Hedda

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Hedda is an adaptation of the play, 'Hedda Gabler' by Henrik Ibsen, recontextualised for the 1950s and a queer retelling. The story follows Hedda, a wealthy and chaotic socialite, who is drawn to her old flame, Eileen Lovborg, on the evening of a great party.

This film is brimming with tension; you constantly feel like something is about to happen that is tantalising in nature. Hedda is rife with lovers being ripped apart, people plotting against one another, the precarious illusion of social class and sexual tensions aplenty. Hedda Gabler being at the epicentre of all of this makes her a force to be reckoned with.

The editing for Hedda is one of my absolute favourite things about it. Whoever was sitting in that post-production suite was orchestrating this film with tremendous care. The way scenes were cut lingered or abruptly ended just so and with tremendous purpose. Hildur Guðnadóttir's score is whispering, a flowing breath that makes you feel like something or someone is poised to strike at any given time.

Nina Hoss, who played Eileen Lovborg, is a very refined and fiercely independent figure when we first meet her; Hoss does a stupendous job at showing the negative effects Hedda has upon her character.

However, the best performance came from Tessa Thompson, who played Hedda Gabler. This character being such a focal point of the film certainly elevates Thompson's performance over others; she is a force to be reckoned with here. Hedda is a woman who is entirely chaotic and bent to her own whims. We see her dramatically move to suicide at the start and the end of the film, but in both instances, this act rings as more out of a need for drama and attention than hopelessness. Thompson's socialite commands her house and the party, yet she seems more comfortable on the fringes, plotting her next move. This is a character who desires and wants. Hedda is reaching for further efforts to attain status and wealth throughout, though this seems secondary to her twisting Hoss' Lovborg around her finger. The cat-and-mouse performance put on by Thompson and Hoss is a sharp piece of chemistry and lust.

Hedda is a movie that feels desolate and trite at the best of times. It feels like someone saw the idea of the play and remarked that they liked the idea of it. This interpretation of Hedda Gabler feels like director Nia DaCosta is trying to find the Baz Luhrmann interpretation. The film is very showy, and the efforts to show the hollowness of voracious wealth are all done in quite the obvious manner. The supporting characters are barely worth considering; they struggle to make themselves known. In a lot of ways, this film feels like it should be Hedda and Eva circling one another for the entire feature, but there's no consideration given to doing that. In fact, these two aren't pushed into one another's paths enough. The luxurious period drama adaptation comes off as garish wallpaper covering up an imagined concept that hasn't been developed enough. For that matter, the move to a 1950s period piece seems a bit strange; it's hard to really pin down the time of the setting, and for a period piece, it often fails to ground the viewer.

This film has a stunning set, a decent ensemble for the party and an admittedly intimate story to tell with the core cast of characters. It is, therefore, a shame that the film looks so confused about how to capture this. The cinematography feels scattered, and sometimes the vision seems to be big and flashy and at others more close and lingering, but there's never a definitive visual language to Hedda in the way it is filmed.

Imogen Poots, who played Thea Clifton, gives quite a blunt performance; Poots is often seen in a scene drawing up a tear, but there's no depth behind that performance. Nicholas Pinnock, who played Judge Roland Brack, is a very prominent character but never really gives a clear image of themselves; Pinnock feels like a misplaced piece in this ensemble. Tom Bateman, who played George Tesman, is an ineffectual performer across the piece; Bateman is positively dull as George and lacks chemistry with Thompson massively.

A laborious period adaptation that fizzles more than it sizzles. I would give Hedda a 3.5/10.

Ballad of a Small Player

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Ballad of a Small Player is an adaptation of the novel 'The Ballad of a Small Player' by Lawrence Osborne. It follows Lord Doyle, a self-proclaimed 'high roller' living in Macau, who is gambling away a small fortune. Doyle is having a serious run of bad luck, with debt and a secret from his past threatening to destroy the life he is living. It will be a true gamble to see if he can still turn his fortune around.

This movie really surprised me at times; it felt a bit more scattered than Berger's previous works, and yet it still had some impressive statements behind it. This film is driven by the character of Doyle, a false figure and a liar. This is a man who stole to reinvent himself and immediately burrowed into an extravagant life of gambling, drinking and luxurious cuisine. Doyle despises himself, but has this dogged drive that winning a gamble will fix all of his problems. Throughout the entire film, we get this impression that what Doyle is running towards is a life free of his past sins caused by avarice, while at the same time, he is running from that life of avarice threatening to consume him. Even when Doyle starts 'finding' his luck, he becomes haunted and certain that his lifestyle will decimate him. The final fifteen minutes, when Doyle gambles to absolve himself and then rejects gambling and greed, are a healing moment that I think lands the whole feature quite nicely.

This is an Edward Berger movie, so if you aren't seated prepared for some excellent visuals, you have no idea what is in store. Ballad of a Small Player dazzles with colour and light, tantalisingly painting wealth one second while making it sickly and cloying in the next frame. I love how purposeful the camerawork is in a Berger film; Conclave marvelled with this, and Ballad continues the thread. The editing isn't the most inspired ever, but the way a smash cut or hallucination sequence is pieced together works well enough. Volker Bertelmann's score is magnificent; much like Doyle, I thought I might break out in a feverish sweat just from the anxiety of it all.

Fala Chen, who played Dao Ming, was a sympathetic and hardened lost soul, much like Farrell's character; I liked that you could almost tell when she became an idealised spectre of herself. Deanie Ip, who played Grandma, was a very dark force in the film despite having few scenes; Ip's character is a bully who thrives on the ruin greed brings.

However, the best performance came from Colin Farrell, who played Lord Doyle. This character really is the driving force behind the film, and Farrell seems up to the task. When we first meet Doyle, he is a wild character, deceitful and spiralling in his poor choices. Farrell makes the moments where he talks out of both sides of his mouth to maintain a lie rather effortless. I loved Farrell's chemistry with Chen; there is something magnetic and contemplative there that you really fall into. Watching this camera make horrid choices and destroy himself is troubling, often even stressful. Farrell brings this feverish and frantic quality to the role as all hope starts to become lost for Doyle. Yet, that shift in quality in the final act, where he starts to pursue something more noble with genuine intent, is brilliant. You really feel the role shedding layers of himself as Farrell portrays the rejection of avarice in those final minutes.

I loved the driving force behind the central theme of Ballad of a Small Player. The commentary around greed is where the story comes to life, but there are a lot of confusing elements within the plot that really let it down. I think this film tried hard to find a cultural thread, linking Doyle's plight with Chinese tradition and mythology. This was an effort that often felt in vain because there didn't seem to be enough knowledge behind the creative vision. The Chinese traditional element seemed unclear and like it was often feeling out its place in the story. I also thought this applied quite strongly to the Dao Ming ghost/hallucination story. She was a brilliant character used too sparingly, and her being this temporary presence made the direction of the story hard to follow. I didn't like the awkward side elements of the story that were barely defined. Things like Doyle having connections with other criminals like him in Macau was a thread that could've been better explored. Finally, the worst part of this film was often when Doyle, as a character, was examined too closely, often by Blithe. The investigation by Blithe seemed to have an intent to ground the story, but it was off-kilter and rather jarring to the wider narrative that was being played out. Yes, Doyle's real self needed to be aired out, but this hovering figure of quavering British morality did very little to drive home the point of the feature.

Tilda Swinton, who played Blithe, was an erratic private investigator role that really had a jarring impact on the film; Swinton's skittish character seemed like a strange mouthpiece for morality. Alex Jennings, who played Adrian Lippett, was a pompous role that had little bearing to give on the story; Jennings' inclusion in that big climactic scene was a poor choice.

The story gets a bit contrived at times, but this is an aesthetic film with plenty to say about avarice. I would give Ballad of a Small Player a 6.5/10.

Roofman

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Roofman is a biographical feature about Jeffrey Manchester, dubbed the 'Roofman' due to his criminal activities of breaking into McDonald's through drilling into their roof spaces. After a prison escape, Jeffrey laid low in a Toy R' Us for months, assuming a new identity and starting to build a new life.

