You bet your ass I blasted Florence + the Machine on the drive home!
I know I'm kind of arriving late to the party: I'm not saying anything new by stating that this is several cuts above many other MCU installments (I'll add that, for me, it is at least *one* cut above VOL. 2). It's yet another reminder of what these films are capable of as solid entertainment when a filmmaker is allowed to stress their emotional connections with…
THE BRAVE ARCHER trilogy ends on a solid note. Despite their small pleasures, the preceding two films struggle with convoluted plotting at the expense of dramatic momentum, and large ensemble casts--it's easier to point out which Shaw Brothers regulars *don't* appear in these films--that overshadow the charismatic Alexander Fu Sheng, ostensibly the lead but in a starring role that gives him relatively very little to do. This third film fixes these issues with more streamlined storytelling and more centralized stakes…
The camera stares outside the windows from within the confines of Yusuke's and Oto's home, dimly lit, viewing the sunset just as Oto rises from bed into frame. Her face is in shadow as she tells Yusuke a story, during sex, of a girl who frequently broke into her crush's apartment, taking souvenirs and leaving mementos to vaguely indicate and communicate her presence without confronting the person she is in love with and communicating her desires explicitly.
This simple but…
Jordan Peele's least successful film as a whole, but in many ways his most complex--certainly his most perplexing for both better and worse. If nothing else, Peele's filmmaking craft continues to soar from film to film, with Peele effectively utilizing Hoyte Van Hoytema's large-scale IMAX cinematography to create an effective build up and appropriately unsettling atmosphere for the first two-thirds. The premise Peele devises is best executed when it leans more into the unknown, less so when essentially all cards…
