I must have seen a different movie to everyone else. Admittedly not a big fan of the original and this felt like a slight improvement because of the show of bravura with the flight sequences and acting across the board, but Top Gun: Maverick has a lot of the same flaws, as well as lacking originality.
Not only is the plotting generic, it also has the Force Awakens syndrome of being obsessed with the legacy of its predecessor. This isn’t…
A huge disappointment. Having loved both The Witch and The Lighthouse, went in with hopes of getting the same visceral experience the earlier two films so exquisitely provided. In summary, The Northman is what happens when a filmmaker becomes so engrossed in translating his vision on screen that the style and form overpowers any meaningful evocation of emotion in its storytelling. The visuals are simply put, gorgeous. Colours, tone, texture of the photography all meticulously crafted to imbue the world…
Time to admit I may have a Fincher problem. The first half is a procedural, cold and sterile in depiction, which in isolation makes artistic sense given the disturbing nature of the story. It’s a style I don’t enjoy as much, as it can feel dissociative and too calculated. In Zodiac, the drama and atmosphere doesn’t develop as well as it could have, as too much attention is instead given to procedural minutiae and dialogue. The film itself is well…
In Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks made a creative choice that he eventually regretted, mainly as a result of the poor box office performance at the time of its release. He felt in making all the characters whacky in their own way, there was no anchor for some form of normalcy in the midst of the absurdity and for the audience to relate to.
Thank god he went with his first instinct because the end product is nothing short of the…
Being someone who loves films with visual styles that are particularly attuned to mood, emotion and dramatic subtext, this was quite the treat. From the arresting opening sequence to the multitudes of parallels drawn between the blue tints in the lighting and glaring use of orchestral music to establish the connection to the past and the suppression of grief, there is plenty that is incredibly inventive and interesting cinematically. If I’m being picky, the subplot with the mistress and using…