This movie is often quite tragic; you can't help but feel a lot of empathy for the misfortune that Jeffrey finds himself in. This is a protagonist who seems to want the right thing, but keeps picking the wrong path and making ill-fated choices. In a concept sense, this film manages the underdog, everyman story presentation well. The best part of this film is how it manages to present the novelty of Jeffrey living in the Toys R' Us store, which is a pretty wild thing. Seeing Jeffrey zoom around on heelies, wearing Spider-Man clothing while taking a baseball bat to Cuddle-Me Elmos is quite entertaining.

I quite liked the soundtrack for this film; it grounded us in that late 90s/early 2000s era nicely, and there were moments like the 'Don't Speak' by No Doubt scene that had me cracking up.

Channing Tatum, who played Jeffrey Manchester, does a perfectly decent job as this bad luck thief; Tatum's strength is his efforts to be charming and relatable. Kirsten Dunst, who played Leigh Wainscott, is someone I really felt like I could bump into on the street; watching her small moments of inner conflict in this film shows you what a seasoned performer Dunst is. Lily Collias, who played Lindsay, does a good job as the rebellious teenage daughter of Dunst; the pair push one another in a way that feels quite authentic.

However, the best performance came from Peter Dinklage, who played Mitch. This character is the manager of Toys R' Us, and the sort of jerk manager we all talk about on a lunch break. You can tell Dinklage is having fun being his worst self, taking some truly mean dialogue and getting quite derisive with it. This is a role that goes around and ruins other people's day; he lacks empathy and is entirely self-absorbed. Yet, he also knows how to play his role for comedy, too. Dinklage stumbling onto a naked Tatum is a high point of the film, and I loved how he played the robbery scene, too. Maybe not the biggest role for Dinklage, but an entertaining time from start to finish.

Roofman is a hard film to buy into, I found. This is a film where Jeffrey is almost always being painted as having a heart of gold; he's not so bad, really, he wants to be better, gosh, he sure is trying, isn't he? Yet, if you hang around for the credits and get the real-life interview component, it becomes clear that this is probably a bit of an act; the real Jeffrey was quite manipulative and didn't have much remorse for his actions. The film really doesn't feel very authentic. I didn't believe Jeffrey's story was the heroic underdog tale we were being presented with. This is the sort of film that gives you the warm fuzzies at the end, and makes you a bit sad for our hapless hero. But the story we have here is almost like an Instagram filter over the truth. Presented pretty, but quite fictitious. There's so much absurdity in the moments of criminal exploits, massage parlour Buddhas and passport wig canvassing that it all winds up feeling very sincere. The moment the church comes into play in this plot, there's almost a moment of true moral calling applied to Jeffrey that also seems like quite a stretch to me. As a whole, I found this film wanted to be a flashy version of what is quite an intriguing story, but it was willing to compromise on the truth a lot to do so. 

Roofman feels like no effort went into crafting a movie that felt visually interesting. A lot of the camera work is quite basic, and there are many scenes in which the framing is downright ghastly. I wish the director had never gone for a style where the camera got close to the characters, because the camerawork here is glaringly poor. The film has a sluggish pace set by very simplistic editing. I also found the score for this film to be a grating affair; it just drones and doesn't have much emotion to add to this story. The music choices made within the score puzzled me, because this film was hardly asking for much.

Alissa Marie Pearson, who played Becky, is a pretty simple performance for this age; Pearson reads her lines well enough, but there's no sincere connection between her and Tatum. LaKeith Stanfield, who played Steve, rarely feels like a real person; Stanfield plays a hard-edged criminal type, but I struggled to believe in this performance. Melonie Diaz, who played Talena, felt like she had no pre-existing relationship with Tatum or her on-screen children; Diaz is placed in her scenes, but she doesn't really step up as a character actress. Juno Temple, who played Michelle, is a performance with no substance at all; this character plays around a bit in the wig scene, otherwise Temple has nothing to contribute here. Uzo Aduba and Ben Mendelsohn, who played Eileen and Pator Ron respectively, are decent performers playing background characters; it is entirely surprising watching Mendelsohn get lost in this. Kennedy Moyer, who played Dee, is another young actress without much to her; Moyer is just here to be exuberant and not much more.

Has a strange, everyday heart of gold veneer that never truly feels sincere. I would give Roofman a 4.5/10.

Tron: Ares

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Tron: Ares is the sequel to Tron: Legacy (2010) and the third film in the Tron franchise. In this feature, the Dillinger Corporation and Encom are engaged in a corporate feud over the acquisition of the 'Permanence Code'. A digital code that allows digital matter to be rendered into organic matter. Master Control program, Ares, must decide if he will be a pawn in this struggle or find a life of his own.

This is a film that doesn't think about its title character very much, but when it does remember Ares? That is the film I liked watching. Tron has always been a grapple between the digital and the real, and Ares' story is right at the core of that. Watching him be treated like this, expendable, disposable soldier in servitude to another, is a great bridge to watching him develop a desire for life. Ares is rather quirky and unconventional; this expressionless program, which develops his own sense of self, is extremely entertaining.

The thing this film does incredibly well is the visual effects. Tron: Ares has elements like light cycle races in the 'real world', which is rather pretty at times, and the Grid is sharp in design and almost an imposing landscape now. Even the downscale to present the classic Grid design from the first Tron film is a nice love letter to the fans.

Jared Leto, who played Ares, appeared to have a decent bit of fun in this leading role; Leto manages to be expressionless as a machine while finding some aloof charisma within that. Jeff Bridges, who played Kevin Flynn, is one of the most seasoned performers of the cast; Bridges is effortlessly cool and sincere in his third Tron.

However, the best performance came from Evan Peters, who played Julian Dillinger. It can be fun to play the villain; there's a little more room there to showboat and ham it up. Peters really takes Julian in a few different places here, but he knows how to play the tech billionaire antagonist with a superiority complex. Peters opens this movie by performing a grandstanding delivery about artificial intelligence, the digital frontier and military applications; he's charismatic but clearly built for profit. This is a character who is narcissistic and lacks empathy for others; he has a sociopathic side when it comes to losing, which has some real bite to it. Julian really actively engages in a willingness to terminate others if it puts him ahead across the film. Yet, Peters also shows the side of Julian that feels the fear at unravelling so completely. The low moments for Julian when he starts losing, when his mother is killed due to his hubris and even when he runs away into the Grid are great moments of desperation played brilliantly by Peters.

This film feels devoid of life, and not just because it's about computer programs. This film has a lot of potential, an interesting protagonist and some killer special effects. But it all tends to get lost in the plot of the corporate human characters who, for some baffling reason, get centre stage. Ares is our heroic other, a computer program who wants to be a little bit human, which I found surprisingly relatable. Yet the story for this movie often forgets or fails to prioritise Ares. Following the human characters feels so dispassionate; they are incapable of expressing authentic emotions or connections with one another. These people are your TED talkers, your corporate execs and computer programmers. People who are fighting for their tech to progress, who are beholden to wars over having the best product. Simply put, most of the characters in Tron feel like hollow business entities with little human quality, very difficult for a movie-going audience to find their heroes in. The film was just a prolonged armwrestle over a code, with the item in question sometimes being made tangible with a thumb drive or a disk from the Grid. Even the bad guys just constantly 3D printing themselves and throwing themselves back at our heroes over and over became quite laborious to watch play out. Overall,  Tron: Ares does something pretty creative with its title character, but it's too little in a script that lacks emotional depth or substance.

I was relatively unimpressed by the way this film was captured. There are a few captivating scenes, but the camera often serves the effect before it tries for a compelling shot. I also didn't really care for Nine Inch Nails' overhyped score. The electro-rock tone had its moments, but overall it felt like my ears were being rammed with a wall of noise, blaring sound with no thought put to crafting themes or character pieces.

