Tag: Movie Review

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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The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) | REVIEW

Mario, Peach, and Toad in The Super Maro Bros. Movie — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

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.

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Alle For Fire (2022) | REVIEW

Anders W. Berthelsen and Mick Øgendahl in Rasmus Heide’s ALLE FOR FIRE — PHOTO: NORDISK FILM.

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.

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Saltburn (2023) | REVIEW

Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick with his back to the camera in Emerald Fennell’s SALTBURN — PHOTO: MGM and Amazon Studios.

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.

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Fast X (2023) | REVIEW

Jason Momoa in Louis Leterrier’s FAST X — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

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.

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The Family Plan (2023) | REVIEW

Mark Wahlberg and Iliana Norris in The Familly Plan, now streaming on Apple TV+.

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.

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Nattevagten – Dæmoner Går I Arv (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Emma (Fanny Leander Bornedal), Jens (Kim Bodnia), and Martin (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) stop by the forensic institute in Ole Bornedal’s NATTEVAGTEN – DÆMONER GÅR I ARV — PHOTO: Nordisk Film.

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.

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Nattevagten (1994) | RETRO REVIEW

Ulf Pilgaard and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in NATTEVAGTWN — PHOTO: Thura Film.

Directed by Ole Bornedal — Screenplay by Ole Bornedal.

In a couple of days, the long-awaited sequel to the Danish cult horror film Ole Bornedal’s Nattevagten will be released. The original film, which later resulted in the English-languaged remake (also directed by Ole Bornedal) Nightwatch starring Ewan McGregor, is one that I hadn’t seen in several years, so I was curious whether or not it would still hold up. Is the Danish cult genre film still as good as I remember it being? Well, yes and no.

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The Killer (2023) | REVIEW

Michael Fassbender’s unnamed murder-for-hire sitting and waiting for the opportunity to arise in David Fincher’s THE KILLER — PHOTO: NETFLIX.

Directed by David Fincher — Screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker.

No one does dark crime films quite like David Fincher. The world-class filmmaker who got his start as an assistant cameraman on The Return of the Jedi and as the director of several music videos (over the years he has won himself Grammy Awards for these efforts, as he has worked with artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, and others) before he eventually debuted with Alien 3, has made a lot of different kinds of films but some of his most popular efforts have been concerned with darkness, crime, and meticulousness, with films like Se7en (this film reunites him with Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker), The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Gone Girl. With The Killer, the filmmaker’s twelfth feature film and second Netflix feature in a row, he has taken a story that admittedly may sound quite generic and turned it into something that is uniquely Fincher and quite good. Here he proves that even though Gone Girl came out almost ten years ago, Fincher’s expertise in the handling of this kind of material is a light that never goes out.

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Quiz Lady (2023) | REVIEW

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in Jessica Yu’s Quiz Lady — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Jessica Yu — Screenplay by Jen D’Angelo.

Jessica Yu’s Quiz Lady follows Anne (played by Awkwafina), a young woman with social anxiety and an obsession with a certain game show named ‘Can’t Stop the Quiz.’ One day, she is informed that her mother has fled the home that she was in and left for Macau presumably to gamble and get out of her gambling debt in America. This information also reaches Anne’s older sister Jenny (played by Sandra Oh), who is a decidedly more outgoing party girl, and they reconnect for a few days. On one of those days, Jenny secretly records and uploads a video of Anne watching her favorite game show. It becomes an instant hit online as Anne knows every single answer to every single question.

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