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.
Directed by Gabriel Axel — Screenplay by Gabriel Axel.
Based on the story of the same name from Danish author Karen Blixen (sometimes referred to as Isak Dinesen, which is her pen name), Gabriel Axel’s Babettes Gæstebud (international title: Babette’s Fest) follows Martine (played by Birgitte Federspiel) and Filippa (played by Bodil Kjer), two elderly and deeply religious sisters who take care of the religious community in which they live in a small village on the western coast of Jutland in Denmark. The community hasn’t been the same since the sisters’ father — a respected preacher — passed, the sisters haven’t been able to live out their romantic hopes and dreams because of him, and whenever the townspeople get together, it becomes clear that they are dissatisfied with their predicament. Eventually, a French housekeeper, Babette (played by Stéphane Audren), stops by the sisters’ house and begs to be able to stay with them. The sisters can’t pay her, but they allow her to stay with them and work alongside them. When Babette, one day, finds out that she has won the lottery, she decides that she ought to give back and let the community experience a true and lavish French dinner.
Continue reading “Babettes Gæstebud (1987) | CLASSIC REVIEW”
Directed by Alexander Payne — Screenplay by David Hemingson.
At least up until now, American filmmaker Alexander Payne reached his current awards-wise zenith with his 2004 effort Sideways (also starring Paul Giamatti), which earned Payne an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe award. His positive trend continued with his 2011 and 2013 efforts The Descendants and Nebraska with both being critically acclaimed and the former earning him his second Oscar. That is, however, when he reached his creative nadir as a director with 2017’s Downsizing (starring Matt Damon), which contained an inventive premise about shrinking yourself as a means to combat problems related to overpopulation and global warming. Downsizing was, at best, a mixed bag, and, at worst, a disastrous mess. Despite its strong cast and a fantastic premise, Payne was unable to pull it all together for arguably his most ambitious flick. It makes me happy to be able to report that the latest film in his oeuvre, The Holdovers, is an incredibly charming return to form for the filmmaker in large part thanks to David Hemingson’s sharp writing and the loving performances of three principal cast members.
Continue reading “The Holdovers (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Nicolas Roeg — Screenplay by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant.
Whenever you watch a film two times in a row, you know it has its hooks in you. Don’t Look Now — Nicolas Roeg’s iconic, impressionistic, and occasionally scary psychological thriller based on a Daphne du Maurier short story of the same name — follows John and Laura Baxter (played by Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie respectively) not long after they have recently lost their daughter to an accident by their country home in England. They now find themselves in Venice, Italy, where John has been hired to help restore an ancient church. In the meantime, Laura befriends two elderly sisters, one of whom, Heather (played by Hilary Mason), claims to be clairvoyant and able to see their deceased daughter sitting between them in a restaurant. John, however, is skeptical of clairvoyance, and yet, from time to time in Venice, he sees a small figure wearing a similar red raincoat to that his daughter wore on the day that she died.
Continue reading “Don’t Look Now (1973) | CLASSIC REVIEW”
Directed by Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, and Pierre Leduc — Screenplay by Matthew Fogel.
In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, brothers and New York City plumbers, Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day), accidentally travel through an underground pipe that takes them to another world, but on their way there, they are separated with Luigi being sent to the Dark Lands where he is soon imprisoned by the evil Bowser (voiced by Jack Black), while Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom. While trying to reunite with his brother, Mario meets Toad (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) and Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy), and they go out on an adventure together. At the same time, Bowser prepares his proposal to Princess Peach, and he is not ready to take no for an answer.
Continue reading “The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) | REVIEW”
International title: All For Four — Directed by Rasmus Heide — Screenplay by Rasmus Heide and Mick Øgendahl.
In Denmark, comedies built around a group of relative stars or established comedians are extremely popular with audiences, and one of the recent successes of these has been the Alle For (meaning ‘All for’ with the first film being All For One, the second All For Two, and so on and so forth) film series. As these comedies are about small-time criminals and their attempts to make it big, there is an obvious comparison and that is Erik Balling’s Olsen Gang film series (original title: Olsen Banden), which is a beloved and iconic Danish crime comedy film series that spawned remakes in both Norway and Sweden, as well as several spin-offs. The Olsen Gang films are some of the most popular Danish films ever, and, even though the first film was released in the 1960s, most Danish millennials even know the franchise’s formula and their iconic lines by heart. The films are laugh-out-loud funny, well-made, and always supremely well-acted by the original cast. It is clear for all to see that the filmmakers behind the Alle For films desperately want them to be this generation’s Olsen Gang, but while the Alle For films are, admittedly, extremely popular with audiences, they are constantly negatively reviewed by critics, from film to film significant members of the original cast want less and less to do with it, and neither the comedy nor the heart ever comes close to touching what Erik Balling’s films were. Alle For Fire is the latest film in the series, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t come anywhere close to improving on what came before it in the series of films.
