The Zone of Interest (2023) | REVIEW

Pool party at Rudolf Höss’ compound right next to Auschwitz in THE ZONE OF INTEREST — PHOTO: A24

Directed by Jonathan Glazer (Under the Skin) — Screenplay by Jonathan Glazer.

The other day, I overheard someone claim that she didn’t need to watch or read the news and that she shouldn’t be expected to. The memory of that remark came back to me after I saw The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s BAFTA-winning German-language World War Two historical drama about evil, complicity, wilful ignorance, what is happening just outside our borders, and the walls that we create and construct for ourselves as a means to hide from the meanness, ugliness, and cruelty of the world. Now, I definitely don’t mean to compare an ignorant remark from someone that I just overheard with a Nazi commandant and his family, who are the principal characters of The Zone of Interest, but that person’s insistence on not keeping themselves informed reminded me of just how many people make a choice not to engage with politics and world events even at a time of great injustice in the world (e.g. the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the Israel-Hamas war). The Zone of Interest is a film about Nazis going about their day with ease, talking about mass genocide as if it is statistics, and turning a blind eye to what is happening in the concentration camp next door. But it also holds a mirror up to the modern day to remind us to stay informed, as well as to stay vigilant and look out for the kind of evil that may be happening around us. It also is a disturbing and clear-eyed fly-on-the-wall-esque example of the complexities of historical perspectives that we are afraid to try to understand. The film highlights how evil seeps into the games children play when their world is surrounded by cruelty, and how easy it is for some people to commit monstrous acts thoughtlessly. It is an extraordinary film, but also one that will be testing for a lot of people — not because of its visuals but because of the images its soundscape conjures up in your head and for how untraditional Glazer’s approach is.

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IFSCA Awards 2023-2024 | Nominations

Cillian Murphy is outstanding as the titular theoretical physicist in Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

On February 21st, 2024, the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA / @IFSCritics on Twitter), of which I am a voting member, announced their full list of nominations for the ongoing 2023-2024 awards season. Like any other film critics association, their awards celebrate the best films of the past year. The ultimate winners will be announced on March 1st, 2024, which is in just a few days. Below you can read the full list of nominated films, performers, artists, and filmmakers.

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20 Days in Mariupol (2023 – Documentary) | REVIEW

Photographer Evgeniy Maloletka picks his way through the aftermath of a Russian attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022. From 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Directed by Mstyslav Chernov.

Ever since I first saw Mstyslav Chernov’s on-the-ground documentary 20 Days in Mariupol in early January, I have been unable to shake it. Sure, one might argue that the reason for that is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is still very much ongoing and is all over the news every single day. While it is true that I am already constantly thinking about the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, and I would be even if I hadn’t seen this documentary, the haunting images of Chernov’s film echo inside of my head whenever I think about the cost of life in Ukraine. Mstyslav Chernov’s documentary, which chronicles the twenty days that Chernov and his colleagues were on the ground covering the Russian invasion in the city of Mariupol, is the kind of film you don’t forget, but it is also the kind of film that you absolutely mustn’t look away from — it is vital that you watch this.

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Madame Web (2024) | REVIEW

(L-R) Sydney Sweeney, Dakota Johnson, and Isabela Merced on the poster for MADAME WEB — PHOTO: Sony Pictures.

Directed by S.J. Clarkson — Screenplay by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker, and S. J. Clarkson — Story by Kerem Sanga, Matt Sazama, and Burk Sharpless.

If Avengers: Endgame represented the absolute zenith of the 21st-century golden age of the Hollywood superhero movie craze — which was, in a sense, kickstarted in 2008 by Jon Favreau and Christopher Nolan — then I think it would be fair to say that this current moment could be the trend’s nadir. At the very least, this is undoubtedly one of its lowest points. Warner Bros.’s DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is sleeping with the fishes after the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, as Warner is preparing a clean reboot. The once always consistently good Marvel Studios — and their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) — is struggling in the post-Endgame era, as the existence of Disney+ has led them to wrongly focus on quantity over quality (though some hope exists that they may have learned the error of their ways in time to properly course correct). Meanwhile, Sony and their half-in/half-out relationship with Marvel Studios and their MCU have led to a series of Spider-Man-related spin-offs that are, at best, superfluous curiosities and, at worst, ill-conceived cash-grabs. Credit where credit is due, Sony did create some of the most beloved superhero films of the early 2000s under the direction of Sam Raimi, their animated Spider-Man films are universally beloved, and whenever they’ve teamed up with Marvel Studios on a Spider-Man film, it has led to a final product that fans and the vast majority of critics agree is quite good. But, for some reason, Sony has struggled to cross the finish line without having to limp across it each and every time it has come to their live-action Spider-Man spin-off films. This was already apparent with both of their Venom films (Fleischer’s Venom and Serkis’ Venom: Let There Be Carnage) and it was impossible to deny with Morbius. Unfortunately, S.J. Clarkson’s Madame Web doesn’t change that downward trajectory for live-action Spider-Man spin-offs. Madame Web feels disconnected and desperate.

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Anatomy of a Fall (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Samuel Theis, Sandra Hüller, and Milo Machado Grenier in ANATOMY OF A FALL — PHOTO: mk2 Films.

Directed by Justine Triet — Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.

When the nominations for the upcoming 96th Academy Awards were announced a lot of noise was made about the Best Director category seeing as Barbie’s Greta Gerwig was left out (though she was still nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay). As someone who was concerned that the director’s branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would nominate an all-male lineup for Best Director, I wasn’t as annoyed about Gerwig not getting in because I was busy being filled with relief over the fact that a female director did get in — it wasn’t another disappointing all-male line-up. That female nominee was Justine Triet, the French filmmaker behind 2023’s Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy of a Fall (original title: Anatomie d’une chute). Anatomy of a Fall got a total of five Oscar nominations and deservedly so. Here is a fascinating and gripping courtroom film with shockingly good acting from child actors, adult actors, and even a dog, who ended up winning the Palm Dog Award for best performance by a canine (yes, that’s a real thing — and this dog definitely deserves it).

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Robots (2023) | REVIEW

Shailene Woodley and Jack Whitehall as Elaine and Charles, plus their identical android doubles in Ant Hines and Casper Christensen’s ROBOTS. — PHOTO: NEON.

Directed by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen — Screenplay by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen.

Based on Robert Sheckley’s 1973 short story titled The Robot Who Looked Like Me, Ant Hines and Casper Christensen’s Robots is set in America in 2032 at a time when humanlike robots are used as servants and for labor work. The film follows Charles (played by Jack Whitehall), a womanizer, and Elaine (played by Shailene Woodley), a gold-digger, both of whom illegally make use of identical android doubles of themselves to make their lives easier so that the womanizer only has to sleep with women without having to date them (which his robot does), whereas the gold-digger can profit off the men while her robot sleeps with the men. However, when their respective robots meet, fall in love, and decide to run away together and frame their human counterparts for mass murder, Charles and Elaine must team up to clear things up and get their lives back.

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The Truth (2019) | REVIEW

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.

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The Marvels (2023) | REVIEW

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. 

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Possession (1981) | CLASSIC REVIEW

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.

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Grounded II: Making the Last of Us Part II (2024 – Documentary) | REVIEW

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.

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