Emma Stone may be giving one of the all-time great comedic film performances here as, essentially, Frankenstein’s Sex Monster. It’s a role that requires sharp-tongued line delivery, sudden emotional vulnerability and bursts of slapstick physicality, yet she never hits a false note. She’s completely uninhibited in her journey from feral nympho to scholarly courtesan, a hilarious and a daring performance from an actor that makes the most of her talents. Her recent partnership with Yorgos Lanthimos is such an exciting…
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllPinned reviews
More-
-
Killers of the Flower Moon 2023
A staggering, mournful resignation that attempts to grapple with one of America’s original sins. Dripping with guilt and regret, Killers of the Flower Moon recreates a world in which the Osage thrived only to leave you feeling helpless as that world crumbles under the pressures of racism and capitalistic ambition. Amazing that Scorsese is still finding new ways to turn his fascination with organized crime into searing examinations of the corrupting power of greed over the human soul.
Having read…
Recent reviews
More-
Napoleon 2023
What if the world’s most fearsome general were also a moody, petulant little boy? Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon may not be as short as some depictions of the French emperor but he is stunted emotionally. His tantrums result in hilarious explosions of anger or bitterness (“You think you’re so great because you have boats!”) but Phoenix mostly plays him as sullen with an unmoving mug of disappointment.
The sweeping battle scenes are impressively gruesome but they’re not particularly distinguishable from…
-
The Last Waltz 1978
The Weight might be the best shot sequence I've ever seen in a concert film. That one shot after the third verse that slowly zooms in on Levon Helm is burned into my retinas.
Popular reviews
More-
-
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent 2022
Pretty bold to make your movie a big ode to Nic Cage and fundamentally misunderstand what makes him interesting as an actor. Genuinely feel bad for Cage, whose idiosyncrasies are reduced down to “randomly yells really loud.” The thing that occasionally makes his performances funny is Nic Cage can operate at a different rhythm from the film he’s in or the other actors around him. His choices are incredibly hard to predict. He’ll take a quiet moment and make it…
