Ds: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani (The Strange Colous of Your Body’s Tears, Amer).
S: Marc Barbé, Bernie Bonvoisin, Dorylia Calmel, Elina Löwensohn.
Exploitation and experimentation in a sometimes gratingly overly-stylised modern crime-Western.
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LET THE CORPSES TAN (Laissez bronzer les cadavres) ★★★☆☆
Ds: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani (The Strange Colous of Your Body’s Tears, Amer). S: Marc Barbé, Bernie Bonvoisin, Dorylia Calmel, Elina Löwensohn. Exploitation and experimentation in a sometimes gratingly overly-stylised modern crime-Western. Out to own today: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
OUTSIDE IN ★★★½☆
D: Lynn Shelton (Laggies, Touchy Feely, Your Sister’s Sister, Humpday). S: Jay Duplass, Edie Falco, Kaitlyn Dever, Ben Schwartz. Lynn Shelton upped her comedy game with LAGGIES, and now ups her drama game here. DARKEST HOUR ★★★☆☆ D: Joe Wright (Pan, Anna Karenina, Hanna, The Soloist, Atonement, Pride & Prejudice). S: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, Stephen Dillane, Kristin Scott Thomas. Overblown. Some annoying cliché narrative choices. A shame, as so much of the film has compelling politicking. I KILL GIANTS ★★★☆☆ D: Anders Walter. S: Zoe Saldana, Madison Wolfe, Noel Clarke, Imogen Poots. Closer to BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA than A MONSTER CALLS. More family films should have such a bolshy lead. I, TONYA ★★★★☆ D: Craig Gillespie (The Finest Hours, Million Dollar Arm, Fright Night, Lars and the Real Girl). S: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Mckenna Grace, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale. Funny and tragic. Fourth wall breaking and energetic. Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are on fire. HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS (Hochelaga, Terre des Âmes) ★★★★☆
D: François Girard (Silk). S: Samian, Tanaya Beatty, Naiade Aoun. Majestically shot. Experimentally told. Within eight minutes, three different time periods unfold. And that grows. MANHUNT ★★★☆☆ D: John Woo (Red Cliff, Paycheck, Windtalkers, Mission: Impossible II, Face/Off, Broken Arrow, Hard Target, Hard Boiled, Bullet in the Head, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow). S: Zhang Hanyu, Masaharu Fukuyama, Qi Wei, Ha Jiwon. Intentional cheese is still cheese. Not a return to form for John Woo, but not dire either. MARROWBONE ★★★☆☆ D: Sergio G. Sánchez. S: George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Mia Goth, Kyle Soller. Directorial debut of the writer of THE ORPHANAGE. Such an effective horror, but the ending is a hackneyed let down. ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ. ★★★☆☆ D: Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler). S: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Lynda Gravatt, Amanda Warren, Hugo Armstrong, Sam Gilroy, Tony Plana, DeRon Horton, Amari Cheatom. Bizarre, but not in a good way. Muddled, but ambitiously so. Rotten justice system analysis and character exigency. THE UPSIDE ★★½☆☆
D: Neil Burger (Divergent, Limitless, The Illusionist). S: Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, Nicole Kidman, Golshifteh Farahani, Amara Karan, Julianna Margulies. A predictable bromance remake of a predictable bromance French film. Somehow it still made me enjoy it (to a certain degree). DISOBEDIENCE ★★★★½ D: Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman, Gloria). S: Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Alessandro Nivola. More emotionally satisfying and complex than CAROL. Bravo to director Lelio's second quality project of 2017. I LOVE YOU, DADDY ★★☆☆☆ D: Louis C.K. S: Pamela Adlon, Rose Byrne, Louis C.K., Charlie Day, Edie Falco, Helent Hunt, Chloë Grace Moretz, John Malkovich. Why did Louis C.K. have to use the n-word?! It derails an otherwise funny and well crafted film. BODIED ★★★★☆ D: Joseph Kahn (Detention, Torque). S: Calum Worthy, Jackie Long, Rory Uphold, Anthony Michael Hall. Am not sure there is a movie with speedier rapid fire dialogue. Jokes upon jokes. What an ending! THE CAPTAIN (Der Hauptmann) ★★★★★
