Hail, Caesar! isn’t just a love letter to the final years of Hollywood’s Golden Age but a brilliant satire about the 1950s studio system. “Would that it were so simple?” – a line that Hobie Doyle struggles with in a sophisticated costume drama Hail, Caesar! had been some ten years in the making by the time of its release in 2016. Things reached a point where George Clooney messed with them by listing the film…
"Hail, Caesar! Is A Love Letter To The Hollywood Studio System"Tag: Tilda Swinton
David Fincher’s 12th feature film, The Killer, sees the filmmaker reunite with Netflix as we follow a lone wolf assassin. What should have been a basic hit becomes a hit-gone-wrong and the titular killer (Michael Fassbender) pays the consequences. It turns out that his boss sends people to take care of his loved ones, which turns out to be a bad idea. He ends up going up the chain to take out even more people…
"The Killer: David Fincher Returns With New Netflix Film"
Wes Anderson has done it again with his newest ensemble comedy, Asteroid City, releasing in theaters following its Cannes premiere. Anderson is one of those filmmakers that you either love or you don’t. I had an enjoyable enough time that I look forward to diving into the bonus features for the home release. Anyway, Anderson takes the audience to a fictional city in the American Southwest in 1955. To say that it is a small…
"Asteroid City Is A Classic Wes Anderson Film"
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio takes the classic story everyone knows and moves it up a few decades by dropping it into Fascist Italy. Before I dive into plot and such, let’s talk about the animation. Despite what some people might tell you otherwise, animation is film. It always has been and always will be. I delayed writing my review until after my second viewing of the new film. The film is even more impressive one…
"Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Pushes Animation Into A New Direction"
If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to witness a Djinn in therapy, you’ll find out in Three Thousand Years of Longing. Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), a narratologist who studies stories, finds herself in Istanbul for a conference. When she’s not participating in her academic duties, she randomly encounters a Djinn (Idris Elba) after buying his bottle at a local shop. Fate somehow brings them together but then this two-hander largely becomes…
"Three Thousand Years of Longing or Genie Therapy"
Writer-director Joanna Hogg follows up on her critically acclaimed 2019 coming-of-age drama, The Souvenir, with The Souvenir Part II. Julie Harte’s (Honor Swinton Byrne) story continues where it left off in 2019 with Julie seeking to know more about Anthony’s last days. In many ways, the sequel improves on its predecessor. Julie no longer sees the world as she did during the earlier film. She’s changing for better or worse. Like many artists in real…
"The Souvenir Part II Continues Where It Left Off"
The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson’s love letter to journalism especially The New Yorker, is a mostly good film that’s well worth the wait. This film is a series of vignettes focusing on a travelogue, art, student protests, and a police kidnapping. The four stories come from the final issue of The French Dispatch, based in the fictional French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé. Outside of the city, nothing ties them together. Together, the vignettes do feature an…
"The French Dispatch Is Short of Masterpiece Status"
Marvel Studios’ What If…? takes what we know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but delivers the animated action with a twist. The series draws on the Marvel Comics anthology series of the same name. Like the comic series, this is also an anthology series. We revisit key moments of the MCU through the eyes of Marvel newcomer Jeffrey Wright, who voices The Watcher, and see what would happen had characters done A instead of…
"What If…?: Animated Series Depicts A Different MCU"
The Personal History of David Copperfield is skipping physical media and is now available to watch through digital retailers. What follows is my review from last year’s world premiere during the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival: The Personal History of David Copperfield gives viewers the first adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel in almost 20 years. We first meet David Copperfield (Dev Patel) as an adult before taking a journey with him back to his…
"The Personal History of David Copperfield on Digital"
The Coen brothers find a way to mix both political thriller and dark comedy in Burn After Reading to give us a beautiful piece of cinema. Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) quits his job as a CIA analyst and uses this newfound time to write his memoir. His wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), sees this and continues having an affair with U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). It feels like everybody is having an affair as we…
"Burn After Reading: A Comedic Political Thriller"