There’s an easy negative review to write about The Creator. The film is generic, overly so in that it relies almost entirely on tropes to drive itself forwards. Convenience and genre expectation dictate plot movement more than any kind of internal or character logic — especially as characters are only extensions of archetypes to begin with.
There’s also an easy positive review to write about The Creator. A lack of original ideas is balanced out by original art. It is…
There are a few things you have to mention when tackling David Fincher’s latest. First of all, and most importantly, is the presence of Michael Fassbender. This is the reemergence of the actor who has never publicly commented on the serious domestic abuse allegations against him from a former partner, which did lead to a restraining order being granted against him.
These allegations resurfaced around the time of #MeToo reckonings (in the press, at least) and Michael Fassbender happened to…
Do you like Neil Young? Well, you better. This is a special interest doc that has no interest in an audience not already won over. This limits it as a wider work but, for those like me with a lot of time for the Canadian musician, this is worth watching.
This is part concert film part behind the scenes documentary. It’s not especially great at either side but the variety aids it, swapping between before the limitations calcify. Faint praise…
Jarmusch’s second reply to Le Samourai takes a divergent approach. If Ghost Dog finds community and personality, and the eclectic, The Limits of Control furthers the sincerity and insular philosophy of Melville’s film. These are taken further so as to become the whole work, and thus becoming a kind of existential commentary and even an exercise in the absurd.
This is an openly arthouse film, feeling as much indebted (increasingly so during its runtime) to Antonioni’s The Passenger as to…
Soren Kirkergaard wrote that 'life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards'. Aftersun is an impressionistic portrait of this truism, an intricate web of framing devices that comes across as effortless.
In fact, describing Aftersun makes it sound so much more complicated than it is. The film presents three narrative perspectives, all adopting the lens of Sophie (Frankie Corio), the daughter of Calum (Paul Mescal) (the father and daughter relationship that the film entirely revolves around).…
As an English Literature teacher who has taught Shakespeare’s Macbeth for seven years, my perspective on adaptations will differ to most. While I understand that Joel Coen’s turn is a striking piece of cinema full of good actors saying pretty words, and certainly is cinematic (on a visual level), it is a lukewarm adaptation that is often at odds with the strength of the source material. Coen’s Macbeth feels like what people think Shakespeare is: an arch, arty thing to…
