Emma Stone is iconic in this: bizarre costumes, spastic dancing, robotic walking, and especially dialogue. I love it when language is written in an off-kilter but still understandable way (see George Saunders, Milkman), and Stone’s delivery of her lines is delightful, especially when speaking bluntly about sexual matters. Which, by the way, maybe there are too many sex scenes… I don’t mean that in a prudish way, just that it gets a bit repetitive after a while.
Is this a trilogy or are they making more of these?
I didn’t expect to like these much, as their reputation is not great, but I had a good time. I’ve not read much Agatha Christie, but she’s legendary for a reason. I think the source material is strong enough to save these movies from their filmmaking flaws.
People seem to dunk on Death on the Nile in particular, but it was actually my favourite. The character relationships have real emotional weight, especially because one of the victims is personally connected to Poirot.
Murder on the Orient Express, on the other hand, has too many characters to connect together. It probably works way better in book form. But what a stacked cast!
A Haunting in Venice is effectively creepy. It seems that Brannagh was trying to be creative with all the wide-angle lenses and weird camera angles. I say, go for it, Kenny! It worked for Thor, remember that?
On the one hand, there’s a surprising amount of emotional and political depth here, to make the monster action scenes more impactful. The film doesn’t shy away from criticizing the idea of honourable sacrifice, which as I understand it, is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, and gives us things like sepukku and kamikaze.
On the other hand, my enjoyment was dampened a bit by the acting style, which leans towards the melodramatic. There’s also a toddler who, when she cries, seems to have been dubbed over with the sound of an infant crying.
I got some disappointing personal news just before Christmas which, paired with the free time that the holidays bring, meant that I was looking for some cinematic comfort food to pass the days. The MCU has been pretty weak since the end of “Phase 3”1, and I had not revisited these last two Avengers entries since Endgame came out in 2019.
I was just as impressed as I was when I first saw them: it’s like watching the finale of a long-running TV series. Endgame especially rewards the loyal viewer with bittersweet character moments.
File these away to revisit again every few years…
More specifically, since they tried to diversify into streaming TV series, which in hindsight really had a diluting effect on the quality of the stories. ↩
Biopics work best for me when I know nothing about their subject. Such was the case for The Iron Claw, which tells the story of the Von Erich family of pro wrestlers. The film is well-directed and well-acted, and I was sucked into wanting to know what happens next. The amount of tragedy that the family endured is almost unbelievable. However, I have to say that it left little emotional impact on me. I should have been bawling throughout the film, but I wasn’t.
I hold The Social Network in high esteem as one of my favourite movies, and so it’s high praise when I say that BlackBerry belongs in the same conversation.
I remember when “The Facebook Movie” came out, it was criticized for its factual inaccuracy, especially because it depicts such recent events. BlackBerry, I suppose, will be immune to this criticism because there’s no mistake that the characters are exaggerated caricactures. The movie is way funnier than I expected it to be.
Also enjoyable are the local references, e.g. Ontario license plates, Shoppers Drug Mart, Tim Horton’s. There’s even a quick shot of someone paying with a 20 CAD bill with the old design that I haven’t seen in real life for years.
I enjoyed watching this Norwegian drama, and was moved to see how a romantic relationship can evolve and still have meaning even after it ends. One standout scene is when the main character Julie crashes a party and meets Eivind, and the two flirt in escalating ways while making sure that they don’t cross the line into cheating on their respective partners.
In hindsight though, I found Julie to be empty as a character (through no fault of Renate Reinsve’s charismatic performance). I get that she’s meant to be indecisive, and doesn’t know what she wants, but that idea could have been explored. She only doesn’t know what she wants given the limited set of choices that modern society presents her; but I believe that everybody wants something… it’s the spaces between the choices that make a person. Case in point, the Aksel character—who seems to be a surrogate for the writer/director, since he’s all about making art—gets plenty of introspective moments. Why not give these moments to the main character?
For the first half of this movie, I couldn’t help comparing it to Carol. They share the dynamic of a young, shy woman being attracted to an older, more glamourous and confident woman. But for me, Eileen felt like a lesser version; its dialogue is somewhat shallow and obvious, lacking in mystery.
It turns out that the film is more of a thriller than it sets itself up as. I won’t spoil it, but it goes to an intense and uncomfortable place. While it succeeds in setting the movie apart, I didn’t feel like there was much depth to the story overall.
A non-narrative documentary in the vein of Koyaanisqatsi and Baraka. Ascension doesn’t quite reach those heights; what’s missing for me is the music, which is key for “vibes” films like these.
I appreciated the film’s look at China’s working class. For the most part, the goal that these people are trying to ascend towards—wealth—remains an invisible spectre that hangs over them. You don’t see the bosses that they’re trying to please by taking smiling lessons; you don’t see the VIPs that they’re training as bodyguards to protect; you don’t see who they’re constructing the sex dolls for.
I almost wish that the film that kept that limited perspective for the entire runtime, but we do see a fancy dinner with those who have ascended all the way to the top. But for them, there is a higher goal: they seem preoccupied with the Western influences of the table settings and glassware. Is the Chinese Dream really worth chasing if it just leads you into the same materialistic folly as the American Dream?
The premise and setup of this thriller drew me in. A family is home-invaded by twisted doppelgängers, monstrous versions of themselves. Cool idea, but unfortunately, the extended middle section of the movie doesn’t do much with the idea. It’s mostly generic chases and fights, and their attackers could have been anyone. The action scenes are well done and I felt the tension, but ultimately I was disappointed because the concept isn’t fully developed. The only explanation comes in the form of a long villain monologue… I wish it had been integrated into the story instead.
Hi! Albert here. Canadian. Chinese.
Writing software since 2001. “Blogging” since 2004. Reading since forever.
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