Jordan Peele may be rising as one of my favourite contemporary filmmakers. Three films in and he has proved to conjure up pots of unique concepts and social commentaries that proves he’s one of the most exciting filmmakers in the industry right now. All his films, including this one have images that will be seared into your skulls like a frame of film.
However, while he is a great director and writer of unsettling mysteries, his third acts have consistently…
I don’t know about everyone else but Bullet Train was way too much fun! And came through with being just how it was selling itself.
It’s a banging movie about a bunch of assassins on a bullet train and it’s balls to walls fun! And it pulls through on that concept, while also surprising me with Tangerine and Lemon - the dynamic duo of year.
Also, I have not seen any other movie that has had the guts to undercut its climactic moment with a ‘Breaking Bad cold open-style’ short film like that.
Christian Bale is a scene stealer in every sense of the word here. From the very second he enters the frame the menace of Gorr the Butcher reveals itself. He’s as entertainingly evil as a classic Scar or Voldemort, but dang does he feel like he’s in a completely different movie.
First Act is golden. So many iconic scenes of comedic intrigue that I couldn’t be more excited going into the second act which unfortunately turns to a bleaker and melodramatic tone that really doesn’t contrast well with the pre-established tone.
And must I say, oh Shakespeare, you really went ahead and stuffed all the bows and ties in that final scene like a generous bag of chips. A little rushed, my friend.
But nonetheless fun, and witty, even if a clumsy wrap up.
While people were going crazy binging those final episodes of Stranger Things 4, here I was getting exposed to minions bare butt cheeks multiple times for 90min.
To be Frank though, you’d think that after all the success and notoriety these yellow jelly babies have gotten over the past ten years, ironic or not, Pierre Coffin (who voices the minions as well as having directed each and every one of these Despicable Me and Minions products) would’ve decided to put…
Coming back and rewatching this simply had me in pure admiration for every piece of the craft that was Breaking Bad. Excellent in every way of the word and it’s become a staple for inspiration for a lot of storytelling that has since come after. Hell, it makes sense, because this show stays with you.
Structurally this one suffers pretty big. There are a lot of twists and reveals that while had my eyes wide in the moment, their place in the larger film left it with pacing that felt quite uneven. A meandering first act meets a blistering sequence of events that leaves you awing followed by yet more clunkily written scenes.
But that being said, Park Chan-Wook knows how to direct the heck out of a montage. And same with the editor. There is…
This is such a dang high bar to set for debuts as Blood Simple really workshopped concepts that would be replicated in their more iconic Fargo. Yet it stands perfectly on its own, at times being much more tense than Fargo and combats with its own dark and stylised array of silhouettes with some blistering moments of its own.
Feels so Hitchcockian as well.
I can finally tick “watch a movie in IMAX” off of my life’s bucket list and I’m so glad this was the movie to take that IMAX virginity because Maverick had me sucked to my seat.
I’d write more but can’t right now, so I’ll say:
- Tom Cruise, you are the last proper movie star!
- Real glad to see Miles Teller back on the screen as Andrew Neiman in the universe where he needs to be the world’s best fighter pilot.