Napoleon (2023) - Movie Review

Much like with Killers Of The Flower Moon, we’ll be looking at another instance of an auteur digging into Apple’s deep pockets to realise their historical epic. Even ignoring the lengthy discrepancies concerning initial box office impact and overall cultural impact, I can only see the notion of a great filmmaker creating great art while also putting a dent into a company that, quite frankly, is rich enough already, as a net positive. Although, I’ll admit that in the case of this film, said positive isn’t quite as strong as Scorsese’s.

Beau Is Afraid (2023) - Movie Review

The more time I spend contemplating the work of writer/director Ari Aster, the more frustrated I get with him. His feature debut Hereditary is a special film to me for a number of reasons. On first viewing, while I was impressed with the film craft and atmosphere, that ending really threw me for a loop. Then I clung onto Nyx Fears’ compelling and thought-provoking take of it as a trans allegory, which not only says something about how convoluted the lore surrounding King Paimon wound up being that that was the more logical explanation, but it’s one of the bigger instances of my flirtings with edgelord optimism; the approach of finding positivity in the midst of emphatically fucked-up ideas and scenarios, in this case being an empathetic view of society’s lack of empathy towards trans people. Or, at least, when viewed through that lens.

All of that makes for one of the more complicated connections I’ve made with a film I’ve reviewed on here, and possibly ever seen beyond that, and those two ideas (fatalistic family tragedy about how we’re doomed to choices beyond our control, or Lynchian psychological portrait of a mother’s rejection of her trans son) are still butting heads in my brain at the time of writing this.

And to think, Hereditary has basically become a running joke among my family, since I really got into the trans interpretation of it and… well, let’s just say that my attempts to convince my parents of the same was less than successful.

My take on Aster’s follow-up, Midsommar, though? Much simpler. It’s a dark break-up movie dressed as a slasher dressed as a Pagan acid trip, and it’s the film that finally got Florence Pugh on my radar as an actor worth looking out for.

Anyway, between those two, I went into Aster’s latest with some trepidation based on past experiences, but still hoping for something good. I mean, after Aster was rather insistent on Hereditary’s story being literal, seeing him go for something properly David Lynch/Charlie Kaufman is at least an interesting direction to take, as is the decision to lean more into his pitch-black sense of humour. However, what ultimately resulted from this is a film that did not work for me.

Joker (2019) - Movie Review

Well… here we go. What is most likely to be the most contentious theatrical release of 2019. A film that has audiences and critics so divided that the range goes from “this film is great” to “this film will inspire mass murderers”. Not much wriggle room in there, no matter what my opinion on this is. And yeah, while I’m somewhat mandated to get into the controversy surrounding this production, that’s only half the story. The other half is the film itself, and quite frankly, this is one worth talking about one way or another because, holy shit, this is a genuinely great film.

Mary Magdalene (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: In 1st century C.E., Jewish woman Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara) is stuck in a society that treats her existence as inherently lesser than the closest man, not to mention the oppression of her people by the Roman Empire. However, she soon connects with the prophet Jesus (Joaquin Phoenix), who along with his Apostles seem fit to change all that. As they travel the cities, spreading their gospel of forgiveness, it seems that salvation will come in a form that none of them could have ever predicted.

Irrational Man (2015) - Movie Review

Given the recent news of two other celebrities whom have become embroiled in sex scandals, talking about Woody Allen is going to prove… problematic, to say the least. What makes this even more awkward is the fact that, unlike the events surrounding Rolf Harris and Bill Cosby of late, it seems that people have forgiven(?) Allen for his actions; or, to be more accurate, developed a capacity to ignore them. Now, I’m a firm believer that a disconnection between the artist and his art is possible and, at times, necessary: Grave Of The Fireflies is an immensely powerful film, but it’s hurt when it’s brought into context of Isao’s intent for the film. I am not condoning Allen’s behaviour by any means; I’m just saying that how he is as a person shouldn’t immediately paint all opinions concerning his art, some of which is still beloved to this day. Hell, if that were the case then no-one would ever listen to another Phil Spector-produced song again. Okay, now that all of that is out of the way, let’s actually get into the film itself so that I can practice what I preach for once about separation of art and artist.