Greta Lee, who played Eve Kim, is often the central protagonist of the film but really struggles with the part; Lee doesn't have much emotion to give to her character. Jodie Turner-Smith, who played Athena, is an antagonist with a bit too much screen time; her two-dimensional motive of living and dying by the mission wears thin fast. Gillian Anderson, who played Elisabeth Dillinger, is wasted in this stoic, disapproving mother role; Anderson and Peters feel too distant to be playing actual family members to one another. Hasan Minhaj, who played Ajay Singh, is one character too many in this film; Minhaj trying to play this high-profile CEO of the people fizzles out almost immediately. Arturo Castro, who played Seth Flores, is awkwardly positioned as the comedic relief of the film; sadly, Castro isn't especially funny.

It is disappointing to see a world with as much potential as Tron turn into something like this. I would give Tron: Ares a 2/10.

The Smashing Machine

 

This review may contain spoilers!

The Smashing Machine is a biographical feature detailing a few pivotal years in the life of MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The film shows the early years of mixed martial arts becoming recognised as a competitive sport and the challenges Kerr faced as a competitor, within his relationship and as an addict.

This is the sort of film that perfectly exercises what a good biopic strives to achieve; it crafts a compelling character piece. Mark Kerr is the focal force of this story in every way. The film opens with his signature calm, measured tone, lightly describing what fighting is like as we visually see the graphic violence of a fight being played out. Kerr's gentle giant nature switching into these incredible moments of physical domination is a sharp contrast I quite enjoyed early on. It makes Kerr an unpredictable element, especially if you are unfamiliar with his story, as I was. As the film progresses, we come to see Kerr as a volatile figure abusing himself with opiates, destroying his state of life. This was the strength of the film; these character struggles where Kerr would excuse and pity himself, where conflict would erupt between him and Dawn, and where Kerr would strive for improvement only for Dawn to resent him for it. The Smashing Machine has plenty of neat visceral fight scenes for you to sink your teeth into, but the character conflict at play here packs a much harder punch. I remember watching Kerr make his peace in the showers near the end of the film, as Coleman celebrated his success, and thinking this was a fighting story that defied expectations in a relatively satisfying way.

Benny Safdie crafts this wonderful film, and I felt his touch really elevates this into something special. This film boasts a unique visual style reminiscent of old-school home video footage. Watching a camera manually push in while still immersing the audience is impressive. The editing feels neatly choreographed to the story, each scene gliding along at a neat pace. The score for this film is discordant and collides with an impact. I also really adored the way the soundtrack not only grounded us in the time period but also provided a very sobering, melancholy sound to this feature.

Emily Blunt, who played Dawn Staples, has found one of her most wretched roles to date; Blunt's character is so toxic, and how this manifests is really steadily presented. Bas Rutten, who played himself, is undeniably earnest in his scene work; Rutten gives a light shade of hope to the film that I rather enjoyed. 

However, the best performance came from Dwayne Johnson, who played Mark Kerr. This film is tied entirely to this central performance and lays down the expectation that Johnson's take on Kerr will carry the whole thing home. The curiosity in this is whether Johnson has the range capable of leading a dramatic lead like this. He's immediately unlike anything we have ever seen before. Kerr has a soft-spoken manner that makes him very calming to listen to, even when he's speaking about the nature of fighting. Johnson does a good job of finding the little mannerisms of Kerr, even within the elements of portraying opiate addiction. One of my favourite parts of his portrayal was how he voiced frustration when his expectations weren't met and then almost immediately withdrew the remark and retreated into himself. Johnson shows how challenged Kerr was at this time; his mentality after the No Contest match was a real jaw-dropper. The final fight Johnson and Blunt share onscreen is the height of the film and speaks to the layered character work the pair embarked on to create this dynamic. Dwayne Johnson isn't just out here making cash grab blockbusters; he is genuinely the real deal.

The Smashing Machine is quite bound by the limits of a movie that takes place significantly within 'The Ring'. As an audience, we sit there and expect that when we see Mark Kerr as 'unbeatable', he will be due for a great fall, and from there will have to work through his struggles to get some form of comeback status. The film is a bit unconventional in delivery, but it still wades into these easier story elements and comfortably hovers there. Seeing Mark's fighting career go up and down is the part of the story that lacks teeth and holds little surprise. I also needed this film to have way less Mark Coleman focused upon; the character lacked substance, and the film tumbled to a halt when he had to lead a scene. The worst part of The Smashing Machine is that final scene set in modern day, tracking the real Mark Kerr around as he giggles to himself over being filmed. It's a strange, awkward footnote that confuses the power behind the story that was just delivered.

Ryan Bader, who played Mark Coleman, is clearly a talented fighter but a wooden actor; Bader's acting is one of the single worst things about The Smashing Machine. Whitney Moore, who played Jacqueline, is a really shallow best friend character to Blunt; Moore and Blunt struggle to draw anything meaningful out of one another in their scene together.

This is a performance from Dwayne Johnson unlike anything you have seen before. I would give The Smashing Machine a 7.5/10.

One Battle After Another

 

This review may contain spoilers!

One Battle After Another is an American action-thriller epic loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon's novel: "Vineland". Follows Bob (formerly Pat), an ex-revolutionary of the far-left French 75, and his daughter Willa, who have been hiding out for years after the arrest of Bob's former revolutionary partner. When a militant force bears down on them in a bid to take Willa, a resulting tooth-and-nail fight for survival ensues.

Art often reflects the world around us; that's a simple outlook, but it tends to ring true. In One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson holds up protagonists from a far-left revolutionary group, criminals who plant bombs and rob banks to stick it to billionaires and a system that actively works against minorities and the disenfranchised. This group is set against a peppering of antagonists - the bizarre satirical parody of the Ku Klux Klan referred to as the Christmas Adventurer's Club, and the far-right militant Colonel Lockjaw. The early conflict of this film is not only foundational but presents a cycle of conflict, an epic and sadistic struggle that neither side ultimately triumphs within. We are left with a child who has a vague parentage and a former revolutionary who was already halfway out the door. The film cuts forward just over fifteen years, and we see how the former revolutionary, Bob, has regressed into a paranoid stoner figure. He has had some triumphs, like supporting the city he lives in becoming something of a 'Sanctuary City' for illegal immigrants. In spite of this, his relationship with his daughter, Willa, is rather frayed. Yet when Lockjaw reignites the conflict, we get a more personalised story of revenge in the form of a manhunt for Willa. But this is no redemptive story about a father rescuing his teenage daughter. Bob barrels along throughout the film in an effort to save his child, but the strength of the film lies elsewhere. We get to watch Willa constantly fight against the path she has been put upon. This protagonist is a fighter due to the skills she has as a result of her father's training or support, yet she never asked for this battle. Willa is her own hero ultimately, but she rescues herself from a conflict she never began. Willa becomes answerable for the sins of her parents, irrespective of whether or not she had a choice. Watching her still choose to continue that cycle at the end of the feature, as Bob definitively moves away completely from the life of the revolutionary, is an incredibly well-rounded conclusion to this masterful script.

Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of the craft, one of the true filmmaking greats, and this can be seen in every technical element of One Battle After Another. This film is wide-spanning and often in motion too; the camera glides through scenes with the intention to pull you directly into the world of the scene. The final car chase sequence is one of the most tense sequences of the year. I found this film felt almost choreographed; every moment felt entirely considered and was cut together very neatly. The score also played to this strength, accompanying the moments of anxiety, tension and fear superbly as guitar strings were frantically plucked. I also really adored the film soundtrack toying with political stance as moral action, The Jackson 5's 'Ready Or Not (Here I Come)' was ringing through my head walking away from this.

Teyana Taylor, who played Perfidia, is a force to be reckoned with; Taylor is a woman born to fight for her own brand of justice in this. Sean Penn, who played Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, is one of the players well and truly worth watching in this feature; Penn and DiCaprio are battling it out for best performance across the whole piece. Chase Infiniti, who played Willa, is a phenomenal up-and-coming young actress; Infiniti's descent into a world of high stakes and violence is so gritty and real. Benicio Del Toro, who played Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, portrays a tired yet professional air as his world goes to hell in a handbasket; I loved Del Toro's incredibly dry wit in this. Tony Goldwyn, who played Virgil Throckmorton, has an incredible ability to draw forth a charismatic character; the part that really made this thing sing was that he also managed to bleed a sense of danger into his line delivery. James Raterman, who played Danvers, was such a quiet scene stealer; Raterman's interrogation scenes were a highlight of the film in my eyes.

