Yes, Joe Russo’s Video Response was, indeed, Ill-considered and Irritating

In October, Francesca Scorsese, whose father is the legendary Oscar-winning American filmmaker Martin Scorsese, posted a fun video on the social media application TikTok in which Martin Scorsese jokingly and playfully directs the family dog named ‘Oscar’ through an ‘audition’ for ‘a role.’ Explaining jokes defeats the purpose of the joke, but, for the purpose of this article, I should stress that the joke has nothing to do with the dog’s name — rather what is so funny and charming about the video is, first, the reveal that he’s talking to a dog, and, later, the family dog’s responses (or lack thereof) to his direction. I, and many others in the online film community, enjoyed the video quite a bit. Then, sometime thereafter, frequent Marvel collaborator and Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo posted a video response to Instagram, in which he said that he, too, has a Schnauzer as a pet, and then he makes note of the Scorsese family dog’s name before announcing that it’s ‘cute,’ but his dog’s name is Box Office.

Continue reading “Yes, Joe Russo’s Video Response was, indeed, Ill-considered and Irritating” →

The Worst Person in the World (2021) | REVIEW

Renate Rensve’s ‘Julie’ waking up after a blur of a night thanks to having partaken in psychedelic mushrooms in Joachim Trier’s VERDENS VERSTE MENNESKE — PHOTO: SF STUDIOS / TriArt Films.

Directed by Joachim Trier — Screenplay by Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier.

At the end of last month, I turned thirty years old. In the build-up to that turning of a corner, I must admit that I was feeling some kind of quarter-life crisis. Turning thirty reminded me that I should probably rewatch (and finally review) Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World (Norwegian Title: Verdens Verste Menneske), for reasons that will be obvious to those who are familiar with it, but if you aren’t, then please read on and I’ll elaborate. In any case, The Worst Person In the World is the much-lauded third film in Joachim Trier’s acclaimed Oslo Trilogy, the first two films of which — Reprise and Oslo 31. August — I reviewed just last year. As I pressed play and rewatched the Danish-born Norwegian director’s Oscar-nominated hit, I’ll admit that it hit me harder than it had on my first viewing. It is yet another example of the kind of intelligent filmmaker that Trier is, and I suspect it will carve its own place as a true classic for how it speaks to the quarter-life crisis.

Continue reading “The Worst Person in the World (2021) | REVIEW” →

Asteroid City (2023) | REVIEW

Jason Schwartzman’s Augie Steenbeck leaning out of a window in Wes Anderson’s ASTEROID CITY — PHOTO: Focus Features / Universal Pictures International.

Directed by Wes Anderson — Screenplay by Wes Anderson — Story by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola.

Everyone who has ever seen one Wes Anderson film knows exactly what a Wes Anderson film looks like. His signature style has made him a lot of fans and admirers over the years, and it has also earned him some notable imitators. Nowadays, with the advent of AI, automatically generated images, and the like, a trend of recreating fake film trailers in the style of Wes Anderson has surfaced. You can now go online and find several videos hyping up fake Wes Anderson-style films with AI-generated images of well-known actors that don’t exactly look right (I even saw one for a fake American adaptation of the iconic Danish Olsen Gang films). With the emergence of such artificiality leading to so many conflicting emotions, might I suggest that you check out the real thing? Asteroid City, Wes Anderson’s eleventh feature-length film, is well worth seeking out. As a matter of fact, I think it might be one of his best. 

Continue reading “Asteroid City (2023) | REVIEW” →

Study finds that ‘Flickering Lights (2000)’ is the Most Popular Danish Film in Denmark

Top Left: Mads Mikkelsen in Flickering Lights (Scanbox; Rolf Konow). – Top Right: Poul Bundgaard, Ove Sprogøe, and Morten Grunwald in the Olsen Gang-films (Nordisk Film). – Bottom Left: Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round (Nordisk Film). – Bottom Right: Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares in the Department Q-films (Nordisk Film; Henrik Ohsten).

