Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is an engine of perfect entertainment. From the opening moments, we are swept into the story and characters, and it feels completely confident and effortless. It’s old-fashioned in all the best ways but it also has modern sensibilities and themes that give the film weight and substance. The murder mystery, as a …
Movies
Robert Eggers’ The Witch (or The VVitch if you prefer) is a polarizing film. Now that we have a little distance from it, and now that we’ve seen something of the trends happening in the horror genre since then, that film is a moment in independent film – that there are stories to be told in …
Eddie Murphy is back. The best Eddie Murphy movies are those where it feels like he has something to prove. It’s been a few years since we’ve had a completely engaged Eddie. His strongest films have always been those when Eddie has a little glint in his eye right before he lays his cards on …
These days, science fiction films aren’t necessarily about the ideas but the spectacle. Many have several hundred-million-dollar budgets, gigantic CGI moments, and actors who work against green screens all day playing pretend on a wide scale. And while those films done right are perfectly enjoyable, it feels like something has been lost. Great character work, …
I have been obsessed with Alien since I was nine years old, and my parents refused to take me to a movie theater to see it. For Christmas that year, they bought me a book full of shots from the film, and I closely examined every single frame I could, from the face hugger sequence to …
H. P. Lovecraft is a notoriously difficult author to adapt to film. There have been a thousand riffs off his work over the years, with varying degrees of success, but to directly bring his work to the screen can be problematic at best. Back when authors were paid for every word, during the era of …
Young Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a good little Nazi. He worships Adolf Hitler – so much so that he imagines Adolf (Taika Waititi) giving him advice during times of difficulty. In Germany, during the waning days of World War II, Jojo and his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), try to manage an existence together, …
Man is a solitary creature. If there is anything to take from James Gray’s loving and lovingly strange 2001: A Space Odyssey hat tap, it’s the aching hole inside individuals that no amount of exploration or discovery can fill. That may not be particularly comforting to fans of human scientific advancement, but its combination of …
Continuation. Repetition. Encapsulation. In the realm of TV translation to film, these are the three potential options for what the audience will receive. A continuation of the story from its last episode, potentially with greater stakes and changes to the status quo on offer. A repetition of the most loved storylines in order to achieve …
It Chapter Two is a glorious mess. When the decision was made to split Stephen King’s It into two films, it seemed a sensible choice. The novel is over 1,100 pages long, and even the space of two lengthy films couldn’t possibly cover everything. King’s novel not only dives into the characters of the Loser’s Club …