However, the best performance came from Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Bob. This was a character who was spellbound with the thrill of revolution in his youth. He wanted to rebel less for the cause but for the thrill and the pleasure. DiCaprio and Taylor together are fiery; it's a hot relationship that feels consuming. Watching Bob transition from free-wheeling freedom fighter to concerned Dad was an appropriate turn. Across the rest of the film, DiCaprio paints Bob as a paranoid, stoned man who is caught in the limbo of his past life and his desire to be a good father. It's often hilarious watching Bob fail at being the hero of this story; he barely comes out ahead in his pursuit to save his daughter. Yet, DiCaprio presents Bob's love for his child as impassioned and frantic, a huge drive to reunite. Bob is a figure who burned bright but left a lot for others to answer for; his inability to recapture the image of the heroic revolutionary shows the burden he has left for his daughter to carry.

Paul Thomas Anderson knows how to chase a colossal and compelling script that often reflects heavily on our current state of being. One Battle After Another has a lot of lofty and accurate statements to make about the political divisiveness and conflict we see in the world right now. But it also gets more chaotic than it really needs to at times. This is a film that skates right along the edge of the absurd in a few scenes, making for moments where you wonder the intention the film has or where it might go next. Sometimes this method results in a loss of focus, and the film's throughline is lost.

Regina Hall, who played Deandra, is quite a tame character amongst the main revolutionaries; she never really feels as driven, which is strange considering the nature of the role. Eric Schweig, who played Avanti, is just so flat in this role; Schweig seems almost lifeless throughout the feature. John Hoogenakker, who played Tim Smith, is one of the more outlandish characters in this film; Hoogenakker's role being such a bent out of shape hitman seemed a tough sell at times.

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those great film director maestros who knows how to pull a piece together into something chaotic and artistic. I would give One Battle After Another a 9/10.

Swiped

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Swiped is a biographical film about Whitney Wolfe Herd, the co-founder of Tinder and the founder of Bumble.

Swiped worked best when it let us sit within Whitney's story in a more personal manner, the raw moments and not just the climb of her success. The challenges this character faces are really relatable to a lot of women in any given workforce; seeing Whitney navigate a male-dominated environment, or fail to be protected by her boss from sexual harassment from a co-worker, is really confronting. There's no better scene than watching Whitney spiral into quite a distressing moment when she is still facing abuse from her former employer and ex at the same time, her public image is being ruined; watching Whitney receive open death threats while having a panic attack is a tough watch. These scenes are all made to be confronting and expose a difficult truth; it's a powerful feminist message that the film does a good job of delivering.

Mary Neely, who played Beth, has quite a minor role, but she makes a strong impact; I really bought into her strong objections around becoming a moderator for the Tinder platform and all that entailed. Ben Schnetzer, who played Sean, really gives James a run for her money in this role; Schnetzer oozes shallow charisma that you entirely want to buy into. Jackson White, who played Justin, is quite unhinged as the abusive boyfriend; White really has a dangerous edge in a few of his scenes that is quite convincing. 

However, the best performance came from Lily James, who played Whitney Wolfe Herd. As a leading performance, this character offered the most variety, the most range to be bared onscreen. James really introduces Whitney as being full of exuberance and drive; she is her own self-righteous force for good on the tech scene. It is really interesting to see James play this role as both intuitive and ambitious enough to be a real ladder-climber. The character of Whitney also faces increasing harassment from her boyfriend and as such, challenges within Tinder which creates some decent conflict for James to really sink her teeth into. Watching James portray Whitney's spiral as her reputation gets dragged through the mud is a tough watch, but one of the absolute best moments of the film. James sculpts the final act into a final showing of Whitney's resilience. This is another leading performance from James that she handles with ease, Whitney Wolfe Herd adding another notch to the belt.

Swiped is a film that will never really stand out in the crowd. We've had biopics galore lately, all pushing hard to be recognised for awards season. Swiped is yet another business biopic that is chasing the long distant smoke of giants like The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short. This is a film that you can kind of guess at from the very first few minutes. Whitney is going to start out as our sort of underdog, face some conflict and then come out on top. Sadly, this is as much as the movie seems to be, and the scenes where she is performing her job or the conflicts she engages in are relatively superficial. This film lacks a sense of reality and the attention to detail just is not there. Even when Whitney is at her lowest, she is bailed out relatively easily. Perhaps dramatising this story has killed the intriguing elements, or perhaps the story that exists isn't all that interesting to begin with. Swiped moves at a very gradual pace and the fact it is so predictable doesn't help matters.

The most glaring problem Swiped has is that a lot of technical elements expose just how poorly imagined and light on budget this film really is. The cinematography is entirely boring, and there doesn't seem to be a steady visual style showcased throughout. The way this film is cut together is mostly slow and simple, which really contributes to the aforementioned sluggish pace. The score isn't entirely present throughout, and the soundtrack is a really muddled mash of modern pop music.

Ian Colletti, who played JB, is one of the tech dude bros given a lot of screen time in this film; there's a push to make him the 'nice guy' in the office but Colletti tends to feel more secure playing in the background. Clea DuVall, who played Charlotte, is a lawyer character that appears quite late in the game in the final act; DuVall comes off as far more intense than her brief role really requires. Pierson Fode, who played Michael, is really here to be hot cowboy eye candy; Fode's role is boyfriend/husband, and he is not here to lean into his character much at all. Myha'la, who played Tisha, is a best friend role that is rather basic by design; the big scene where she accepts Whitney's apology is one of the worst in the film. Coral Peña, who played Marta, is a character who feels like she should cast a bigger shadow than she does; Peña is sadly quite reserved and even timid as this character. Dan Stevens, who played Andrey, comes off more as a fun accent to play than a character being portrayed; a rare misstep for Stevens. Ana Yi Puig, who played Stephanie, is a stereotypical mousey receptionist role; it is a shame this role couldn't be amalgamated into the women fighting back arc in the way Neely's role was. 

Another business biopic with little story substance and no creative vision. I would give Swiped a 4.5/10.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

 

This review may contain spoilers!

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a magic-realist romance film following two strangers: David and Sarah. When they both wind up with cars from a mysterious rental agency, the lives of this pair are forced to intersect. The journey this puts them on is one of healing and love, with all the messy bits.

This film is certainly one of those strange and abstract features that looks a little more tame in the trailer than it does in totality. However, there were quite a few golden moments in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey that really shone through. As a concept, I found the magic realism element of A Big Bold Beautiful Journey quite creative. There was a lot of freedom in our main characters exploring one another's memories and developing a better understanding of self through the passage of time. The moments in which David and Sarah healed were the most significant, certainly the most moving. These are deeply flawed characters, people who work their way out of narcissistic tendencies or self-destructive behaviour through the journey they go on. Watching David hold himself to a higher standard by connecting with the nature of his parents is quite beautiful. The scene between him and his Dad in the hospital might very well be the best in the film. While Sarah is constantly trying to unpack her grief over the loss of her mother, she works towards giving herself permission to feel vulnerable again. This film isn't always clear, nor is it well-constructed, but it does have a lot of good to say about the more complex nature of relationships and the baggage both individuals bring to a life of contentment.

Kogonada is an interesting director who isn't strictly conventional. Something he does beautifully is provide a clear mastery of colour, lighting and staging. This whole film feels like it has a very interesting sense of aesthetic and makes strong efforts to be unique. The score is melodic and remarkably poignant, while the soundtrack is a relatively indie sound filled with yearning and questioning.

Colin Farrell, who played David, is not in his strongest role here, but he proves a capable lead; Farrell takes David on a very personal, introspective journey. Hamish Linklater, who played David's Father, gives an absolute powerhouse performance in this feature; Linklater's hospital scene moved me incredibly and is some of his best work to date. Chloe East, who played Cheryl, is quite convincing as the high school crush who is so removed from the person who loves her; the scene where Farrell confesses his feelings for her is quite a devastating moment.

