‘Ballad of a Small Player,’ ‘The Home,’ ‘Det Andet Offer,’ and More | Bite-Sized Reviews

Top Row (L-R): ‘Ballad of a Small Player (Netflix);’ ‘The Home (Lionsgate /Roadside Attractions);’ ‘Det Andet Offer (SF Studios).’
Bottom Row (L-R): ‘Under Stjernerne På Himlen (SF Studios;’ ‘Opus (A24),’ ‘The Amateur (20th Century Studios).’

Every once in a while, I don’t quite have enough to say or the time to put it into enough words for me to write full, dedicated reviews for everything new that I see. So, from time to time, I will just post a short review on Letterboxd, and, as you may have noticed, sometimes these reviews find their way to this site in the form of bite-sized reviews in a compilation article. That is exactly what’s happening today.

In this article, I’ll give you my thoughts on two Danish films starring the same stand-up comedian turned actor, an action thriller that came and went without much fanfare, a mystery thriller that also came and went without making an imprint, a recent Netflix casino flick, and a retirement home-set horror film that may just be one of the worst films I’ve seen this year. Let’s get to it.

Continue reading “‘Ballad of a Small Player,’ ‘The Home,’ ‘Det Andet Offer,’ and More | Bite-Sized Reviews”

REVIEW: Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Woody Harrelson (right) plays a drunken American captain of a yacht that’s about to be bought by a wealthy Russian capitalist (played by Zlatko Burić) in Ruben Östlund’s TRIANGLE OF SADNESS — PHOTO: NEON / SF Studios..

Directed by Ruben Östlund (The Square) — Screenplay by Ruben Östlund.

Alongside the Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier (Oslo 31. August) and the Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (Druk), the Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund is one of the very best Scandinavian filmmakers working right now. Östlund has been working as a filmmaker for more than a decade, but I think it’s fair to say that it is with his 2014 effort, Force Majeure, that he had his true international breakthrough. Including his latest film, Östlund’s last three films have all received awards at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. With Triangle of Sadness, the Swede is now a two-time Palme d’Or winner (winning his first one for the utterly hilarious The Square from 2017). Having swapped the square out in favor of a triangle (the title refers to an area between your eyebrows and your nose bridge that can be ‘fixed’ with botox), Östlund has managed to keep his satirical writing equally sharp and at times outright hilarious. Triangle of Sadness is one of the best films of the year.

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