Bombshell (2020) - Movie Review

The latest predominantly-comedic director trying his hand at more politically-minded cinema, Meet The Parents and Austin Powers director Jay Roach has teamed up with The Big Short co-writer Charles Randolph to dramatize the sexual abuse allegations levelled against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, in particular those from newscasters Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson.

I’ll admit, after sitting through efforts like Money Monster and Vice, I’m kind of worried that this is gonna be another instance where I end up agreeing with the production on principle, but leave it thinking that the film assumes that that agreement is all it needs to engage, since it doesn’t do so in any other form. However, I am pleased to report that this is not the case. If anything, it shows Roach managing to outdo Chris McKay at his own game.

The Goldfinch (2019) - Movie Review

Films like this made me wish I read more books in my off-time. Not that I’m ashamed of my literary diet mainly consisting of comic books and articles written by my contemporaries, but in terms of literary adaptations, part of me thinks that I should incorporate reading the source material into my pre-viewing background routine. Admittedly, the reason why I don’t as a general rule is so I can more easily let a given film stand on its own merits, since the source material tends to be far superior than any adaptation of the work anyway. And yes, I’ve done the exact opposite for remakes and the like, but different medium, different rules, far as I’m concerned.

At any rate, in the case of this film, I started wondering about this because I genuinely don’t know how much of this film’s faults are to do with the adaptation or to do with the original book.

Destroyer (2019) - Movie Review

"(Famous actor) as you've never seen them before", goes the tacky marketing push for films like this. Not to say that this mode can’t be done well, as it has for Charlize Theron in Monster or Steve Carell in Foxcatcher or even Tilda Swinton in Suspiria. It’s just that there’s something slightly patronising about the idea that special make-up is a bigger selling point than the actor on their own merits. It’s especially weird in situations like this, as the transformative aspect of this film isn’t even as intensive as Monster or Foxcatcher.

There’s no point in this film where the audience simply forgets who they’re looking at; the make-up isn’t that good. But more to the point, the idea that this is Nicole Kidman turning a new leaf? After seeing her perform one of the greatest verbal emasculations in the history of cinema back with Secret In Their Eyes, this is the kind of shit I’ve been eagerly awaiting her to revisit. And thankfully, she doesn’t disappoint.

Aquaman (2018) - Movie Review

 

For several decades, Aquaman has been the laughing stock of DC’s core group of superheroes. Try as creatives like Paul Dini and Bruce Timm tried to rescue him from his ‘underwater Doctor Dolittle’ perception, his depiction in the Superfriends Show has remained his rather undignified persona in the popular consciousness. In a stable of characters that include Space Jesus, World’s Smartest Emo and Bondage Princess, Aquaman remained the one that was the hardest to take seriously. Of all the characters that have been itching for a big-budget blockbuster about them, the king of the oceans is the one who could benefit most from some cinematic re-examination. And with a story credit from Geoff Johns, a comic book writer who has seen tremendous success in reinventing large swathes of the DC universe, it looks like his chance to shine has finally arrived.

Boy Erased (2018) - Movie Review

Gay conversion therapy is a tough thing to write about. Partly because it is an extremely harrowing subject that doesn’t lend itself to easy composition, but mainly because I don’t want this review to devolve into me just ranting about the practice. At any rate, it’s something that continues to be administered in far too much of the Western world, and it serves as the main focus of the latest from Australian cinematic titan Joel Edgerton. Adapted from the memoir of Garrard Conley, which goes into the horrifying things that take place within ex-gay therapy centres, Edgerton finds himself in prime form, delivering a story that seriously needed to be told.

The Beguiled (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Amy (Oona Laurence), a student of a Virginian girls school during the American Civil War, comes across a wounded Union soldier in the woods surrounding the school. Amy brings the soldier, named Corporal McBurney (Colin Farrell), to the school where the headmistress Martha (Nicole Kidman) agrees to bring him in and get him better. However, with Confederate soldiers frequently marching outside their gates, and the girls at the school not being sure how much they can trust the Corporal, they may have to come to a difficult decision about what to do with him.

