I love this movie. A last gasp of great practical effects in mainstream cinema, working with limitations and using imagination to make something much cooler than what throwing millions of dollars at CGI departments gets you. The script is great — both funny and heartwarming. It strikes the perfect balance between a small and big movie. It had a reasonable but limited budget, and punches so far above its weight (box office of 1990 be damned). A humble story of underground man-eating worms that never gets old.
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The Northman 2022
A very good 2 hours and 17 minutes Vikings montage, with stunning imagery, impressive moments, and good use of sound. It's not much as a story, though. Beats the dead horse. I was itching to get out the theatre by the end. Acting is a bit hokey. Very "post Game of Thrones." Visually it is highly distinguished, no doubt, which makes for a few moments where it all comes together. Mixed review from me.
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent 2022
As you would expect: indulgent, over-acted, and fun. Cage going meta and playing himself as clinically obsessed by his own movie persona is worth the ticket price. The way Nigel Bluck shoots Mallorca is great—it feels hyperreal, fantastic, and dangerous. Paddington 2 added to watchlist.
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Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022
If not the Kill BIll of its time, it's something parallel. Michelle Yeoh's excellent, sweet & comical performance anchors the movie. The narrative jumps through turbulent parallel universes and life potentials, wrapped up in a family story. Compressed to the maximum with interesting and funny visuals and ideas. The kung-fu stand-in props are great. The combination of mundane & extraordinary channels some Parasite vibes. One to go see.
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Dune 2021
Villeneuve's long-awaited science fiction space adventure, coming more than half a century after Frank Herbert’s novel with a couple failed attempts in between (a cancelled production by Jodorowsky in the 1970s, and a disastrous effort by Lynch in 1984), manages to be both deeply flawed and a movie that doesn’t disappoint. There are two films in there, and I think it will split audiences. It puts on the screen a spectacular and extremely cinematic version of a fascinating and imaginative…
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019
Excellent cinematography (Claire Mathon) and a powerful sense of place and time create an impressive backdrop for this love story between a female portrait painter (Noémie Merlant as Marianne) and the lady of the house (Adèle Haenel as Héloïse). Terrific performances memorably etch two strong-willed personalities, equally stubborn and intelligent, in the mind. Set at the end of the 18th century (the time of Jane Austen, whose style of romantic literature this film feels part of), the manners and behavioural…