However, the best performance came from Margot Robbie, who played Sarah. This role is a bit wild and chaotic when we first meet her; she throws herself into partying and hooking up with strangers. I liked how Robbie toyed with Farrell's David at first; she was interested in him, but as another man to break herself upon. The journey Sarah goes through is one of understanding why she doesn't allow herself to feel vulnerable anymore or to be hurt. We see the raw pain and grief Sarah still feels as Robbie very steadily peels back the layers of her character's psyche. We learn that Sarah had this incredible bond with her mother and felt tremendous regret for the time her mother passed. Watching Robbie play the scene in which she is reunited with a memory of her mother is one of the strongest emotional beats of the film, and she had me hooked throughout. Robbie delivers a performance that very strongly shows a character who needs and starts to heal.

This is a very unconventional film, which allows for some creativity and themes to be celebrated, but also a storytelling approach that really didn't work well throughout. The film got off to an awful first act. The magic realist aspect was engaged almost immediately in a very confusing manner; you have to rush to get on board with what is being presented here. The magic realism across A Big Bold Beautiful Journey isn't especially viewer-friendly, often swinging into wild and varied directions. Some of these moments have some incredible imagination and impact, but they often lack coherence, which undermines the film as a whole. We also don't get that introduction element at the start of the film; David and Sarah are shoved in front of us and then promptly shoved together. We don't get a moment to catch our breath and learn who these people are on a basic level. The film zigs and zags throughout, sometimes moving fast and sometimes slow. The biggest failing this film has is that it has the basic bones of a romance film, but the romance component of this film feels the least satisfying. The characters don't connect in a way that makes you believe in their relationship; rather, it feels like the story is telling you that they have found one another and will wind up together.

As a visual film, this is such an oddity for me. Everything within the lens of the camera is gorgeous; the colour palette of this film is wonderful. But the shots themselves are so bland and simplistic, there's no creativity in how the camera itself is actually utilised. The editing also has a basic cutting style that only piles onto the pacing problems this film is rife with.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Kevin Kline, who played the Female Cashier and the Mechanic respectively, are a strange, mismatched pair who fail to serve the magic realism angle well; Waller-Bridge's German accent schtick yanked me out of the film full force. Jodie Turner-Smith, who voiced the GPS, is an unimpressive element of this film; I didn't really care for this aspect of the film and found the GPS being characterised to be quite a lacking element. Lily Rabe, who played Sarah's Mother, feels rather flat for her scenes; Rabe leaves Robbie to do a lot of the emotional heavy lifting for their scenes.

A muddled and confusing film that can't be slighted for its ability to be both imaginative and beautiful. I would give A Big Bold Beautiful Journey a 6.5/10.

The Long Walk

 

This review may contain spoilers!

The Long Walk is an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The Long Walk is an annual American competition in which a young man from each of the 50 American states volunteers in the hopes of winning a great prize. Each competitor must walk at a set speed until they are the last one standing in the pack, a complete do-or-die situation.

I really liked that while this dystopian film felt familiar, it managed to do something altogether riskier. It just lets our characters talk. Across the entire film, this young cast of characters trek for miles and miles, occasionally encountering some high-stakes moments, like the terrain changing, weather events and moments of sickness. Yet, where this film really shines is how this young cast connects with one another; how these characters bond or fight is perhaps the most interesting element in all of this. We get to see The Long Walk play out, and the hardships the young men endure alongside the brutality. In fact, this film is very unapologetically graphic; it does not shy away from moments of ultraviolence when presenting executions. This is a dystopian movie that shows the cruelty of the punishment being visited upon the young men, which in turn heightens your immersion and convinces you of the reality being presented. I felt this film really discussed its own themes perfectly, often through the lens of conversation held by Ray and Peter as they befriended one another. These two characters picked apart the morality of the Long Walk, the injustices being visited upon them and American society, the power behind the 'wish' and even the nature of the relationships formed upon the Long Walk itself. It is a truly impressive feat letting the dialogue and static movement do so much legwork in a film like this, but it really manages to endure.

Francis Lawrence has been exceptional in the dystopian scene for a while; he is the director whom I would credit for crafting the visual language of the Hunger Games franchise. This is a film that could look repetitive visually, but Lawrence does a remarkable job of keeping things looking dynamic and involved. The scenery and changing landscape also tell their own story of desperation. The score for the film really gets under your skin, pushing into moments of melancholy or even downright terror with ease. The final song, 'Took A Walk', is quite a beautiful ballad to listen to as the film rounds itself out.

Cooper Hoffman, who played Raymond Garrity #47, is quite a unique leading performance; Hoffman's character is capable of being morally good while also hosting a deep-seated rage at those in power. Garrett Wareing, who played Stebbins #38, is a very methodical, antagonistic figure; I liked how Wareing presented the inner defeat of his role as he became overcome with sickness. Tut Nyuot, who played Arthur Baker #6, was a character often in high spirits; I enjoyed how much bravado and energy Nyuot poured into his performance. Charlie Plummer, who played Gary Barkovitch #5, was quite a psychotic and dangerous character; Plummer performed remarkably, as you could not predict what his role was going to do next. Ben Wang, who played Hank Olson #46, was a real scene stealer; Wang's sense of comedic delivery really lifted some scenes up. 

However, the best performance came from David Jonsson, who played Peter McVries #23. Jonsson is a masterclass from his very first scene, often delivering dialogue in a beautiful, very considered way. His character, Peter, is quite an approachable figure; a moral young man who has endured in spite of hardship. I found the friendship forged between Jonsson and Hoffman to be the beating heart of this film. They bonded tremendously, overcame personal conflict and triumphed through unimaginable hardships with one another. Jonsson's role is full of moral righteousness; he is incredibly sure of where he stands at any given time. I liked that he was uplifted by the goodness of others and chose to be a mirror, often reflecting that goodness.

The Long Walk is a film with a rather tight script but a limited concept. The nature of this movie is that our characters walk and talk between executions and moments of physical struggle. Often, there is a moral emboldening happening before our eyes, but it is also common for messages to be repeated in their delivery. This movie has a few pitfall moments, where the struggle is that the film comes across as repetitive. I was also dissatisfied with how vague the wider world was. There was a real minimalist approach to the worldbuilding, and some clarity around details of this Dystopian United States could have made for a more interesting watch.

The editing is often slow as there is little variety onscreen; this does mean the pacing can feel a bit slower as it moves along.

Jordan Gonzalez, who played Richard Harkness #49, was a puzzling role that never stood out much; his oddball writer schtick was about as memorable as his special effects death scene. Joshua Odjick, who played Collie Parker #48, was a bit of acting that varied in a rather confused manner; Odjick took Collie in some massively different directions that rarely worked. Mark Hamill, who played The Major, was an almost comical antagonist that brought the film down in my eyes; Hamill was giving a parody of a military dictator and not really anything resembling character work. Roman Griffin Davis, who played Curley #7, is struggling to stand out in his teenage years; this was an early death that should have felt significant, but didn't. Judy Greer, who played Ginnie Garrity, gives the stereotypical grieving mother performance but doesn't add substance to it; I really didn't feel like Greer and Hoffman had any chemistry as mother and son.

Francis Lawrence is perhaps the master craftsman when it comes to designing dystopian films. I would give The Long Walk an 8/10.

The Roses

 

This review may contain spoilers!

The Roses is a loose adaptation of 'The War of the Roses' by Warren Adler and a remake of The War of the Roses (1989). In this feature, Theo and Ivy Rose are a perfect husband-and-wife duo, with two kids and a lifestyle that they seem to love on the surface. However, when an unpredictable storm changes the power balance of their relationship forever, these star-crossed lovers start to become bitter enemies.

I really cannot praise the script for The Roses enough; it is a sharp, well-paced piece of storytelling from beginning to end. The dialogue in particular is cracking; the level of witty back-and-forth set alongside devastating insults had me in stitches throughout. This is the sort of film that understands it wants to make the audience laugh, but it never shoots for an easy joke when one that feels authentic to the material could be worked towards. At the heart of this thing is Theo and Ivy, two very charismatic and somewhat narcissistic individuals who love personal success as much as they do each other. These characters are complex individuals with their own wants and needs, and most intriguingly, their own grievances with one another. I like how this film really built the conflict from a place of nothing to a simmering aggression that you were waiting to see spill out across multiple scenes. Even the moments where our protagonists came back together and patched things over felt so incredibly toxic, temporary and tantalising enough to keep one watching. This film is likely the funniest thing I will see this year, and the ultimate punchline hits like the absolute mic drop that it is.

