Scott Cooper directs Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons and Jeremy T. Thomas in this folk horror where a neglected child keeps his mutating father in a locked room.
Well made but way too grim to really enjoy. Good creature FX. The child abuse aspects are sensitively handled.
Kevin Williamson directs Katie Holmes, Helen Mirren and Marisa Coughlan in this teen thriller where three high school students hold hostage the tyrannical teacher who threatens their future.
A disappointment after Scream 1& 2 and Dawson’s Creek. This feels very much like a little indie script that has gotten lost in the rewrites and reshoots. Holmes’ stock good girl gets hot’n’heavy in some lingerie, Marisa Coughlan is decent enough value but the story goes nowhere after the first twenty minutes and the remaining hour of this short movie feels interminable. The ending just aborts the entire concept for the sake of a swift wrap-up.
John Schlesinger directs Julie Christie, Alan Bates and Terence Stamp in this epic adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic anti-romance novel.
In turns sumptuous and bleak. Tells the story at an accessibly gentle pace. All the performance pop and I got really lost in this. Without ever making things too implicit, Schlesinger frames the reaction shots of characters so you care and connect to their inner turmoil and desires. Christie’s Bathsheba Everdene might be a bit of a cruel tease and a fool at times but I like the way she runs her house and heart. Feels progressive. Nicolas Roeg’s cinematography, unsurprisingly, really loves a bit of red.
Tom Holland directs Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna and Lucinda Jenney in this strange little curse movie where an overweight lawyer wrongs a caravan of gypsies with emaciating consequences.
This doesn’t really work as a horror feature. There’s not really enough shocks and peril apart from one discombobulating trip to the carnival. What Thinner does have though is a fair few genuinely left-of-field subplots… mafiosos, marital paranoia, deadly pies! And these are quirky enough to make you feel like you haven’t wasted your evening. Unlike most Stephen King projects it ends better than it starts. Burke makes a bland central character feel credible and the two female supports are smokin’ hot. Holland is a bit too much of a meat and potatoes filmmaker to truly lean into his projects’ strengths (see also Fright Night, Child’s Play) but they all prove undemanding VHS fodder.
Giuseppe Tornatore directs Philippe Noiret, Marco Leonardi and Salvatore Cascio in this Italian coming-of-age movie that charts the friendship between a young boy and an aging projectionist who works at the titular movie theatre.
Bumped up to a 10 out of 10. I think the first two times I saw it as a teenager I was a bit stymied by the sentimental aspects. Now I just get lost in the romantic sweep. At what age does nostalgia for a lost time, a time and place I never existed in, become potent? A beautiful film… there’s something pure, primordial about. The strength and simplicity of even the opening moments set the tone. Every shot is clean but full of depth and implicit storytelling. It feels like the shots of Sicilian lemons and billowing curtains are there to invoke the senses cinema often ignores – taste, smell, touch. And then we are off. Just magical. And with added bonus that the end credits leave glimpses of the lengthier director’s cut… making the whole thing seem like a half imagined dream.
Hirokazu Kore-eda directs Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won and Bae Doona in this Korean drama where a pair of baby dealers try to sell an unwanted child with the mum, a stowaway, the cops and some gangsters in tow.
Like Shoplifters, another makeshift family of low level grifters and a lot of heart. What I liked most about this is that even though it deals with some pretty heavy chew, it could easily be a remake of a forgotten early 90s John Hughes script too… Gets the balance just right between art and entertainment.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett direct Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and Courtney Cox in this Ghostface-Take-Manhattan horror episode.
In my review of 5 I stated “I’d happily see the survivors try and carry Number 6 on their own and let those old hands get on with their lives.” I get my wish here and it cooks. Better than anything since Scream 2. With more room to bed in, the ‘Core Four’ come into their own and some of the newcomers catch the eye too. This doesn’t drag like two hours at all and the set pieces are definitively front-and-centre. The truly invigorating prologue twisteroo. The Bodega shotgun massacre. The Judgment Night inspired ladder peril. The much teased subway ride of costumed ghouls. Super gory too. Only the essential Scream whodunnit aspect lets it down. Didn’t change my guess at the outcome after the first 30 minute mark and I got as close you reasonably could. Scream 7, please!
Jeff Tremaine directs Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and Bam Margera in this action comedy documentary where a group of skateboarders and stunt people’s kids do nasty pranks and dares on together camera.
The cat couldn’t sleep so I selected this late night treat from my drinking days. Feels very much like an offshoot of the TV series but the air horn golf and a very sincere X-ray specialist had me in fits of suppressed giggles towards the end.
Daniel Espinosa directs Jared Leto, Matt Smith and Adria Arjona in this Marvel spin-off where a sick scientist gains the powers of a vampire.
No idea why I do this to myself? It was unlikely I was going to enjoy Morbius. Leto is a million miles away from my ideal leading man… the superhero sub-genre feels tired currently. Morbius is hacked to fuck. The scenes are piecemeal, disjointed. There’s barely a movie here. 90 minutes of deleted scenes.
Sian Heder directs Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin in this teen drama where the hearing child of deaf parents begins to follow her own path, causing disruption within the household that relies heavily on her.
I liked so much about this movie. Especially the salty, playful performances. You’d never catch me looking sideways at it but I’ve come to it late in the day. Watched with the Best Picture Oscar win hanging over it you can’t help but notice how slight and well trodden Heder’s movements are. Some scenes bare the distracting digital scars of what can only be a COVID restricted reshoot and they shake you out of the story. It is baggy and overlong. Still, CODA feels very different from your standard gold bait in that it is built primarily to entertain and is full of positive messaging.
