For this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I have highlighted five films that I saw in the past few months, these include a Danish action-crime sequel, a remake from a filmmaking master, a tribute to a big screen legend, a great animated comic book movie surprise, and, finally, an underseen courtroom drama with some really strong performances from Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones.
In the next couple of editions of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews (including this one), these review compilations will consist of my thoughts on certain films or shows that I saw in the last year that I, for some reason, never published full reviews for. Often, I see a bunch of stuff that I write notes for or about on Letterboxd, and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to post those review thoughts here, as I want to share them with you. For this post, I have specifically highlighted five horror-thrillers, including a modern comic book adaptation classic that I finally saw in the past few months.
Directed by Andres Beltran — Screenplay by Matt Pitts.
I know there is a belief among some that all critics enjoy endlessly spewing hatred toward films that they dislike. I think the truth isn’t that simple. I can say that disliking a film frustrates and/or disappoints me quite a bit. The reason why negative reviews from critics may often sound more hyperbolic, ‘colorful,’ or invested than reviews of, say, mediocre films is because actively disliking something is a powerful emotion, while most films don’t inspire the kind of passion that actively liking or disliking something does. When you dislike something, then you know immediately what bothers you about it, and it’s much easier to get it onto the page than with a frustrating but merely underwhelming flick. So, rest assured that I take no please in saying this, but… I think Andres Beltran’s Quicksand is one of the worst films of 2023.
Continue reading “Quicksand (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Andrew Haigh — Screenplay by Andrew Haigh.
Loosely based on Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel titled Strangers, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers follows Adam (played by Andrew Scott), a lonely screenwriter living in a high-rise London apartment building. One night, a drunk neighbor, Harry (played by Paul Mescal), knocks on his door hoping to have a good time with Adam that night. Though Adam refuses, Adam starts getting closer to Harry in the days to come. This is in part because he’s starting to work through some of his issues. Why now all of a sudden? Well, when, one day, Adam takes the train back to his hometown to look at the town he grew up in and around, he is approached by a man (played by Jamie Bell) who turns out to be his father. Adam’s parents died in an accident when he was just a young boy, and yet here is his father — at the exact same age that he was when he passed away. His father invites Adam back to his childhood home where he finds his mother (played by Claire Foy), who is also the same age that she was when she died. Overjoyed to reconnect, Adam and his parents gradually start to open up about things once left unsaid.
Continue reading “All of Us Strangers (2023) | REVIEW”
Last night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 96th edition of the Academy Awards on a night where awards prognosticators felt most of the big awards were already spoken for beforehand. However, conventional prognosticating wisdom did not always win out, as the presenters read out the winners of the Academy’s 23 categories. The early frontrunner and expected Best Picture winner Oppenheimer did, indeed, become the biggest winner of the night with seven total Oscars including wins that saw shatteringly good work from Robert Downey, Jr. and Cillian Murphy earn them their first ‘Little Golden Men.’ Hollywood’s safest bet and — as I liked to call him last night on social media — the ‘Crown Prince of Cinema,’ Christopher Nolan, had his grand coronation as Steven Spielberg passed the baton, awarded him with the Best Director award, and gave him a big hug. For many, that is what the night will be remembered for — i.e. the triumph of the immensely popular biopic and Christopher Nolan who, as some will undoubtedly perceive it, went toe-to-toe with Barbie and came out of the explosion that was ‘Barbenheimer’ with 7 golden statuettes in tow. Indeed, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a hugely deserving winner of all of the awards that the cast and crew went home with (including Best Picture, which was announced in a relatively confusing way by film-legend Al Pacino), but that’s not all the 96th edition of the Academy Awards should be remembered for.
Continue reading “Christopher Nolan’s Coronation Had Kenergy | 96th Oscars Recap and Review”
On March 1st or 2nd depending on your time zone, the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA / @IFSCritics on Twitter), of which I am a voting member, announced their full list of winners for their awards, which, in this case, celebrated the best in film for 2023. The most nominated films of the year were indeed the wonderful behemoth duo of Barbie and Oppenheimer, and, indeed, one of these films won the most awards here. However, there was another critical darling that took the top award. Below you can read the full list of winning films, performers, artists, and filmmakers.
Continue reading “IFSCA Awards 2023-2024 | Winners”
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.
Continue reading “The Zone of Interest (2023) | REVIEW”
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.
Continue reading “IFSCA Awards 2023-2024 | Nominations”
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.
Continue reading “20 Days in Mariupol (2023 – Documentary) | REVIEW”
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).
Continue reading “Anatomy of a Fall (2023) | REVIEW”
I'm Jeffrey Rex 