Tag: Film Review

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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Poor Things (2023) | REVIEW

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.

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‘Bottoms (2023),’ ‘The Little Mermaid (2023),’ and ‘The Meg 2 (2023),’ | Bite-Sized Reviews

(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.

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Babettes Gæstebud (1987) | CLASSIC REVIEW

Stéphane Audren in Babette’s Feast — PHOTO: Nordisk Film.

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.

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The Holdovers (2023) | REVIEW

Paul Giamatti’s Paul Hunham commanding his classroom in Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS — PHOTO: Focus Features.

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.

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Don’t Look Now (1973) | CLASSIC REVIEW

Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland in Nicolas Roeg’s DON’ LOOK NOW — PHOTO: Casey Productions / Eldorado Films / D.L.N. Ventures Partnership.

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.

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