The Danish news agency Ritzau reports that Anders Thomas Jensen’s 2000s dark-comedy Flickering Lights (Danish title: Blinkende Lygter) was found to be Danes’ favorite Danish film ever made. The study was conducted by the data analytics firm YouGov for the Danish streaming service Nordisk Film+. A total of 1,529 Danes in the 18 to 79 age range participated in CAWI-interviews for the study, which has ultimately resulted in a top ten list that includes two film series (each counted as a single film). Interestingly, a total of nine films (including one of the film series) that were released have all come out in the last forty years, and, incredibly, a film released during the COVID-era placed second!

Continue reading “Study finds that ‘Flickering Lights (2000)’ is the Most Popular Danish Film in Denmark” →

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) | REVIEW

Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” in theaters now — Photo: Apple.

Directed by Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver; Raging Bull; After Hours; Silence) — Screenplay by Eric Roth (A Star is Born; Dune; Forrest Gump) and Martin Scorsese.

Recently, I’ve been especially interested in how films sometimes act as history lessons to those who watch them, as well as how this can both be a good and a bad thing. Ultimately, films can be made for a variety of purposes depending on which person involved with the project that you’re asking. With films, there is often a commercial goal or an interest in serving as a piece of entertainment, and these aims can sometimes lead to historical films blurring the lines between truth and fiction to such an extent that you do history a disservice. Other times artistic expression is of the utmost importance, and then, of course, there are, indeed, times when films primarily exist to inform and teach. Most of the time, though, the true purpose of a film is a mixture of all of these motivations. Sometimes the artistic expression combines with a purpose to inform and thus the output manages to stand as a reminder of how certain events have been swept under the rug through history by those in power. Because ultimately history books are as easy to manipulate as any other medium. In the case of Killers of the Flower Moon, we have a piece of historical filmmaking that takes an intense look at the moral rot of America in the 1920s and 1930s. It is a bold and epic film about greed, betrayal, complicity, and a disturbingly very real attempt at genocide. It is an American tragedy from a master storyteller who shows for all to see that he understands exactly what his role is in telling this story, as well as who should be telling it.

Continue reading “Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) | REVIEW” →

Pearl (2022) | REVIEW

Mia Goth in Ti West’s PEARL — PHOTO: A24.

Directed by Ti West (X) — Screenplay by Ti West.

In spite of its late release in my corner of the world, Pearl — a prequel to Ti West’s horror hit X — was initially released in the very same year as X was in the United States. Together they present us with a fascinating horror period piece exercise centered on the power of the craft of filmmaking, being and feeling seen, and the American Dream. Whereas X was set in the 1970s, Pearl takes place in 1918 and follows its titular character (played by Mia Goth), a young woman who lives with her German immigrant parents on a farm in Texas. This is, indeed, the same elderly woman that Mia Goth played while covered in make-up and prosthetics in X (one of her two roles in that film), and this film thus serves as an origin story for that character. In the film, we see how Pearl feels trapped and lonely partly due to the fact that her husband (played by Alistair Sewell) is fighting in World War One in Europe, while her strict mother (played by Tandi Wright) insists that she does chores on the farm. Meanwhile, Pearl becomes increasingly infatuated with entertainment and dancing, and she is desperate to one day get up on a stage and gain mass approval — which a theater projectionist (played by David Corenswet, who was recently chosen to be the next Superman) ensures her she is ‘pretty enough’ for.

Continue reading “Pearl (2022) | REVIEW” →

Flora and Son (2023) | REVIEW

Eve Hewson in “Flora and Son,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Directed by John Carney — Screenplay by John Carney.

Set in Dublin, Ireland, John Carney’s Flora and Son follows the titular characters — Flora (played by Eve Hewson) and her son Max (played by Orén Kinlan) — as the struggling mother makes an effort to grow closer to her son, who is on the wrong track and on the bad side of the law. Flora, who had her son when she was in her late teens, feels like life has passed her by. She doesn’t have a good relationship with her rebellious son or his father (played by Jack Reynor), and all she has to look forward to is going to a local nightclub to dance, drink, meet men, and start all over again. In an attempt to reach out to her son, she finds an old guitar in a waste container, has it restored, and presents it to her completely disinterested son. Flora decides to take part in online guitar lessons with Los Angeles-based Jeff (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), whom Flora is instantly smitten by. As the film goes forward, Flora and Max’s growing interest in music brings them closer together. 

