A brave editor and some plot will-they-won't-they plat development would've avoided the drag in the middle section, but overall it's a spectacular film. Knee-slappingly funny and charming, skillfully playing with dark themes, and a masterpiece ending that will stay with me forever.
I haven't seen Demi Moore in The Substance, but I find it hard to believe it'd surpass Mikey Madison's flawless performance. Well-deserved Oscar win.
Colossal. The fact that I felt my emotions rouse at the sight of a chair in an empty library speaks volumes of the grand storytelling and beautiful cinematography. It's a film that truly embodies its source of inspiration, deriving from it complex characters and clever commentary from the politics of aesthetics to drug addiction. Despite not being a biopic (an impressive feat of screenwriting in and of itself), it serves to motivate filmmakers everywhere to leave formulaic moulds behind.
The Brutalist is certainly a mountain to climb, but the view from the summit is breathtaking.
The fact that Andrew Scott was not nominated for an Oscar (or a BAFTA!) is a criminal offence. Beyond that, Andrew Haigh seems to get a little tangled up in doing justice to this story, but the outcome is nonetheless a tender mind-bender that achieves a beautiful mixture of vulnerability and suspense.
Monumental, 🌶️ spicy 🌶️ and gorgeously shot, Conclave throws stones at a glass house which shatters and fractures in ways unpredictable and refreshingly imaginative. Never had it occurred to me that a Vatican election could be the perfect crucible for political drama and intrigue, and Edward Berger executes cleverly. While the film poses thorny questions for Catholics everywhere, it'd be a mistake to dismiss it as a progressive hit piece against the Church and its institutions. Conclave is an answer…
