Hugely enjoyable found-footage horror film about a failing 1970s late-night talk show host desperate for ratings and putting on an ambitious live Halloween special. Very genre literate, and not afraid to embrace its own absurdity simultaneously as it comments on media, contemporary conspiracy theories, the things people do for power, and grief. It's carried by some terrific performances (the girl playing a 13-year-old girl is brilliant even if she doesn't look 13) and some terrifically gruey physical visual effects. A chilling blast.
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Dune: Part Two 2024
The second entry in Denis Villeneuve's epic adaptation of Frank Herbert's creation is one I enjoyed more than its predecessor, which I felt lacked a little fun. There is fun here, though the attitude remains mostly steadfastly serious - perhaps because the times we live in render the series' political themes even more urgent than they were back in the day. It looks and sounds ravishingly spectacular; Villeneuve has always known how to counjour a memorable and striking image, and…
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The Assistant 2019
Julia Garner is on-screen for the entirety of this film, playing the titular assistant to the head of film production company who is always off-screen and only occasionally (scarcely) audible. She's trying to make her way in the film business, and we follow her through her working day as she becomes steadily and inexorably more aware of the slow drip of repeated and varied abuses, insults, rejections, indignities and being patronised. Throughout it all, Garner's performance is a thing of…
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Predator 1987
The very definition of '80's action cinema, there are of course things about this that haven't aged well, especially when you rewatch this in the light of the excellent Prey. But John McTiernan knew what he was about, and it's still efficient, fun and doesn't mess around. It's inventively staged and I'd forgotten that there are lines in this which were the literal inspiration for the execrable The Expendables films. It's hard not to smile, though, and throwback to a…
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