This is an absolutely stunning film to look at, setting the visual bar for comedies by a wide margin. The cinematography across this film highlights some stunning on-location shooting and remarkable sets. The Roses has a very refined look without ever coming off as too snobby. The editing is as quickfire as the dialogue, moving a scene with a tremendous sense of pacing. I found the score to be chaotic and even foreboding at times, with the soundtrack really doing some good legwork as well. 'Happy Together by Susanna Hoffs and Rufus Wainwright is an inspired track to introduce and conclude the feature with.

Olivia Colman, who played Ivy Rose, is an absolutely prolific leading performance; Colman and Cumberbatch together create a tangled and messy relationship that is still brimming with chemistry. Andy Samberg, who played Barry, is quite sincere as Cumberbatch's insecure best friend; Samberg is quite level with his own humour around his failing yet surviving marriage. Ncuti Gatwa, who played Jeffrey, is a very charismatic individual who works well paired with Colman; Gatwa serves as the restaurant business confidant nicely. Jamie Demetriou. who played Rory, has a deadpan delivery that lands in a very humorous way; there is almost a rivalry between him and Cumberbatch, which I quite enjoyed. Delaney Quinn and Ollie Robinson, who played the Younger Hattie Rose and Roy Rose respectively, are not only some fantastic child performances but supremely funny actors; this is a pair who bounce off one another well and actually livened up a scene with a fresh comedic perspective. Hala Finley, who played Older Hattie Rose, continues the momentum Quinn starts nicely; Finley has an almost blunt and removed way of delivering lines to her onscreen parents, which works well. Allison Janney, who played Eleanor, is a real mean-spirited fighter; I found her ability to go from vicious lawyer to cordial local amusing.

However, the best performance came from Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Theo Rose. This is a film that lives and dies on the performances of the two leads, and it is extremely tough to choose between them. Cumberbatch's role is an arrogant sort, the kind of guy who needs to flex his ego and have his self-worth validated by others. Yet, he is a very gentle family man at first glance, really caring and quite invested in the future of all members of the Rose family. Watching Cumberbatch play to the whirling chaos of his design going wrong and the collapse of his career is as gripping as it is entertaining. I liked the transition to ultra-driven stay-at-home Dad who is whipping his kids up into miniature superstar athletes. The way Cumberbatch engages with bitter conflict is just oozing with venom; I could have watched the back and forth between him and Coleman for much longer. I think Cumberbatch is the sort of actor who can really ground a role even when he is playing to an innately comedic script, and that works a treat here.

The Roses weakness rears its head in the final act, though there are smatterings of the issue throughout. The final act sees the revenge element the leads have against one another take quite an extreme turn; there's almost a sharp turn for the outlandish. More than this, it makes the conflict and conflict scenes come off as somewhat repetitive, which is a flaw in the narrative structure, too. There's a particular moment where a character holds the other's allergies against the other, which would have resulted in death. It's a grim scene that gets to the heart of the toxic relationship while also feeling quite extreme. Watching the characters shoot at one another and throw knives later is almost tamer by comparison.

Kate McKinnon, who played Amy, really feels like she is angling towards one of her SNL characters here; McKinnon isn't playing to the material and feels like she is often doing awful adlib work. Sunita Mani, who played Jane, is present in the restaurant storyline but has very little to do; Mani falls prey to a cheap 'sex in the chiller' scene and doesn't rise to much more than this. Zoё Chao, who played Sally, is bubbling with energy but not always the best at directing; her attempts at humour are quite obvious. Wells Rappaport, who played Older Roy Rose, doesn't find the humour with the same ease as Finley or even Robinson does; the son role starts to fall into the background as a result. 

One of the very best comedies of 2025, I could have walked right back into the theatre and watched it all over again. I would give The Roses an 8.5 out of 10.

Caught Stealing

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Caught Stealing follows Hank, a young bartender and former baseball prodigy, who gets asked by his neighbour, Russ, to watch his cat. Unbeknownst to Hank, Russ is caught up in some pretty intense criminal dealings, and those criminals come calling - seeking a small fortune.

This is the sort of film that really knows how to make you root for an underdog, which Hank certainly is. This young guy hasn't got an incredible life or anything, but he does have some small element of community about him and a girlfriend who cares for him a great deal. More than this, Hank is generally decent; he has a good nature by default and only leans into more morally grey behaviour when the situation demands it. Watching Hank get broken apart by forces he neither expected nor could control is miserable; you keep expecting some guardian angel moment that never comes. Hank just loses, and as we learn his backstory, it becomes clear that he has carried loss and guilt for much of his life. The final act is the more satisfying aspect of this film because our protagonist learns to show his teeth and fight back. He outsmarts and outmaneuvers those who have been working against him in a moment that feels like him reclaiming his own life.

Probably the best aspect of Caught Stealing is the music, both in terms of score and soundtrack. The entire score is this grungy rock sound that grounds us in the setting and cast of characters; it also speaks to the feelings of hopelessness and rage. The whole soundtrack feels like the seedy twang of a rock dive bar; this film felt tough, and it was not afraid to drive that home.

Matt Smith, who played Russ, is an absolutely wild scene-stealer in this; Smith is unrecognisable as the whiny gun-toting banker for the mob. Nikita Kukushkin, who played Pavel, is entirely unhinged in this performance; Kukushkin feels like the sort of enforcer who could do very real damage to the other performers. Bad Bunny, who played Colorado, is actually a seriously intimidating gangster presence in this; this antagonist might very well be Bad Bunny's first decent acting performance. Carol Kane, who played Bubbe, took a small role and really made it shine in the moment; Kane knows how to carry comedy and nuggets of wisdom in equal measure.

However, the best performance came from Zoё Kravitz, who played Yvonne. This character just feels so entirely real, in a cast of characters who feel wild and crazy; this is someone who is so entirely grounded. Kravitz's Yvonne is a hard-working nurse who celebrates saving life with lewd displays and boozy bashes. She's extremely devoted to Hank, and the chemistry she gives off with him is electric. Kravitz really knows how to charge a scene with romantic tension that has you entirely captivated. I found the way she plays agony at watching Hank destroy himself to be quite impressive; she does not want to be the caretaker. In fact, Kravitz's role is to yearn to say "I love you" and to feel it reciprocated in equal measure. She does the legwork on showing this element and demonstrating the divide between them as a result. This is one of the most tragic figures in the film, and I felt it really showed how deep Kravitz can go into a character, even with limited screen time.

I haven't watched as much Darren Aronofsky as I would like, but something I think he always falls into the trap of is the way he captures tragedy and misery. Aronofsky is a filmmaker who tells stories that lean towards the tragic, following a tortured protagonist who gets punished before they get any opportunity to turn things around. I thought Caught Stealing was a film that liked to put characters through hardship or violent execution, less out of purpose and more for the shock value of a character going through the worst possible situation every time. For this reason, I also found it quite tough when this film tried to play to comedy; it is not a funny script. The character of Russ was a neat gag, but that's how characters were treated, as punchlines. The Jewish gangster brothers didn't really feel like anything more than a novelty element to make Caught Stealing stand out. Alongside all of these novelty elements, the main antagonist of Detective Roman was about as bland as they could have gone. She felt so unimpressionable and a poor foil to pair against Hank.

One thing I had hoped to see from an Aronofsky film was a decent visual palette, but this never eventuated. Caught Stealing loves a simple wide lens, big enough to hold space at medium distance and fit two or three performers within it. There are fleeting moments of creativity stifled by inelegant framing and grey colour work. The editing also set an admittedly sluggish pace that could have livened up the brutality fest somewhat.

