Some movies you just ‘don’t get’. I don’t get Arrival (2016).
It’s boring. It’s derivative. It’s inordinately and agonisingly slow for no reason. It’s not even pretentious but wants to be; if you fail at that then you’re rubbish. I didn’t hate it … which just made the experience even worse. If I despised it then at least I would enjoy ranting about it. It’s merely pointless.
And so is this review.
Bye for now.
Such a body of work from this legendary thesp and such a knack for either choosing the right films or being handpicked for them. Either way, directors knew what they were getting – commitment, gravitas, an actor incapable of giving a bad performance. He excelled at both unperturbed man of action and a lad who blew his top when his buried frailties and superstructure of masculinity were exposed.
He actually got even better as he got older, and in the ’90s he was pulling out a masterclass a year. Personal highlight: Gene and Denzel Washington screaming at one another on a nuclear submarine.
I hear he’s retired from acting now and works as a novelist. He is missed. And that chuckle of his.
Everyone is in this, even a bloke who looks like the kid from Jumanji (1995), and LL Cool J is the exact same character here that he plays in Deep Bue Sea (1999) and Any Given Sunday (1999). Special mention to Janet Leigh’s mental cameo.
A rarity – a slasher in which you can believe that any character can be killed. Yes, it’s shite, but in a funny way, and it does have a wee bit of transcendence dare behind it. Amidst the garbage Halloweens, this and the first are the only ones worth watching.
Decent poster, too.
A total clichéfest after an almost absorbing first 10 minutes and admittedly impressive set design, this is one of those ‘cult movies’ that quite a few renowned movie critics admire. I believe they have been bribed by the producers or blackmailed or something. It’s the worst kind of B-movie in that everything in it is lifted from everything else, even down to the bizarre appearance of an Eddie Murphy lookalike as one of the ship’s crew; I did a double take and it took about a minute to realise it wasn’t him.
Not a developed character in the picture, the script bafflingly tries to compensate with constant jargon that the characters relay to the audience in order to inform us that we are stupid and not crew members on a spaceship. And it’s all so rushed it feels like the editors took speed during the latter half of the cutting sessions.
Only reason I’m moaning about such a shitter is that a few cinephiles whom I respect have said it’s great.
They are very wrong.
The 1930 original is an exercise in magisterial technique. You watch it and marvel how it was put together.
Whether the technique fits the script – most films fail at this – has always been an issue for your reviewer, and as we’re talking about WWI films, the pointless 1917 (2019) is an infuriating venture into needless aesthetics.
Sadly, I hated this movie. It was the definition of mawkish and naive, the soldiers wee gullible pups with identikit snarling chops, marching about with big gormless grins on their proposed way to Paris. It was embarrassing to view. NO ONE behaves like this, and indoctrination isn’t that effective.
The score – annoying drums for no reason, interrupting the drama which could have been – was not good at all.
I also found it funny how the teacher looks the exact same as the Wilhelm II verbal-shagger from the Lewis Milestone corker – pathetic!
It’s a truly rubbish movie, a veritable Pick ‘n’ Mix of cliches and embarrassing reworkings of tropes from far superior fare.
I lost a lot of interest in all developments and contemplated my next viewing of Paths of Glory (1957).
Don’t bother with this.
A movie exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era boot camp.
How did the director of Batman and Robin (1997) make this? But then again, he made Falling Down (1993) and The Lost Boys (1987). ‘Gritty’ gets overused in cinema and reviews of cinema, as if it’s a shortcut aesthetic to a decent film, but here it is decidedly gritty but for a reason and it works. It had to take the gritty approach; the opposite take on basic training is Kubrick.
Farrell is so natural and just … quality. Apparently, he auditioned for a boy band before plying his trade as an actor? I’m so glad he failed at the former. The rest of the cast: all excellent, and it’s rare to see each actor perfect for the role.
Proper drama, a gritty drama.
Funny, indeed hilarious at times, sad, melancholic, and rather quite depressing, this is one grand odyssey into loneliness, boredom, and existential crisis that just isn’t spontaneous or … watchable enough to be up there with In Bruges (2008) or The Guard (2011), but it’s certainly something different. It takes so long to get going, though, and there’s only so much material you can draw from the Craggy Island setting.
Still, it’s better than most, and has the best performance by a donkey since Au Hasard Balthazar (1966).
A taut thriller from a pre-smartphone era, the internet in its relative infancy, it’s exactly this disconnection which makes the premise genuinely creepy. Think Duel (1971) but with less sympathetic leads who kind of have it coming.
There’s a real sense of menace throughout this road trip from hell, and that’s in no small part to the spooky vocal talents of Ted Levine as ‘Rusty Nail’. Every time he decides to terrorise the trio down the CB radio, I couldn’t help but think of Buffalo Bill trying on his next arm cast.
Superb movie.
It’s hard to define Nolan’s style – he goes epic and wide-angle when the moment demands it, but mostly his syntax is economical and unobtrusive, non-showy. It almost always works because you’re drawn into the intricacies of the story.
He has a thing for subject matter. Like the polymath Kubrick, you get the impression he’s autodidactically researched himself into a master of the topic. Memento (2000) defines Nolan at his very best. Immediately after watching I went on the usual internet binge. He seems to know most of his shit.
The non-linear structure works to a tee because it makes sense. The complexities of the character and the realisation that he’s not some naive rookie vigilante are revealed so well you’d be forgiven for thinking this is the director’s 10th venture into movie making.
And Joe Pantoliano is sublime. He always is.
What happened to him?
This is a who’s who of 1999 – Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr, Scott Wolf, and the loon film buff from Scream 2 (1997).
It’s a wee bit annoying that the characters don’t appear to be affected much by anything that happens but then the movie does exist in this enclosed Tarantino-World with its own parameters. I’ve also never even heard of supermarket employees living such ridiculous adventures. And it’s good to once again have a movie that reveals Las Vegas for what it is – a pointless mess of a city consisting of predators and losers.
Revelation: I never knew William Fichtner could do comedy. He’s understatedly very amusing, his “ulterior motive” confession capping off the most awkward Christmas dinner ever.
Like all Doug Liman films, it’s a brisk affair, unpredictable and with a purposeful style that never wavers.
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 