Continue reading “Alle For Fire (2022) | REVIEW”
Directed by Emerald Fennell — Screenplay by Emerald Fennell.
There are shades of dark comedy, satire, and horror in Emerald Fennell’s gothic erotic thriller Saltburn. The film is set in 2006 and follows Oxford University student Oliver Quick (played by Barry Keoghan), as he struggles to make friends and fit in among several snobbish borderline celebrities on campus. One day, he befriends Felix Catton (played by Jacob Elordi) when he offers to lend him his bicycle and walk back Felix’s bike with a flat tire. The immensely popular, posh, and privileged Felix proves to be more pleasant than you might expect, and he takes a liking to the nerdy, needy, and neglected ‘Ollie’ who is very polite and whose stories about being from a less fortunate and troubled family intrigue Felix. Ollie, meanwhile, seemingly lusts for both Felix and his status. Eventually, Felix invites Ollie back home to the Catton family castle — known as ‘Saltburn’ — for the summer, so that Ollie can get his mind off tragic news from back home. Once there, he becomes an object of fascination for Felix’s rich family, who, among other things, seem to be taking some pleasure from hearing about the struggles of the less fortunate, until, at some point, they find them boring. This is the case with their ‘hanger-on’ Pamela (played by Carey Mulligan). When he realizes that one day the family may lose interest in him too, Ollie sets out to make himself very popular in the family country house by any means necessary.
Continue reading “Saltburn (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Louis Leterrier — Screenplay by Dan Mazeau and Justin Lin — Story by Dan Mazeau, Justin Lin, and Zach Dean.
Louis Leterrier’s Fast X follows Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) and his team — which consists of family, friends, and former villains (all of whom Dom considers to be ‘family,’ of course) — as they are put in danger when an unknown crazy enemy from their past named Dante Reyes (played by Jason Momoa) seeks vengeance.
Continue reading “Fast X (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Simon Cellan Jones — Screenplay by David Coggeshall.
Simon Cellan Jones’ The Family Plan follows Dan Morgan (played by Mark Wahlberg), a car salesman who lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife Jessica (played by Michelle Monaghan), as well as his children Nina (played by Zoe Colletti), Kyle (played by Van Crosby), and Max (played by Iliana Norris and Vienna Norris). They seem like a normal family, but, in reality (and unbeknownst to his family), Dan isn’t the patriarch of the family’s real name and he is actually hiding from his associates from his past life as a hired assassin. When, one day, a picture of him is posted to the internet, he and his family are targeted. In an attempt to keep his family safe, he makes up an impromptu family vacation and has to keep hitmen off their backs on-the-go. Dan has to work up the courage to tell his family the truth, and, while they are on their road trip, he sees new sides of his beloved family.
Continue reading “The Family Plan (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Ole Bornedal — Screenplay by Ole Bornedal.
The long-awaited sequel to the once locally groundbreaking Danish horror hit Nattevagten (international title: Nightwatch — though not to be confused with the American remake of the same name also directed by Ole Bornedal) starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau — long before he became a part of a global sensation with Game of Thrones — is finally here. Back then Ole Bornedal shook audiences with a fresh horror film that showed the local film industry that, of course, strong Danish filmmakers have it within themselves to make competent horror films, even though the Danish film industry only rarely shows that it is capable of such things. Even today effective Danish horror films are few and far between. So, has Ole Bornedal caught lightning in a bottle yet again with his horror sequel? Well, to a certain extent. While Nattevagten: Dæmoner Går i Arv (international title: Nightwatch – Demons Are Forever) admittedly does suffer from familiarity, it is still a fairly entertaining sequel about the next generation trying to clear up their parents’ mistakes.
Continue reading “Nattevagten – Dæmoner Går I Arv (2023) | REVIEW”
I'm Jeffrey Rex 