Continue reading “Flora and Son (2023) | REVIEW” →

‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023),’ ‘Red, White, and Royal Blue (2023),’ ‘Haunted Mansion (2023),’ ‘Clerks III (2022),’ and ‘Mainstream (2020)’ | Bite-Sized Reviews

(L-R) Haunted Mansion (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures); Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer); Clerks III (Lionsgate); Mainstream (IFC Films); and Red, White, and Royal Blue (Amazon Prime Video).

In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I take a look at a handful of films that I checked out over the last couple of months. These films were interesting enough for me to have formulated notes about them that never materialized into extensive singular reviews — instead, here they are in bite-sized form. Are any of these worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.

Continue reading “‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023),’ ‘Red, White, and Royal Blue (2023),’ ‘Haunted Mansion (2023),’ ‘Clerks III (2022),’ and ‘Mainstream (2020)’ | Bite-Sized Reviews” →

The Exorcist: Believer (2023) | REVIEW

Ellen Burstyn in David Gordon Green’s THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

Directed by David Gordon Green (Halloween (2018); Halloween Kills; Halloween Ends) — Screenplay by Peter Sattler and David Gordon Green — Story by Scott Teems, Danny McBride, and David Gordon Green.

Based on the 1971 William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, William Friedkin’s 1973 film The Exorcist is often cited as one of the scariest films ever made. It is a brilliant film with unforgettable imagery, lines, and performances. Though what constitutes as being scary is ultimately subjective and can change over time, I think everyone with a working understanding of film history would agree that it is a culturally significant and iconic work of filmmaking that frightened audiences back then and, frankly, still does. Through sequels, attempts to recapture the immense power of The Exorcist largely failed. The original direct sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic is largely regarded as one of the worst films ever made, and attempts to make a prequel in the mid-to-early 2000s led to two versions of the same film, neither of which are remembered favorably. The one and only time it has worked — at least to some of us — to carry on with The Exorcist on the big screen was in 1990 when William Peter Blatty stepped behind the camera to craft a sequel with The Exorcist III, which features the always watchable George C. Scott in a lead role, as well as an unforgettable and effective jump-scare. Now, in 2023, studio heads have spent $400 million to distribute a sequel trilogy starting with this film, The Exorcist: Believer, from director David Gordon Green, who famously directed the recent Halloween sequel trilogy, which, like with this film, was also a Blumhouse-Universal collaboration. Now, while I wanted to like it, Green’s Halloween trilogy was a pretty significant disappointment to me. Similarly, I really wanted to like The Exorcist: Believer, but it, ultimately, doesn’t do enough to set it apart from other films like it. It’s a disappointingly inert start to the Exorcist sequel trilogy.

Continue reading “The Exorcist: Believer (2023) | REVIEW” →

Bastarden (2023) | REVIEW

Mads Mikkelsen as Ludvig Kahlen, an impoverished soldier who desires nobility, in BASTARDEN // THE PROMISED LAND — PHOTO: Henrik Ohsten / Zentropa / Nordisk Film.

Directed by Nikolaj Arcel — Screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel and Anders Thomas Jensen (Retfærdighedens Ryttere).

Titles can be tricky. Titles are obviously an essential part of marketing as they clue audiences in on what they can expect to see. A poster can be manipulated. A trailer can be manipulated. But more often than not titles mean something to the creatives who worked on the film. Then, of course, there are International titles. In the case of this Danish historical epic, its original title is Bastarden, which literally means ‘The Bastard,’ but it is known internationally as The Promised Land. Frankly, both titles feel accurate. Then, of course, there is the title of the source material, which is a Danish historical novel from Ida Jessen titled The Captain and Ann Babara (originally Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara in Danish). Internationally, distributors went with The Promised Land, which I honestly think is a bit of a mistake as it is such a generic title that has been used over and over again. Now, The Bastard isn’t exactly completely original. Still, it feels less conventional and speaks to its two principal opponents, a person born out of wedlock and his despicable antagonist. Regardless of which title you find it under, this Danish epic is one that I highly recommend, as it features strong performances, gorgeous photography, and a fair bit of violence which keeps this period piece from ever feeling stuffy. 

Continue reading “Bastarden (2023) | REVIEW” →