This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I think the common read of the final scene (RNC being bankrupt and Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the UNCF getting record donations) is that Martin’s up to his old tricks, now with an unstoppable super device.
I don’t find that very satisfying. Martin would be a global power that would almost inevitably result in hit squads if not open war. It’s a huge tonal shift if you think just one step past the credits.
Another read is that Martin destroyed…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Short version: This is a movie about Tilda Swinton telling herself a story in which Idris Elba is a character. There are no actual djinns in it, Tilda processes feelings through stories, and this movie is about her doing some serious introspection about if she's actually content, or if she's been ignoring the true desires of her heart. Failing to accept her desires will force her to drift through life, unseen and unheard.
When I left the theater, I thought…
An American conman in London attempting to graduate from club hustling to wrestling promotion. The character’s got no real redeeming qualities, but Widmark still gets you to root for him (at least a little bit).
Night and the City isn’t able to keep all of its plates spinning. Supporting storylines are neglected, and then either get left unresolved, or are forced back into service from a dead stop.
Visually, it’s a lot of fun. There are engrossing shots throughout: shadowy…
A really strong cast, with James Corden acting as the turd in the punchbowl of every scene he's in. But it feels like they were directed to be in a music video. None of the performances are grounded, they're made up entirely of shorthand and sign posts.
I should have expected it, having seen Carney's Sing Street, but the conflicts and the structure of this story are very soft. Nothing needs to be resolved or addressed, people just proceed to…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
As a movie, the Green Mile is far too long, and extremely basic. Every character is one-dimensional. The dramatic beats of the story are all over the place.
Wild Bill, a character defined by his over the top need to be disruptive, constantly disappears whenever they want to have a quiet, heartfelt scene 10' in front of his cell.
But the biggest issue, by far, is the message of the movie. An innocent black man is falsely convicted for child…
Oppenheimer trades almost exclusively in tone and ginned-up interpersonal moments. Nolan doesn't give the scientific, military, or political context needed to tell any of those stories. He's not interested in engaging with the Manhattan Project even at a pop-sci level, instead various proper nouns are name-checked, but could be erased and replaced without changing the structure of Nolan's script, just like a Mad Lib. Characters are all constructed out of the standard tropes from every fiction/biopic about a troubled genius,…
