dressed stories set in Victorian England, it’s actually far wider in scope than that. It basically applies to any film that is set in a specific time period that isn’t the present: Ouija: Origin Of Evil technically counts as a period piece. In staging the days of old, filmmakers need a certain level of fidelity to the era in which the story is set in order to do what all good films should be capable of and making us believe that what we are seeing isn’t something that was shot a year or two ago.

Sure, some films use that disconnect between the setting and time of release to rather compelling effect like the intentional anachronisms in A Knight’s Tale. But that’s an exception to what would ordinarily be considered the rule: If it’s set in a particular time period and the film relies on the specificity of that period, then adhering to it is probably a good idea. So, what happens when one of the most forward-thinking filmmakers still working today sets out to make a period romance?

By The Sea (2015) - Movie Review

 

There are a great many reasons why people make films: To create capital-A Art, to portray a certain point, to give others a view into the psyche of the filmmaker(s), to showcase a person’s abilities, or even as a means to filter unchecked drug money. Hell, it can even be for reasons as simple as a given person has access to the equipment and means to film something. Now, given how I have watched, reviewed, loved and hated films that wildly vary in terms of the whys and hows, it would be rather foolish to say that any one reason is more meaningful than the other. However, with the advent of the 'film star' has come a particularly troubling reason: A means to get a paid vacation. Way too often, we see actors starring in films of questionable merit, featuring beautiful locales all strung together with the kind of writing that usually results in a combination of mashing one’s face into the keyboard and Spell Check. That said, today’s film is a bit different from that, as said star is also the writer, producer and director. Basically, if anything goes wrong, it’s all Angelina Jolie’s fault. Let’s get started as I focus my aim now that I know who the target is.

12 Years A Slave (2014) - Movie Review

While the film season in the U.S. sees January/February as the dumping ground for the previous year’s leftovers, it’s the complete opposite case in Australia. The beginning of the year marks Oscar season, the time when all the big awards contenders that haven’t already been released are brought to the masses en masse. Since my recent cinematic compulsion began a few months after that season, I unfortunately missed more than a few of them. As my inevitable year-end lists would be conspicuously incomplete without mention of such films, I plan on using my new-found extra time to look back and see as many of these as possible before the New Year. As such, what better way to start than with one of the biggest critical darlings of that season? This is 12 Years A Slave.

Fury (2014) - Movie Review

In the words of one of my favourite actors: "War. War never changes." The same is true for movies about war; more times than not, they deal with the adverse effects going through war can have on the soldiers and how endless the fighting is. Not saying that these bad points to bring up, just that they can be extremely stale if not handled correctly because we’ve no doubt seen such points brought up before. Fury, I have to admit, handles things far better than the trailers would have you think.