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The Banshees of Inisheran. Colin Farrell was fucking amazing, god. This movie would have traumatized me if I watched it when I was younger 🤣. Mcdonagh obviously directs actors so well. There were a couple choices I was iffy about but overall a very satisfying film.
The Menu. This was so fun to watch in theaters on a saturday night. The craft and the social commentary could’ve been better though. Separately, the dialogue was edited so they often ran into each other so it was hard to understand some of them. Theater screenings should have subtitles.
The Quiet Girl. It was so good. Simple yet touche.
“The Menu” (2022): Really enjoyed this, and I’m glad I made the decision to go into it unspoiled. I think I had the impression that the film would be some kind of send-up to “The Most Dangerous Game,” which I think has been done enough as a concept at this point. I did know that Mark Mylod directed, who I know as a mainstay television director of “Game of Thrones,” “Succession,” and others. He kept the high tension palpable throughout, and I believe this would have been incredible to watch in a movie theater with an engaged audience. Ralph Fiennes was absolutely superb! So controlled and menacing, yet somehow unexpectedly vulnerable in key moments. Chef Slowik just flipped my wig, point blank. Fiennes would make an inspired, out-of-the-box Oscar nominee in lead actor this year. Anya Taylor-Joy was equally great here as Margot, as both an audience surrogate and heroine. She matched Fiennes’s intensity head-on, and I also loved her scenes opposite a pitch-perfect sleazeball Nicholas Hoult. More of Margot’s backstory would have been nice, and some of the screenplay’s razor-sharp twists were wonky in execution. I’m not too familiar with Hong Chau’s work, but Elsa, wow. I think I could have watched an entire film centered around her character, like how in the world she would find herself in Chef’s orbit in the first place and what it’s meant to be his right-hand for so long. Nice supporting cast with Reed Birney, Judith Light, John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, Rob Yang, etc. Truly energized by this one, despite its faults, mainly b/c of the wildness of the premise, Ralph Fiennes’s alarming performance, and ATJ’s striking screen presence. See this film immediately if you haven’t done so!
Tar.
I rewatched Black Swan after a long time. What motivated me to write this review was the last scene. It’s comical how Aronofsky stumbles upon some brilliant moments that he doesn’t know how to recognize. In the last scene Natalie Portman did a pitch perfect delivery of the line “I felt it… perfect”, that was it! Let the score soar to a crescendo, the camera focus on Portman’s face for a few seconds as the character dies and cut to the credits at the climax of the score. Simple, it would be a great ending. Instead, the character repeats “I was perfect. It was perfect” once more, so that the audience understands the theme of perfectionism and self-destruction to create a moment of art. Then it cuts to the stage lights and the film fades into white as the character dies. I understand the intent, she was the white swan and blah blah blah but the shot of the lights is ugly and the repetition of the line is so cheesy and worst of all it’s extremely anticlimactic.
I didn’t care much for the film other than the central performance when I first saw it about ten years ago, today I can see more things that deserve applause, the cinematography looks extremely modern (surprisingly), all the supporting actors deliver very well in the their characters, the sound mixing is done very elegantly.
The film has a lot of potential but it never gets there, at that point of cohesion where the sum of its parts makes a great film. I blame it largely on Aronofsky himself, lacks self-awareness and intelligence in his writing, lacks nuances in his themes, lacks a better thought out way to reveal the story, now as a director he lacks integrating visual metaphors with the script (mainly the use of mirrors/reflections that are used very loosely as a cinematographic resource), he lacks the ability to create a choreography between all the moving parts of the film.“Triangle of Sadness” – watched it 3 days before Oscar nom announcements. Funny & entertaining from start to end. Unexpected twists & turns. Dolly de Leon was brilliant. Added it to my Best Picture predictions. It’s also one of my Top 10 films of last year.
Skinamarink ; Kyle Edward Ball
Divisive horror film made with pocket change, filmed in my old home town.
B+The Sunne in Splendour.
I prefer my roses whiteBabylon: I enjoyed it. It’s not half as bad as people here claimed it was
Gaga is slaying in Folie à Deux
Trapped at home due to ice, I’ve been enjoying Foreign Language films that received Oscar recognition (nominee or winner).
Amarcard – Eclectic and fun – loved this Fellini film from Italy. Winner of the 1974 Foreign Language Oscar.
Fanny & Alexander – I can see why Ingmar Bergman’s film won both Foreign Language and Cinematography Oscar’s in 1983. Beautifully filmed and wonderful story about a theatrical family’s ups and downs. Alexander was so strongly written.
Au Revoir Les Enfants – This story of a Catholic school hiding three Jewish students during the Nazi occupation of France was my favorite of the ones I watched. It tugged at the heart, especially the ending. I was disappointed at first to see it was only nominated for Best Foreign Language film until I saw that it lost to Babette’s Feast (one of my all time favorite international movies).
Europa, Europa – It received one Oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay – surprised it didn’t get a Foreign Language nod. A poignant film about a Jewish boy who passes as an German Aryan to stay alive. Marco Hofscheider was terrific as Solomon and would have been a worthy Best Actor nod replacing Warren Beatty in Bugsy. Just sayin…
Up next are The Official Story and Tin Drum.
Life is a thin thread.
We hang on tightly knowing
it will snap one day.“Men” (2022): Bizarre ride, and I’m not entirely sure what the overriding message behind the film was beyond, “Men are baddd,” which duh. Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina” was brilliant science fiction at its finest, so I hope he can reach or exceed those heights again. This wasn’t it, but there was beautiful cinematography from Rob Hardy, an unsettling score, and a fine lead performance by Jessie Buckley. I’m convinced that she’s winning an Oscar one of these days. Not for “Women Talking,” unfortunately lol, but eventually. Just a gut feeling that when she lands on the right role, she’s gonna steamroll. Rory Kinnear played all of the male characters in the film, which gets points for execution and inventiveness. Paapa Essiedu had a small, yet pivotal role. I’m hoping for the best with his career post-“I May Destroy You,” b/c he more than deserves it. The screenplay felt too on-the-nose at times, like when Harper bit from the plucked apple tree in a forbidden countryside Eden following a tragedy, which made my eyes roll. Startling imagery soon followed that I won’t soon forget, and one of the most wackadoo endings ever. I’m liking this film the more I type about it, TBH, so all wasn’t lost, I guess. Brace yourselves regardless.
Triangle of Sadness
The Woman King
2023 Oscar
Best Picture: Holy Spider
Best Director: Decision to Leave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser
Best Supporting Actress: Olivia de Leon
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy QuanAftersun. The second half was just mesmerising.
Aftersun – I thought it was slow but was blown away by the directing I thought about this movie a lot after it ended Don’t get the Mascal hype though.
Triangle of Sadness – liked it a lot Middle is tough to watch but it’s original and dark and keeps you guessing The storm was filmed fantastically.
The Fabelmans – loved it Thought they did a great job incorporating filmmaking into the actual film, with one key scene happening literally on hard film in front of us I’m in the minority but I loved Williams here.
Till – loved it Deadwyler was robbed of a completely deserved nomination It’s shameful that Top Gun got a BP nom over this beautiful and important film.
Inconvenient Indian, Michelle Latimer
Scathing.
AThe Sunne in Splendour.
I prefer my roses white
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