Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen is an aspiring film and television critic from Denmark. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 2018, and he holds a Master of Arts degree in English Studies with a minor in Film and Media Studies. Harry Potter fans will want to know that he is a Ravenclaw. Star Wars fans will be interested in knowing that he loves Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Cineastes will want to know that his favorite film of the first decade of the 21st Century is Guillermo Del Toro's El Laberinto del Fauno.
Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche as mother and daughter in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s THE TRUTH — PHOTO: GAGA / LE PACTE.
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda — Screenplay by Hirokazu Kore-eda.
The first of his films not to be set in Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth follows Fabienne Dangeville (played by Catherine Deneuve), an extremely famous French actress, as she welcomes her daughter, Lumir (played by Juliette Binoche), her son-in-law, Hank (played by Ethan Hawke), and her grandddagther, Charlotte (played by Clémentine Grenier), into her home while she’s about to release her memoir and shoot a science-fiction film. Fabienne’s selective memory, the fabricated stories in her memoir, and a talented co-star inspire Lumir to confront her mother about their relationship, as well as their memory of a certain family friend.
Iman Vellani’s charming performance as ‘Kamala Khan’ is easily the best part of Nia DaCosta’s THE MARVELS. — PHOTO: Laura Radford / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman) — Screenplay by Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik.
Something feels off about retitling the sequel to a billion-dollar hit like Captain Marvel into ’The Marvels.’ While I get that part of the idea is that two characters in this film are both called ‘Marvel’ — Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel — had it been almost any other major character like, say, Iron Man who teamed up with someone of a similar name like, say, Ironheart, then it almost definitely would’ve stuck by the Iron Man title because of how popular his films are and because of how relatively unknown the secondary character is (even if, like with The Marvels, it were team-up film). After all, you’ll want to stick to the title of the character making you a lot of money. So, why has Marvel Studios abandoned its principal character in the title? Perhaps it’s because a toxic vocal minority of the fanbase had been review-bombing the first film and because said vocal minority has insisted on making the internet a tough place to be a fan of the character. Once upon a time, fandoms were largely regarded as good and uplifting groups of people, but now toxic vocal minorities have ruined it for everyone. Now, I’m not saying that not calling it Captain Marvel 2 is the main reason for this sequel wildly underperforming at the box office (there are a bunch of reasons such as genre fatigue, sexism, and unfortunate release timing as it falls in the middle of industry strikes), but ever since that title was announced I have been disappointed that they didn’t stick to the name of their principal character in the film. I desperately wanted them to underscore their support of the character and, especially, the actress portraying the character.
Isabelle Adjani as ‘Anna’ in the famous/infamous subway scene in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession.
Directed by Andrzej Żuławski — Screenplay by Andrzej Żuławski.
Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession is the kind of European horror feature whose reputation precedes it. A highly regarded Cannes award-winning film, Possession is a film that, before I finally watched it, had been on my watchlist for quite some time. I had seen stills and clips from it beforehand, all of which indicated to me that this was a special film whose impact was felt in several films that came after it. When I finally saw it, I was somewhat overwhelmed by it, and I mean that in a good way. Below you’ll see my initial reaction to the film, with which I do discuss elements of the film quite openly, so if you have yet to see it, then tread carefully.
Still from Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II, in which we see Ashley Johnson (the actress portraying Ellie in the games) — in full mo-cap gear — performing the extremely controversial scene that sparked outrage from a toxic vocal minority of the fanbase when presented out of context.
Directed by Ryan O’Donnell, Jason Bertrand, Cesar Quintero, and Matt Chandronait.
Normally, I’d agree that a behind-the-scenes documentary about a video game isn’t necessarily the most fascinating premise for a documentary. However, with The Last of Us: Part II (one of my favorite games ever made — and the sequel to my favorite game of all time), it is an entirely different story. The original game (i.e. Part I), which spawned an HBO adaptation last year (which I’ve reviewed every episode of, click here to have a look at those), is widely regarded as one of the best narrative games of the modern era, and, since its sequel is largely critically beloved, you might expect its releases to be all breezy and undramatic. In actuality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only was this video game about a global pandemic and zombie-esque outbreak released in the middle of an actual global pandemic in 2020, but the studio was also the victim of a massive leak of the game that detailed its most controversial and boundary-pushing twists leading to toxic online vocal minorities review-bombing it and harassing the people involved with it, despite the critical acclaim.
Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson in Alice & Jack.
Series Created by Victor Levin.
In the last weekend of January, the full season of Alice & Jack, a British series soon to be released later this February on Channel 4 in the UK and in March on PBS in the US, was released on Denmark’s DRTV (the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s online streaming service), which was a relatively big surprise to me. Created by Destination Wedding and 5 to 7 writer-director Victor Levin but directed by Hong Khaou and Juho Kuosmanen, the romance-drama series starring Domhnall Gleeson, Andrea Riseborough, Aisling Bea, Aimee Lou Wood, and Sunil Patel tells the story of two on-and-off lovers over the course of years as they struggle with relationships, parenthood, heartache, and poorly timed love. For six episodes, we follow them through their lives from 2007 all the way up to this current decade.
Recently, I rewatched Yorgos Lanthimos’ short film Nimic starring Matt Dillon, in which we follow as his character leaves his family to go to work, but then, on his way back, a strange woman stalks him and mimics his every move in an attempt to prove that she is actually his wife’s husband and the father of his children. What follows below are my two first reactions to the film, which were originally posted via my Letterboxd profile.
Emma Stone as ‘Bella Baxter’ on a cruise ship looking out to a dazzling view in Yorgos Lanthimos’ POOR THINGS — PHOTO: Searchlight Pictures.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos — Screenplay by Tony McNamara.
Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthims’ English-language films have all had a clear and obvious imprint of his on them. We have seen this in the absurdist genre-benders The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer — both remembered for the characters’ deadpan delivery and Lanthimos’ distinctive style, with the former being a comedy and the latter being something akin to a psychological thriller — but also in the much more accessible period chamber-piece and Oscar-triumph The Favourite. It would’ve been understandable for admirers of his to worry that by becoming more of a ‘name’ in Hollywood that might lead him to abandon his recurring themes or distinctive absurdist style to curry favor in Tinseltown. If you have been concerned about that then rest assured knowing that it is not the case. Rather, his latest feature-length effort Poor Things shows that the European auteur has steered back in the other direction by having his most ambitious English-language feature yet be just as potentially prickly, boundary-testing, strange, and borderline inaccessible for sheer brazenness as his first two English language features. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things is ambitious, humorous, naughty, and off-kilter in the way art films are sometimes perceived to be by the average moviegoing audience, and, from my perspective, it also happens to be Lanthimos’ best work to date. Poor Things will shock certain audiences, but, make no mistake, Lanthimos’ absurdist and bold female coming-of-age film is one of the very best films of the year. Poor Things gives Greta Gerwig’s Barbie a run for its money when it comes to crowning 2023’s best film about the female experience and male attitudes to female bodily autonomy, agency, and liberation.
(L-R) Jens Jørn Spottag and Leif Andrée in RIDDER LYKKE — PHOTO: Jalabert Productions
International Title: Knight of Fortune — Directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer — Screenplay by Lasse Lyskjær Noer.
Recently, the Academy Awards-shortlisted short film Ridder Lykke from Danish writer-director Lasse Lyskjær Noer was announced as one of the five nominated films in the competitive and coveted Live-Action Short Film category. In a field that included quite a few big-name efforts like Disney’s The Shepherd starring John Travolta and Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, it was quite the surprise that a tiny short film from Denmark made the cut while those other films did not. It’ll still have a steep hill to climb, if it is to ultimately win the Oscar, as it’ll be up against Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is, undoubtedly, the frontrunner in the category.
Tomorrow, AMPAS is announcing its list of nominees for the upcoming 96th Academy Awards. So, now is the time to fill in your final Oscars nominations predictions! Below you’ll see what I’m predicting along with a few comments here and there. The choices are ranked from either one to five or one to ten based on how confident I am that something is getting nominated with 1 being the most confident.
(L-R) Jason Statham in MEG 2: THE TRENCH (Warner Bros. Pictures), Halle Bailey in THE LITTLE MERMAID (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), and Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri in BOTTOMS (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures).
In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I have had a look at one of the very best and funniest movies of the past year, a live-action remake of an animated classic, and a, for some, much-anticipated summer movie sequel. All of these are 2023 flicks that you may or may not have missed. Click below to learn more about my thoughts on the specific films.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 