Posts

Showing posts with the label oscar

GET OUT - REVIEW

Image
Few films from 2017 made quite as much noise as Get Out in terms of starting a conversation about social issues. Directed by Jordan Peele, this was a horror film satirising more subtle forms of racism through a full-on psychological thriller with gory elements and a twisted sense of humour. Get Out sees Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) drive to the latter's parents' house so Chris can meet her family for the first time. Chris is somewhat reluctant at first because the parents haven't been informed that he his an African-American but he goes along with it eventually. This leads to thoroughly awkward encounters with Rose's parents and other family and friends who seem friendly enough at first but are also kind of creepy. When Rose's mother Missy (Catherine Keener) hypnotises Chris and, later, a guest loses it, warning Chris to "get out", the film descends into madness and this family turns out to not be at all what they

DUNKIRK - REVIEW

Image
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk is a WWII movie following several characters including soldiers, pilots and civilians as they try to survive during an evacuation in the North of France, just before German forces close in. This story is told from different perspectives and periods of time as a British mariner sails a boat towards Dunkirk in order to help the Allied troops while a Spitfire pilot faces numerous potentially deadly challenges in the air and soldiers on the ground try everything they can to stay alive and make it home. The intensity of the expanding war is captured perfectly by showing the humanity and heroism involved alongside the pain and misery these soldiers face every single minute that goes by. No matter how flawed the main characters are, we still understand them and feel for them since none of what they're dealing with is their fault: they just happen to all be stuck in the grimmest mess. These are people who are so tired and beaten that

THE JUDGE - REVIEW

Image
Robert Downey Jr. tries his hand at a more serious, low-key drama in The Judge , a film in which the actor plays a lawyer having to go back to the town he grew up in following the death of his mother only to find himself defending his father (Robert Duvall) in a court battle. Based on a true story, The Judge is both about a cocky dude coming to terms with his past and himself and about a father fighting for his honour despite it potentially costing him his freedom. As a character study of both characters, the film does a great job making us feel for both even with their obvious shortcomings and keeping us interested in this court case which could easily go either way. We also learn more about the truth bit by bit so you're kept suspicious throughout. The performances are very strong with Downey Jr. showing a wider range of emotion recent comic-book movies have allowed him to portray and Duvall giving a courageous, quietly affecting, layered performance which earned him an Osca

NEBRASKA - REVIEW

Image
Alexander Payne's latest enjoyed early Oscar buzz thanks to Bruce Dern's stand-out performance as an ageing father/husband on a (possibly futile) quest to claim his $1M prize which he believes to have won through the post. Despite the black and white cinematography, a new stylistic move for the director, Nebraska seemed like typical Payne fodder: like About Schmidt meets Sideways with a dash of The Descendants . Not many tell bittersweet tales of loneliness and screw-ups quite as well as Alexander Payne. This time, the focus is the relationship between Will Forte's average dude David and his father Woody, played by Dern, who brings a crystal-like fragility to the proceedings. After 12 Years A Slave and, possibly, Dallas Buyers Club , Nebraska was the most emotional film of last year since most people, especially those who have experienced taking care of an elderly family member, could instantly relate to David's situation and fear for Woody's well-being. Al

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB - REVIEW

Image
After popping up in The Wolf Of Wall Street and just before ruling the HBO airwaves with hypnotic new show True Detective , Matthew McConaughey appeared in the Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club and, once again, knocked it out of the park. The film follows a Texan rodeo cowboy/electrician, Ron Woodroof (McConaughey), as he is diagnosed with AIDS and has to deal with the reality set by his doctor that he might only have 30 days to live. The film is set at a time when new experimental medication was being introduced to treat the disease by the FDA but there were doubts about the best approach to take. Woodroof is a dude that's hard to warm up to seeing as he's pretty homophobic and at times even racist. That said, the movie manages to still make you like the guy as he slowly educates himself about the disease and eventually becomes friends with Jared Leto's transgender woman Rayon, who is also HIV-positive. The change in Woodroof's character is one you'd expect

THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI - REVIEW

Image
That Hiroyuki Sanada has been wasting his time lately with underwhelming Hollywood blockbusters like The Wolverine and 47 Ronin is criminal, especially when you know he can be as good as he is in 2002's The Twilight Samurai . Now, don't get excited, no vampire samurais here. No, this is a proper samurai flick in which we follow Sanada's low-level samurai Iguchi as he goes home every evening to be with his daughters and his sick mother following the untimely death of his wife. The people around him mock him, nicknaming him "Twilight Seibei", he even gets in trouble for not taking care of himself, his clothing and his appearance enough, yet he isn't miserable: he enjoys seeing his daughter grow up day by day and he has very little ambition besides giving up being a samurai eventually and living a peaceful life as a farmer. The film is set at a time when the Japanese feudal system was transitioning to a more modern one and the old samurai ways were start

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS - REVIEW

Image
So the Coen Brothers are finally back with yet another Oscar-nominated effort, Inside Llewyn Davis , starring the conveniently first-named Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman. The movie follows a fictional folk singer's journey to try and make his music relevant at a time when folk music was transitioning more towards commercial pop. Llewyn Davis is a bit of a loser, that's hard to deny, jumping from couch to couch, always crashing at family/friends/ex-girlfriends/strangers' apartments, not really working. At the same time, though, there's a purity and an honesty to his music you do respect and want to see be rewarded in the end. This is a much less caricatural Coen Brothers film than we're used to, none of it is over-the-top and, although Davis is a made-up dude, this still feels like it could easily be a true story. Much more so than Fargo , a film which actually claimed to be based on true events. You still get some memorable char

AMERICAN HUSTLE - VLOG 19/01/14

LINCOLN - REVIEW

Image
I should start by confessing that I tend to miss Steven Spielberg's more serious efforts and instead usually wait patiently for his next sci-fi epic. I missed War Horse but flocked to Minority Report three times upon its release, to give you an idea. Maybe I'm an idiot but... Tom Cruise riding a jetpack! Come on! Lincoln is the type of film you don't need to watch to see, if you catch my drift. It's typical Oscar bait with loads of talking, loads of courtroom "action", loads of safe lighter-hearted moments, big performances and smoky rooms. You've seen the trailer: you've pretty much seen the movie. That said, I am happy I saw the whole thing. All in all, it's hardly unpredictable, especially if you know what historically happened, but it keeps your interest until the end mostly thanks to terrific performances and a sharp script. Daniel Day-Lewis is as good as you'd expect, as is Tommy Lee Jones and although Lincoln is pretty darn l

ABOUT SCHMIDT - REVIEW

Image
Jack Nicholson is Warren Schmidt, an old dude who goes on a road trip after his wife's death in order to stop his daughter from getting married to a loser, occasionally he writes inappropriate letters to an African child he's never met. Yes, I know, it doesn't sound like THE story of our time but don't be fooled, About Schmidt is one of director Alexander Payne's best and boasts one of Nicholson's best performances. For one thing he's not grinning, laughing maniacally or generally being a nutjob so against-type? I think so. His Warren is an imperfect man of contradictions: mild-mannered and very much an introvert, he's always deep in thought yet doesn't seem to think things through completely, prone to adapting to a certain routine yet impulsive, sweet but a bit tight with his money and occasionally pretty selfish. He's a man of few words but a hell of a lot is going on in his head whether it's complaints about his wife's little ann