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017) - Movie Review

Mahan’s Media, at its core, is me spilling my post-film thoughts into writing. Sometimes, the film being discussed tries so little that thematic analysis is barely required, while other times, I go out of my way to bring up what I think is relevant to the conversation. The Human Centipede III led me to talking about the U.S. Constitution, Hotel Transylvania 2 got me thinking about the modern attitude to the classic Universal monsters, and Aaaaaaah! gave me an excuse to polish off my high school drama education; basically, I write about whatever I want to write about at that given moment.

 

However, while I do pride myself on being able to discuss media at this level, I will always admit that I am hardly a seasoned expert on any of this. Any grand statements I have made in the past concerning the human condition are mostly personal observations and whatever unifying theories I’ve expressed to explain certain films could very well be 100% incorrect. Every word I’ve ever written here and elsewhere is done with the possibility that I could be talking completely out of my arse on the subject; all I care about is being able to explain the reasons why I hold those opinions, not necessarily whether they are “correct”. I just say what I believe to be true, and if I’m wrong, so be it; I learn from it and move forward.

 

I bring all this up because, every time I get to a film of this nature, I get self-conscious that maybe I’m just too stupid to get it. I’m willing to bet that this is a common reaction to today’s subject, but I’ve never let that stop me before. Hope you’re ready to get both confused and depressed.

Lion (2017) - Movie Review

If your average community theatre productions have told us anything, it’s that dramatic acting isn’t nearly as easy as it appears on the surface. Sure, we end up doing quite a bit of pretending in real life for various reasons, but doing so for a purpose that isn’t trying to alleviate real-life social situations can prove rather difficult. In the realms of the acting craft, I believe no singular gambit better emphasises the difficulties within that craft than the prospect of accents. Much like acting as a whole, feigning an accent that isn’t your own seems easy enough but, as someone who has had to hear mocking Aussie “G’Day, mate!” imitations, I know more than I should that accents are difficult to make believable. Making a joke out of how people talk is one thing, but making them believe that that is actually how you speak is something else entirely.

Why do I bring this up? Well, of all the reasons I have so far shown for being excited for certain releases, from the people attached to them to the subject matter to one or two convincing trailers attached to them, this might be the first time that efficacy with accents has been my defining reason for wanting to see a film. Let’s find our way into this thing and I’ll explain why.

Secret In Their Eyes (2015) - Movie Review

  

The big contributor to how and why a lot of actors get typecast into certain roles is that, for better or for worse, said actors work really damn well in those particular roles. Martin Freeman will always be seen as the English everyman who gets thrown into extraordinary circumstances because he has built a healthy pedigree on those roles thanks to The Office and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, among others; Patrick Stewart is the elderly mentor figure for a rag-tag team in a sci-fi setting that is meant to save worlds on numerous occasions; Jai Courtney can’t be anything more than a red flag that the film you’re about to sit through isn’t going to work, etc. That last one may seem unfair, and yeah I have made fun of him a lot more than I probably should, but the fact remains that even real-life events can affect how a person can become typecast. And no, I don’t just mean John McEnroe being irate in every TV and film appearance he’s had. I’m talking more about how Julia Roberts has developed a reputation for more than a little egotistical and kind of crazed, and then the trailer for today’s film shows her as a psychotic breakdown waiting to happen. Sometimes, casting perfectly aligns on certain productions. This is Secrets In Their Eyes.

Paddington (2014) - Movie Review

When one of the most prominent trailers for your film contains your main character licking earwax from a toothbrush, we can be forgiven for assuming the worst. Add to that that we’re dealing with a film aimed primarily at kids and we’re dealing with a high probability of running from the theatre wanting to burn everything. I have never read any of the original books, and only have marginal knowledge about the character itself; this means that I only had the very disheartening trailer to go on. This is the kind of recipe that results in clouds of thick black smoke, melted lab equipment and possibly the need for several HAZMAT suits. What does this cook up in practice? Let’s dig in and find out: This is Paddington.

Before I Go To Sleep (2014) - Movie Review

The plot: Christine (Nicole Kidman), after suffering a terrible accident 10 years earlier, keeps losing her day’s worth of memories every time she goes to sleep, and can’t remember anything past her early 20’s. However, she soon discovers that it wasn’t a simple accident but that she had been attacked.  With the help of her husband Ben (Colin Firth) and her neurologist Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong), she sets out to find her assailant.