Austin Butler, who played Hank Thompson, is an up-and-comer whom I really don't understand the hype around; Butler lacks the range to step into the protagonist space convincingly. Griffin Dunne, who played Paul, is a cantankerous side character with little muster to give; Dunne has the beginnings of a scene brimming with conflict that just winds up feeling rather flat. George Abud, who played Duane, is an awkward comedy insert that never manages to land; the film keeps trying to push Abud as a comedy high point, and it always fizzles. Yuri Kolokolnikov, who played Aleksei, is a rather unimpressive henchman figure; I really found his presence in scenes to lack the bite or menace his co-stars had on display. Regina King, who played Detective Roman, is one of the blandest roles in the feature; King is just too stoic to really seize attention as the main antagonist. Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Lipa and Shmully respectively, just feel like strange caricature performances presented to do something a little out of left field; Schreiber, in particular, gives no weight or energy to his performance.

A pretty turbulent and downtrodden crime story that leans on torture, novelty characters and grandiose displays of violence to stand out. I would give Caught Stealing a 6.5/10.

Eddington

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Eddington is set in the titular township during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film follows Joe Cross, an insecure and aggrieved sheriff who harbours deep resentment towards the mayor of Eddington. He uses the igniting tensions of the pandemic to try to secure a sense of control, manipulating the radical division into far extremes of the political spectrum.

I was really impressed with the way Ari Aster caught that snapshot of the United States as a boiling pot of tension, a place where conflicts were bubbling over and fears were extremely heightened. We track alongside the sheriff, Joe Cross. Joe is quite a conservative man; he refuses to wear a mask and openly combats against people who try to force the lockdown mandates on others. He has a turbulent home life; his mother-in-law, who lives with him, is deeply troubled, and his wife is erratic and often distant. This sheriff also harbours deep resentment towards the mayor of the town, believing himself to have been aggrieved by Ted at one point in his life. This is not your usual protagonist; he's an impotent and frustrated figure who yearns for a sense of control and power. Watching him fail to gain it time and again is a phenomenal setup to his eventual descent into darkness. I also enjoyed the witty cracks at the expense of the United States in the face of several key political ideologies or events. This was a tough element of humour to balance and capture, yet this is a film that manages it early on.

Ari Aster's strength is his incredible visuals. Eddington is so stark and washed out that the very town seems drained of life. Yet, these barren landscapes set the stage for some wonderfully framed standoffs that keep the tension palpable. The soundtrack for the film is a neat blend of tracks that ground us in the town of Eddington and a couple of lighter tracks played for comedy.

Deirdre O'Connell, who played Dawn Bodkin, is one of the most immersive performances in the feature; O'Connell's internet rabbithole-obsessed character is a scary reflection on how some older people are lured in by lies online. Pedro Pascal, who played Ted Garcia, is one of the strongest performances in this cast; Pascal is entirely charismatic as the mayor, but he knows how to engage in conflict in his own strategic manner. Clifton Collins Jr., who played Lodge, just disappears into this role; I think this homeless figure is one many can recognise, and it's shocking to me that Collins is inside all of that. William Belleau, who played Officer Butterfly Jimenez, is quite a brilliant contrast as an adept police officer in the face of the Eddington police crew; watching Belleau portray suspicion is one of my favourite aspects of the back half of this film. Rachel de la Torre, who played Paula, is a really fiery presence within this ensemble; de la Torre is quite combative in her delivery, which makes for some nice light conflict.

However, the best performance came from Joaquin Phoenix, who played Joe Cross. This is such an entirely repugnant and non-typical leading protagonist. I really enjoyed watching Phoenix flesh this role out and really show all the layers to Cross. This is a deeply insecure man, one who feels small in his home and within his relationship with his wife. At every turn, he tries to show a sort of weak-willed sense of control, tantrum-like outbursts as the town sheriff in a bid to win others over to his 'side'. Phoenix plays into a figure we can kind of recognise, someone who allows extreme media to manipulate him and who pushes back against lockdown mandates in a self-destructive manner. Joe Cross is an erratic, impulsive figure who seems entirely possible to play at times and yet Joaquin Phoenix is more than up to the task.

Eddington was an almost golden movie until that last half hour, where it decided to entirely jump the shark. The film descends deeper into the American social paranoias of the early 2020s, specifically a strange angle around ANTIFA being this shadowy, clandestine organisation hunting down local police authorities. The film has already pushed boundaries at this point, but this slips into the realm of incoherence. Characters start to be killed or survive life-threatening events without much rhyme or reason. There's a colossal shoot-out scene that just takes the bite out of Eddington; it feels like the movie lost sight of what it really wanted to say. The last few minutes present Joe Cross as a mentally and physically disabled mayor, a puppet of other figures, but even this concept is rather on the nose. The movie caps off by showing Joe's life as a disabled man to be almost perverse, which feels like a strange musing to end upon before we cut to the credits. It's this last half hour that makes me wonder if Ari Aster actually had anything to say at all. The film sort of sits in the middle and lashes out at both sides of the political spectrum, like an amateur comedy roast. But it's unclear what Eddington really intends, and maybe that is simply because Aster could not come to any meaningful conclusion.

The editing for this film is a bit tired and lingering. Eddington is a long movie, and you really feel that in how it is pieced together. I enjoyed the score when it was actually used, but there isn't enough there to comment upon. The music across this film has so much empty space between it that it felt like the concept of a score wasn't really accounted for.

Emma Stone, who played Louise Cross, is a remarkably absent presence in this film; Stone didn't really do anything within this role to greatly contribute to the overall experience of the film. Micheal Ward, who played Michael Cooke, is a deputy figure who never defines himself very much; I expected a lot more emotion out of Ward in that final act, but he didn't deliver. Cameron Mann, who played Brian Frazee, is an odd role at the best of times; his entire false outrage shtick wears thin after a couple of scenes. Matt Gomez Hidaka, who played Eric Garcia, is quite nondescript as one of the teen ensemble cast; I was disappointed that he and Pascal didn't flesh out their relationship more. Luke Grimes, who played Guy Tooley, doesn't really land as the comedic piece of the sheriff department; Grimes is pushed for laughs because his character is simple, but it just comes off as a bit obvious. Amélie Hoeferle, who played Sarah, was one of the more over-the-top performances when it came to delivery; her role was also reduced down to a love interest character most of the time. Austin Butler, who played Vernon Jefferson Peak, arrives in this film but never really justifies his own presence; Butler's strange evangelical role in the face of paedophilic abuse at the end of the film just comes off as bizarre and poorly imagined.

A film with a lot of potential, but just completely jettisons anything worthy it had in the last half hour. I would give Eddington a 5.5/10

Nobody 2

 This review may contain spoilers!

Nobody 2 is a direct sequel to Nobody (2021) and follows Hutch Mansell as he continues to try and pay back the debt he accrued when he torched the assets of the Russian mob. Once again struggling to walk the line between family man and hitman, Hutch elects to take his family on a trip to his favourite childhood vacation spot. However, it is only a matter of time before Hutch's violent nature lands him and his family in danger once again.

What this sequel got right from a very early point was capturing the thing that is most interesting about Hutch's character. Hutch is a figure who seems to have a loose moral code and a sense of justice to boot; both of these qualities fuel the thing he does best: beating the crap out of others. Hutch is a vigilante figure intent on 'doing the right thing' but often allowing this consuming rage to dictate violence as his method of response. This is a film that often posits that Hutch cannot escape his violent side, which is akin to his very nature. A fascinating internal conflict for our protagonist to have.

The strength of Nobody 2 is the stunt work; from start to finish, the thing that is unshakeable is how brilliant the action looks. I found this film had a real desire to get creative with the bouts of violence scattered throughout, which made you immediately tune in a little more during the fight sequences.

Christopher Lloyd, who played David Mansell, struggles with his delivery at times but manages a decent comedic performance; I enjoyed how uncouth and ready for action Lloyd was. Colin Hanks, who played Sheriff Abel, was probably the most interesting antagonist this film had; Hanks had a mean edge to him and a blind ambition to get to the top of his boss's good graces. Gage Munroe, who played Brady Mansell, was a lot more interesting with his own storyline in this feature; Munroe gets to explore a teenager lashing out with violence in the name of justice, the same way his father is. 

