Verhoeven’s latest crown of thorns is one of many pleasures. This is grade-A exploitation, and while it lacks Elle’s psychologically complex edge, it is just a good case study for religious melodrama with Verhoeven’s passionate verve for extremes. Benedetta’s visions are really funny—and the sex scenes aren’t as salacious as you think, even with carved wooden statues of the Virgin Mary being used as a dildo. Again, just veru hard to follow Elle’s intensity but this was immensely entertaining.
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllRecent reviews
More-
-
Dune 2021
I’m starting to think the biggest issue with any Dune film adaptation is that it’s a film adaptation. It’s clear and obvious Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classick was just never meant to be squeezed and breezed into a feature length film. Why isn’t this a TV series? I mean, it had been adapted previously as one, and seems that was the better adaptation of the previous two.
I enjoyed this version but what it seems to do better(a clearer adaptation) seems to…
Popular reviews
More-
Hereditary 2018
Okay A24--we're done. No more of these half-realized genre pics, technical exercise, calling cards. May Under The Skin remain the only great film you've released(okay and Spring Breakers).
So what's wrong with Hereditary? It's cynical but not so obviously at first. The first half begins with quite an unexpected plot point and builds upon it with an eerie, grief felt, and almost at the edge of tears/laughter kind of atmosphere. It is refreshing that the film doesn't cheaply go for…
-
The Green Knight 2021
A24’s The 10th Kingdom
Lacks any sense of emotional element with any of its human or non-human characters. Just an ornate, auto-masterbatorial collage of “one-perfect shots”, polished and scrubbed of any texture or grit. It’s modern assumptions on the reality of the glories of medieval legends is obvious. Really slacking in the pacing department and then when we finally get to the typical fantasy/anthology film set-pieces, they lack any real sense of wonder. Never weird or sexy or provocative or thrilling. Bog standard choir score and all the forced & whispery performances one could take.
Just watch Conquest. You’ve been meaning to anyway.
