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Vox Lux 2018
What a swing. Not everything works, but there’s so much that does. Shooting music, especially fake one, is difficult, and Corbet nails it. Natalia Portman delivers a hell of a performance in the second half. But Raffey Cassidy is so luminous as her younger self in the first half that I was kind of angry when we switched to Portman. Let’s say this movie doesn’t have a lot of laughs, but there are some to be had. As there are…
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Quest for Fire 1981
It’s fascinating how the movie always teeters on the edge to self parody but never fully crosses it. It starts out real silly, but the world building and the spectacular nature photography drew me in over time, until I was fully immersed by the end.
There’s little explanation as to what we’re seeing, and everyone’s speaking in made-up languages (created by Anthony Burgess nonetheless). Even more confounding is how uncultivated the tribe we’re seeing is, given that humans were supposedly…
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Les Indésirables 2023
Covers similar territory as the Ladj Ly penned Athena and Les Miserables, but is a lot more nuanced and low key. I loved the little moments, like when a group of cops ascends a stairwell only to have to stop for a moment at the top to catch their breath. Of course there's vicious political anger, and a great pumping score. Of course Alexis Manenti plays the racist bad guy, with Steve Tientcheu playing a much less sympathetic role than…
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Alien: Romulus 2024
The reverence to the franchise is palpable, it all looks and feels slick and well thought through, but the film just didn’t capture me. It’s like the MCU version of an Alien film, all noise and no substance.
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Chaos: The Manson Murders 2025
What a nothingburger of a documentary. I guess doing true crime for Netflix pays the bills, and Morris seems to enjoy diving into the Manson story, but the avenue he took is truly baffling. Morris’ work is best when the lines between truth and fiction blur, and it’s difficult to tell them apart. That is not the case here. The central interviewee is clearly off his rockers with a classic conspiracy theory built on confusing correlation with causation. And even…
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Wake in Fright 1971
Not at all what I expected. Plays fairly straight. A man’s world populated by drinkers, gamblers and sweaty workmen. Reminded me a lot of Cockfighter, and not just because of the extreme brutality against animals. Donald Pleasance is a force of nature.
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