However, the best performance came from Bob Odenkirk, who played Hutch Mansell. Odenkirk is a pretty safe hand on the wheel with this character; he understands the balance between comedy and gritty action hero. Hutch is a lot more openly brutal this time around; in fact, he just can't contain his violent streak. I enjoyed seeing how Odenkirk grappled with Hutch's violent sense of justice, particularly when he tried to put a lid on it across the film. Odenkirk just sells the everyday suburban Dad figure so well that the contrast to the surprise action hero tends to work. He also understands how to pull elements of comedy out of a scene, whether that's finding the comedic throughline or just plain solid line delivery. Odenkirk is so sincere in his work, and that makes him a genuine protagonist you want to see come out on top.

Nobody 2 is akin to watching a star pupil suddenly have a bad week and rush their latest assignment. You expect and hope for good things, but there's no denying that many corners were cut, and a significant amount of thought just isn't there. This sequel throws Hutch back into the same grinding day-to-day pattern, with a renewed focus on him being a hitman/mercenary figure. Yet, this is presented with a lot of exposition and a strangely familiar sensation to the opening act of the first Nobody. Hutch still can't get it right with his family; he's still trying to prove himself in their eyes, and the inciting incident is still something bad that happens to Sammy. This is a sequel that just does not know how to grow from itself. The idea of a family vacation winds up landing as more of a novelty element, so we can have Hutch fight in a water park in the final act. There is a whole local conflict between two crime bosses that Hutch gets tangled in, but this crime story is remarkably underbaked. The main antagonist of Lendina enters the feature quite late and is played crazy for the sheer randomness of it, and not for effect. This film also tries to indicate that Hutch's wife, Becca, has a mysterious, cool past and skill set. This doesn't really track from the first film and feels more like a plot thread to hook the leading actress back than something done to serve the plot. The film ends with all the fighting being resolved, but Hutch is still in debt, and the circumstances of his life haven't really been resolved. Overall, the movie fails to really move the Mansell family along at all.

The most disappointing thing for me was that this movie just didn't look good; it was often obvious how shots were set to capture a pyrotechnic or a squib shot. The editing also set a rather dull pace that didn't support the speed of the stunt choreography. I found the soundtrack of the film to often be played for an easy joke or a cheap moment. 'The Power of Love' by Celine Dion really added nothing to the final act.

Connie Nielsen, who played Becca Mansell, really played a character who seemed like she was waiting for her big moment all film; I just found Nielsen's big swing into the limelight in this feature to be very artificial. John Ortiz, who played Wyatt Martin, was completely miscast as a local crime boss; Ortiz, being a single father crime boss was a peculiar blend of a character that lacked impact on the story. RZA, who played Harry Mansell, had this strange spiritual element this time around that didn't gel with everything else going on; RZA was just hankering for a fight scene with a katana, and he got it. Sharon Stone, who played Lendina, is in this to play an over-the-top, crazy crime boss with vague motives; Stone is really overselling it in every scene she has. Paisley Cadorath, who played Sammy Mansell, is used more to kick the story off, but without any of the engagement with her actual role; Cadorath sits in the background of scenes a lot and doesn't get her time to shine. Colin Salmon, who played The Barber, is used in a rather boring way this time around; Salmon is merely leaned on for exposition and fed nothing exciting to deliver within that. Lucius Hoyos, who played Max Martin, is a pretty stereotypical teenage bully character; he's in this film a surprising amount, but doesn't really lend anything to it.

A family vacation film done for the novelty, and lacking a decent plot. I would give Nobody 2 a 6/10.

Weapons

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Weapons is a horror film in which 17 children run out of their houses at 2:17am one night and disappear, leaving behind only one student and their teacher from that class. The town is divided over who the culprit is, while many circulate closer and closer to the darkness at the centre of this mystery.

I really admired just how creative and original Zach Cregger is with the script for Weapons. It has lots of elements and points of inspiration from other works, but it remains remarkably its own thing. This film tells a multi-layered POV story, delivering us tidbits of everything from the eyes of different characters. I loved being across this small American town, wondering where the clues that would provide some answers were going to emerge. I also liked that as the film drew us deeper down the line of perspectives, we got a greater sense of how depraved this little town can be. The teacher who lost her students has been demonised; she's an alcoholic, and she wants her students to be found. The Dad missing his son is preying on the most likely suspect, the police officer tries to cover up an assault, and the homeless man discovers some of the more surprising elements. This is a film that just invites you further in and will have fun keeping you guessing. I loved how the opening two acts are a boiling pot of tension, fright, and mystery that makes you guess at the answer to the disappearance of the children. When you understand the backstory to the missing children, there are some serious dark elements there. Unravelling the evil behind the disappearance and what steps were taken for the children to disappear is unnerving and unlike your typical horror antagonist plot. I love this film so much because it has dynamic characters, a town that feels lived in, and it managed to be a horror that wasn't afraid to be comedic or thrilling.

I really enjoyed Zach Cregger's pallid style; there's this washed-out grey that sets our landscape as a tragic, morose place. I think it must be difficult to capture horror in a manner that feels fresh, but there are entire sequences that just surprised me so much in their ingenuity. The editing set a very consistent pace, hitting key story beats and moving the tension of a scene along quite well. The score wasn't certainly eerie, and the soundtrack was a neat blend of tracks, with the opening use of 'Beware of Darkness' by George Harrison a surprising and effective moment.

Scarlett Sher, who voiced the Narrator, is an eerie start and end to this feature; she has this chilling quality that comes both from her age and her delivery. Cary Christopher, who played Alex, is incredibly versatile for his young age; Christopher is as much of a leading presence in this film as his adult co-stars. Josh Brolin, who played Archer, really has a protagonist with a serious, mean edge; Brolin is marred by grief and a drive to fix the wrongs that have been visited upon his family. Benedict Wong, who played Marcus, is such a genuinely kind role; I really think the work Wong put into making Marcus such a reasonable, good character makes his fate all the more tragic. Austin Abrams, who played James, is such a wildly comedic and entertaining standout role; Abrams is an almost manic, irrational character who gets into some absurdly scary and funny scenarios. Alden Ehrenreich, who played Paul, is a character with paper-thin resilience; Ehrenreich's police officer is entirely insecure and prone to destructive behaviour. Amy Madigan, who played Gladys, breathes some real menace into a rather erratic character; it is clear Madigan is one of the performers having the most fun with the script. Toby Huss, who played Captain Ed, was a quietly entertaining character performance; Huss navigated scenes with deference and good humour alike.

However, the best performance came from Julia Garner, who played Justine. This character is openly quite compassionate and displays a real sense of care for the children she teaches. I enjoyed seeing how combative she was, and how the town turning against her hadn't completely decimated her resolve. She is fiery and unwilling to be beaten around by more domineering figures. Garner also made sure that Justine was inquisitive, a curious individual who often let her curiosity be her own undoing. I enjoyed that this character was morally grey as well, prone to alcohol and bad choices of bedfellows. This is one of my very favourite roles from Garner so far; she really leads this feature brilliantly.

This is such a standout film due to its complete creative outlook; it really shoots for the moon and has fun with that. However, Weapons also doesn't make sense in a few places. It leaves a lot of questions open-ended, and not in a particularly well-reasoned way. This could range from something small like the cloudy assault rifle in Archer's dream sequence, right through to how the police weren't able to identify what seemed a very obvious antagonist in the first place. Weapons has a lot of plot holes; it doesn't suffer egregiously from them, but it does leave you feeling like sections of this were incomplete or needed more development. I also found the antagonist, Gladys, to be well-performed but not very well-written when she's in a scene that doesn't involve Alex. Her character really oversells herself to a point that it feels quite cartoonish. Gladys has some menace to her, but those moments where she dons the wig and becomes this wildly eccentric woman about town really fail to make me enjoy her as a horror antagonist.

Whitmer Thomas and Callie Schuterra, who played Alex's Dad and Alex's Mom respectively, never get developed enough to be interesting parental figures; these two are here to be props to the horror more than anything.

Weapons is that kind of original, bonkers horror film that is making going to the cinema a real point of excitement right now. I would give Weapons a 7.5/10.