Poor Things (2023) - Movie Review

Yorgos Lanthimos is a mad genius of filmmaking. Having managed to make a rather unexpected emergence into the mainstream off of The Favourite, which took his usually osmium-thick storytelling style and made it accessible to a larger audience, his latest feature is as much a departure from that as The Favourite was from The Killing Of A Sacred Deer. DP Robbie Ryan is still offering a peephole-view into a world that is wildly different from what we charitably consider to be ‘reality’, and writer Tony McNamara is still finding new and deliciously colourful ways to describe the most vulgar shit, but what Lanthimos has brought them together for this time around is something truly special.

The Adam Project (2022) - Movie Review

After the bizarre misfires that showed up in Free Guy, I’ll admit that I’m a bit apprehensive about seeing Shaun Levy and Ryan Reynolds teaming up again, especially so soon. But knowing that these two are also doing the next Deadpool movie after this, I’m also hoping that this serves as a better example of them working with each other’s sensibilities. I’m not expecting a masterpiece here; just something that will restore enough faith that Deadpool 3 has a chance of working, considering I can already see a creative choice for that film that has a high chance of screwing up. But we’ll get to that when that film comes around; for right now, we have this to take a look at.

Dark Waters (2020) - Movie Review

Hope you’re all ready to be horrified, sad, and fucking furious today, because we’ve got a whopper of a real-life dramatisation to talk about right here. Following in the footsteps of his righteous turn in the scathing exposé Spotlight, star and producer Mark Ruffalo is once again playing a man taking the fight to a large-scale conspiracy, one that starts out in a little pocket of rural Americana but then reveals its tendrils all over the world. However, rather than systemic cover-up of sexual abuse, this film deals in something that might outweigh even that in terms of genuinely hideous behaviour: A chemical manufacturer who wilfully contaminated a vast majority of American citizens, and by extension a hefty amount of the global population.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - Movie Review

I never thought I would get to this point but I think I’m starting to get burnt out on all these Marvel movies. I’ve mentioned before how much I love superhero and comic book inspired films, and I still stand by all of that, but as more time passes, I’m beginning to realize that my zeal to see these films in the cinema has severely diminished. Yeah, I’ve still seen all of the MCU to date, but I ended up getting to some of them like Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming far later than I would have expected. Whether it’s down to the sheer volume of releases per year, the fact that all of them are interconnected so that they all need to be seen to get the full experience, or just down to me discovering other sub-genres that interest me more, some part of my subconscious is hesitant to keep seeing these. Not that it should be; I mean, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is still an astounding work, Homecoming gave us the first real Spider-Man movie and even Doctor Strange has some of the greatest effects work I’ve ever seen full stop.

 

So, yeah, maybe it’s less that I’m losing my love for these films and more that they are starting to feel more like work. No change there then, honestly. Anyway, enough waffle; time to get into this latest MCU offering that seems to be taking the franchise in a different direction. A very weird direction.

Spotlight (2016) - Movie Review

Over the last year and a bit that I’ve had this blog, I’ve talked before about people that are quote-unquote "easy targets"; people involved in films that, for one reason or another, it has become perfectly acceptable to mock. Sure, I still have my stable running joke of Jai Courtney being attached to mostly horrible films, but for the most part I am willing to let this kind of mindset go. The reason for that should be made most obvious by today’s film: Director/co-writer Tom McCarthy’s last film was the previously reviewed The Cobbler, a production that some people are still trying to insist is Adam Sandler’s worst film; and the other co-writer Josh Singer’s last effort was the much-maligned The Fifth Estate. Of course, maybe it helps that the above films are usually attributed as being an Adam Sandler and Benedict Cumberbatch film respectfully, meaning that they get the brunt of the blame for them despite the definite reality of things. In any case, now that they have a genuine winner on their hands, it seems like the need for scorn has ended… that is, until the next one comes along and the process starts all over again. Anyway, tangent, I have an actual film to talk about here.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015) - Movie Review

With the current cinematic dictatorship Hollywood is under thanks to Marvel Studios, it’s easy to see the point of view of people who are getting sick of comic book movies considering not only the frequency of their output but also the insane amounts of preparation they put into their releases, ensuring said frequency for the next several years. However, given the rather lacklustre comic book fare that came before Iron Man curb-stomped its way into the public consciousness (Look at any list online for worst films ever made, and I guaran-damn-tee you that several of the entries will be older superhero films) as well as my own preference for the genre, I’m not sharing in that thought process. So, when the release date came out for the follow-up to Joss Whedon’s 2012 geekgasm The Avengers, I joined in and added to the already copious amount of fanboy drool in the ocean. But, considering how legendary the original has become in such a short amount of time, how does this hold up?

Foxcatcher (2015) - Movie Review

I have a certain fascination with actors who are able to transform themselves for a role. Be it through method, heavy make-up work or however else, it’s very interesting seeing what an actor is willing to do for their craft. One of my personal favourite examples of this are Christian Bale in The Machinist and Batman Begins, where he turned himself into a real-life Billy Halleck and emaciated himself for the former and then bulked up to play Batman in the latter. As much as I would hate to be that man’s stomach during all that, I have to give credit where it’s due for pulling that off. I bring this all up because, given the majority of posters I saw of this movie before going to see it myself, this film seems to be banking on the transformative role Steve Carell has in it. One look at the barely-recognisable Carell and I can’t say I blame them. But did it pay off?