D: Robert Schwentke (Insurgent, R.I.P.D., Red, The Time Traveller’s Wife, Flightplan). S: Max Hubacher, Milan Peschel, Frederick Lau. A Nazi deserter kills dozens of other Nazis to survive. Visceral, brutal, allegorical. Expertly crafted. LADY BIRD ★★★½☆ D: Greta Gerwig (Nights and Weekends). S: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein. Doesn't reinvent the growing pains dramedy, but acting from Ronan and Metcalf is excellent. Witty and awkward. WHO WE ARE NOW ★★★★☆ D: Matthew Newton. S: Julianne Nicholson, Emma Roberts, Zachary Quinto, Jimmy Smits, Lea Thompson, Jason Biggs, Jess Weixler. In the same league as anguished-filled I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG. Is both bleak and hopeful. KINGS ★★★☆☆ D: Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang). S: Daniel Craig, Halle Berry, Lamar Johnson, Rachel Hilson. Disappointing. Feels slight. The 1992 Los Angeles riots from the perspective of a sweet family. UNICORN STORE ★★☆☆☆
D: Brie Larson. S: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack, Bradley Whitford, Mamoudou Athie, Hamish Linklater, Martha MacIsaac, Karan Soni, Annaleigh Ashford. Larson's directorial debut is quirkiness dialled to almost unendurable levels. The film needed a twist. THREE CHRISTS ★★½☆☆ D: Jon Avnet (Righteous Kill, 88 Minutes, Fried Green Tomatoes). S: Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage, Bradley Whitford, Walton Goggins, Stephen Root, Kevin Pollak, Julianna Margulies. The message is worthy, and applicable beyond psychology, but the film is overlong and overwrought. Is not EXPERIMENTER. HOSTILES ★★★☆☆ D: Scott Cooper (Black Mass, Out of the Furnace, Crazy Heart). S: Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Ben Foster, Peter Mullan, Stephen Lang, Jesse Plemons, Q'orianka Kilcher, Adam Beach, Wes Studi. Cooper keeps nearly making good movies. The commentary is spoken out loud instead of shown. The ending is problematic. THE THIRD MURDER (Sandome no Satsujin) ★★★★☆ D: Hirokazu Kore-eda (After the Storm, Our Little Sister; Like Father, Like Son; I Wish, Air Doll, Still Walking, Hana, After Life). S: Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Suzu Hirose. Kore-eda effortlessly makes a legal procedural, where reliability of testimony is in fascinatingly short supply. WOMAN WALKS AHEAD ★★★☆☆ D: Susanna White (Our Kind of Traitor). S: Jessica Chastain, Michael Greyeyes, Ciarán Hinds, Bill Camp, Sam Rockwell. Michael Greyeyes is the standout. A clunky movie, but well intentioned. Is no DANCES WITH WOLVES. EYE ON JULIET ★★★★☆ D: Kim Nguyen (Two Lovers and a Bear, War Witch). S: Joe Cole, Lina El Arabi, Faycal Zeglat, Brent Skagford. Another doozy of a love story from Nguyen. BEFORE SUNRISE with hexapods and intercontinental rescue. THE CHILDREN ACT ★☆☆☆☆ D: Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal, Stage Beauty, Iris). S: Fionn Whitehead, Emma Thompson, Ben Chaplin, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Stanley Tucci. Richard Eyre is not a good filmmaker at the best of times, but this is tripe. DARK RIVER ★★½☆☆
D: Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant, The Arbor). S: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Joe Dempsie, Sean Bean. Disappointing from the director of THE ARBOR and THE SELFISH GIANT. Pales in comparison to TYRANNOSAUR. My review: http://www.filmaluation.com/dark-river.html |
This website is written by Hemanth Kissoon.
Filmaluation is dedicated to arts culture, with a particular focus on film. I care about intelligence, quality and entertainment. Need some movie and TV show recommendations? See the drop down to the right of the Home tab. Enjoy. The vital ambitions of art and entertainment: - Perceptiveness - Illumination - The unexpected - Innovation Brains and soul are key; but adrenaline junkies do not fret, there is also much love for an experience that delivers a sucker-punch to the guts via stunningly delivered thrills. Noun, “filmaluation”: The evaluation of a film Verb, "to filmaluate”: To evaluate a film I am well aware how difficult it is to make a film, put on a stage play, create a television show, write a novel, let alone make something of note. (That appreciation doesn’t stop me from having high standards though.) This online magazine is edited by Hemanth Kissoon. Filmaluation is owned by Filmaluation Limited (Company number 8549302. Registered in England and Wales) Archives
February 2024
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