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Reviews
Aftersun (2022)
You'll leave feeling emotional
The one thing you can say about the film Aftersun is that it's not afraid of subtlety. It's human realism at its core dealing with themes such as childhood, fatherhood, responsibility, class, and vulnerability. It's the opposite of dramatic yet it keeps you engaged and glued to the screen through out as you care about the characters despite the simplicity of their day to day interactions. Paul Mescal plays Callum, a young father to an 11 year-old somewhat precocious girl named Sophie. The film in my opinion is about a father who tries his best to maintain a rock like mask to convey strength and stability for his daughter while being emotionally vulnerable underneath. Occasionally throughout the film that mask slips a little bit as Callum struggles to bear the responsibility of being a dad at such a young age and while facing his own personal troubles. At the same time his daughter, getting older and wiser, starts to explore the world of adolescence while on holiday where she also begins to notice her father's vulnerabilities. It's a sensitive film and one that leaves you enthralled and attached to the characters on a deeply human level even if that dramatic colonel doesn't pop the way you might except.
Stranger Things: Chapter Four: Dear Billy (2022)
Morbid yet joyous
It amazes me how Stranger Things can explore the darkest topics imaginable - we're talking seriously dark - and yet bring you out the other side feeling joy for humanity. That is exactly what this episode does. It is the wonderfully weird and unique characters and how their relationships develop as they go through unthinkable adventures that makes this show so impactful for so many around the world.
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Paul Thomas Anderson takes us back in time
Set in 1973 Los Angeles, Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Licorice Pizza' fixates on the wonderfully messy relationship of 15 year old Gary and 25 year old Alana as they navigate through a series of adventures in pursuit of hopeless dreams.
Gary is a too-cool-for school spotty and hefty looking kid who falls smitten with Alana upon first seeing her on the school's photo day, where Alana is working as the photographer's assistant.
In an enthralling one shot sequence, Gary attempts to woo Alana in the hallway charming her with his confident self-aggrandising talk of how he is a child actor and owns a PR company with his mother. This is how he can afford to take Alana out for dinner, he says.
What will likely unsettle viewers is the age gap between the two protagonists given the presumption in this opening scene that the film will be a coming of age romance. But as with the rest of Anderson's catalogue, this is a film which cannot be so neatly attributed to one single genre.
While Gary is certainly romantically interested in Alana, Alana's feelings toward Gary are more nuanced. He appeals to her in an endearing way yet she makes sure to turn down his advances.
Alana is sailing rudderless through life before she meets Gary. Still living at home with her father and her sisters and not doing anything meaningful, Gary, with his semi-celebrity status, offers a break from monotony when he invites her to be his chaperone for a shooting in New York.
Rather than the pair's relationship evolving into romance, together they set out to chase far-fetched and ambitious dreams of greatness, going through peaks and valleys in the process, but all-the-while never entering the stage of a romantic couple.
The dynamic between the two is always captivating as their relationship develops throughout the film. The plot perhaps seems a bit incoherent at times and it is difficult to describe an overarching storyline - at times the film feels more like a series of vignettes with rather rough transitions.
One minute Gary is a child actor, the next he is pursuing a business venture, selling water beds which were a flash in the pan in the 1970s. It would be reasonable to say, however, that as Gary becomes aware that his child acting career is over, his taste for fame leads him to want to pursue something equally as remarkable.
It is difficult not to question why 25 year old Alana is accompanying Gary through all this. A less generous reviewer might say it is out of convenience in making a film which focuses wholly on two characters that requires they get equal screen time. But what is perhaps more accurate is that Alana too has caught the bug of grand dreams which Gary, through his charismatic youth and blissful ignorance, personifies.
The characters are played with raw performances from first time actors Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Alana Haim, who is also a singer in a pop band.
Close up shots are a consistent feature in most of the scenes with the camera catching every imperfection and blemish on the faces of Gary and Alana. In doing so, Anderson portrays the characters in a freshly innocent light while pulling down the curtain to depict an unvarnished version of the Los Angeles setting and also turning on its head the conventional norm of aesthetic perfection for those starring in Hollywood films.
The setting is without doubt the film's most impressive achievement. There are eccentric Hollywood-type side characters and TV news footage of Nixon addressing the nation about the oil crisis, as well as shots of long queues of cars waiting outside gas stations, which is also incorporated into the plot.
With every detail of the style of 1970s America nailed to perfection, Anderson truly transports the viewer back in time. There is absolutely no doubt it will resonate with anyone who experienced this period for themselves.
The Dark Knight (2008)
What makes this film so great?
The Dark Knight is no ordinary superhero film. Unlike the Marvel superhero films which all follow a formulaic structure culminating in the hero winning in the end, The Dark Knight is so much more nuanced and intellectually stimulating.
The movie is not really about superheroes and villains going at each other. Rather, it is a deep analysis of society and human psychology.
The heroes and villains are serve as context for putting ordinary people into situations that force them to grapple with their own morality. The Joker wants to prove that everyone is capable of evil while the Batman believes that deep down people are good. A classic tale of chaos vs order. The answer lies in the middle. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote: "The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being". This is exactly the theme that The Dark Knight so excellently delves into. It is a theme that gets personified through the character of Harvey Dent. And here, the Joker won -- sort of. He drove Dent, the shining light of idealism and good in Gotham, to evil. But Batman took the fall for Dent's crimes to preserve what Dent stood for, thereby allowing the people of Gotham to remain hopeful. The Joker proved to be right showing that even the most morally righteous and idealistic of people could be driven to evil. However, he was proved wrong with his plan to force two boats blow the other up. Here, Batman was right. Deep down people are good. But maybe it's not that simple. The civilian boat voted overwhelmingly to blow the prison boat up. It's just that no one wanted to pull the trigger. What does that show? Does that really show that people are good or just that people aren't willing to get their hands dirty? As the guy who almost turned the key said. I don't know. Maybe the guy didn't go through with it because he knew it was morally wrong not because he didn't have the guts to do it. Anyway, this is why The Dark Knight is such a great film. It's not just mind numbing entertaining action sequences. There are a few of those. But this film is so much more. It is thought provoking and intellectually stimulating. It forces the audience to think and reflect. To scrutinize their own morality. If I was on one of those boats what would I do? Would I stand up and turn the key? If I was that police officer in the car would I shoot Reece to stop the hospital being blown up? Should we ever give in to the threats of terrorists when people are being killed every day? The film, through Batman, Dent, and Gordan, suggests that we should not. In the face of chaos, fear and total anarchy we as a society must always fight back with strength and bravery. I could not help but wonder if perhaps this film was in any way an homage or inspired by how people responded to the 9/11 terror attacks with all the chaos, fear and uncertainty that that horrific event brought on. I don't know. All I know is that The Dark Knight is one hell of a superhero film. A superhero film that delves into heroism on a much deeper level.
Better Call Saul: Smoke (2018)
Avoiding cliches
I can just imagine the writer's room for this episode. So Chuck has just died and of course instead of having the eulogy scene which is one of the most clichéd scenes ever they tell his eulogy over a phone call. What a creative and clever way of getting around the cliché. The Coen brothers would be proud.
The brilliance of that scene is that it serves a second purpose. It shows us that Jimmy is uninterested in hearing about his brothers successful legal life as was highlighted by Howard, the fact that he puts down the phone once Howard starts talking about Chuck's charitable contributions shows us that Jimmy really does not want to hear anything good about his brother. He knows it's all fake and that Chuck was never truly a good person.
The main thing we learn from this episode or at least are reminded of is how Jimmy has lost any feelings of love towards his older brother. He flat out did not care at all that he had burned to death in a house fire. We see this during the funeral. Jimmy just looks bored more than anything else as he shakes the hands of people offering their condolences.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of this episode that cements the feeling of indifference towards his brother's death comes at the end. Jimmy gets the idea from Howard that his death was probably a suicide rather than an accident and it was triggered by the insurance debacle which was in fact a revenge act by Jimmy. Creative directing by Vince Gilligan shows us to our shock that Jimmy is happy with himself for having been responsible for Chuck's suicide. What's more, he's happy with letting Howard feel responsible for it.
To conclude, all I can say is that despite the unlikableness of Chuck, for Jimmy to be proud of himself for getting one over on Chuck so to speak and having his revenge ploy lead to his suicide leaves a lot to be desired about Jimmy's character. His actions at the end of the last season were honourable and made me really like Jimmy but now after this, his character took a massive turn for the worse. Part of what makes this such a good show is that Jimmy is an imperfect character and his actions make us unsure how to feel about him. Perhaps as the season goes on the essence of his character will take a more concrete shape one way or the other.
Capote (2005)
Fascinating masterpiece that compliments the novel
As I scroll through the other user reviews what I notice is that the ones that disliked the film all claim that it was "boring". That's fair, if you haven't read 'In Cold Blood', I suppose. The first time I watched this, I fell asleep during it because I was just unable to follow. But then I read the book, one that is considered a great piece of American literature. Watching the film a second time was a much different experience. I hung on every word that Capote had to say in wonder and excitement. The way the film depicts Capote's process as he does his work and how he relates to Perry, it's truly fascinating.
This film has provided me with further appreciation for the novel 'In Cold Blood' as it reveals insightful details about Capotes point of view regarding the true story. I recommend this film to everyone who has read 'In Cold Blood'. I would also encourage those who found it boring to watch the film again after first reading the novel the film is about.
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Outstanding script along with excellent acting
Before I watched Sunset Blvd I knew it was an old 1950's classic in black and white, and I was slightly reluctant to put it on only because I was feeling a bit tired and wasn't sure if I was in the mood for something that required deep attention. But I was wrong, Sunset Blvd was actually a very easy to watch movie, it did not have an overly complicated plot. As soon as the movie began my eyes were glued to the television and my brain easily absorbed every single detail of the plot. What I also liked about it was that they kept it to a nice length, only 1 hour 50 minutes long. A similar film that I recently watched is All About Eve, which ran for 2 hours and 20 minutes, I felt that was a bit too long and they dragged out much longer than they should have. Sunset Blvd went by at a much more pleasant pace. In other words there was never a moment in which I zoned out.
The characters in it were unique and intriguing. But what I liked most of all about the film was the screenplay, which is slightly ironic given that the film is from the point of view of a screenwriter. The one liners that the characters come out with are so artistically, smooth and poetic. This type of film writing is an art that has been lost in todays making of pictures.
The acting performances was some of the best I've witnessed in a while, especially from Gloria Swanson. How she didn't win an Oscar for it I do not know.
One thing I will say is that if you're not a fan of old fashioned films in general then you may not enjoy it because after all the film is in black and white and was made in the early 1950's. But you never know Sunset Blvd could be the exception.