lamps

Burning is very far from Hollywood mainstream. It’s not the kind of film you’d want to watch every day, but it’s one with an undisputable cinephile aura that patiently leads the attention of the viewer in an unexpected way, and with social insight, too; it will reward you if you stick till the end. You won’t feel very well after watching it, but the world is not always a beautiful and romantic place, and this film will show you that in a very stimulating and sensitive way .

A smart film, no doubt, though not that tight. It knows how to surprise when it comes to the identity and the motifs of the main villain and carefully develops the psychology of the protagonist, so in only one film, the viewer will understand her potential and immediately take her into the upcoming epic milestone of the massive franchise, with a narrative that is much more strongly connected to it than Black Panther or Ant-Man. The setting in the nineties offers a lot of possibilities to play with genres and pop-culture references, so, in addition to a super-hero origin story, we also follow an easygoing buddy cop story with a wisecracking Jackson (who’s having a lot of fun), while we get funny reminders of the computer technology of the time and some sequences that are smartly inspired on scenes of blockbusters of the era (the final chase above the desert is like Smith vs the UFO in Independence Day). The pace is great, the humour is mostly effective and Brie Larson is as brilliant as expected. The only major shortcoming is the CGI action, which, especially in the ending, is awful, the worst and least original Marvel has ever delivered. Another complaint, and quite important at that, is that everything else could have been more, and better; not only the action drive, but there could have been more 90s, deeper conflicts, more formal attractions of the kind that would be memorable like Wakanda or the clash on the moon in Infinity War. On the one hand, Captain Marvel is very good in its modesty and subordination to a higher thematic goal, on the other, it lacks magic and leaves a feeling of it being a snack, though an expensive, likeable and smartly put together one. In any case, the excitement for Endgame has been fully renewed, and only for that the 4* are mandatory.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Is a very well built story about rectification and awareness, with good performances and a solid direction that knows how to lead the characters and tell their story in an understandable way and without much hesitation. Unfortunately, though, it’s also just another drop in an ocean of similar dramas with figures inhabiting a moral dump, the consequences of which won’t leave a strong enough mark for the film be truly entertaining and worthy of recommendation. If you like the two leading actors, enjoy writers’ jargon and simple life lessons, this will not be a waste of your time.

Overall, it’s certainly a better film than Moonlight or the similarly ambitious and praised Fences, by Denzel Washington, because the characters are more believable, the ideas are contrasted with the intimate worlds of the protagonists in a more interesting way, and it also delivers several intense moments that are memorable and avoid falling into sentimentalism. However, it’s still too whiny and so hungry for applause that I simply couldn’t applaud to it despite its undisputable formal qualities and praise-worthy ideas, especially when the ending comes from the ranks of the most expected and ordinary – perhaps that was the intention, but it didn’t work on me.

Landon surprises, and very smartly at that. In the first movie, he presented a fresh premise that relied on the effectiveness of the detective line and the reveal of the identity of the murderer, which was key to the resolution of the spiral of the story. In the sequel, he tries to retroactively explain the origin of the time loop, with the goals of the characters already revealed beforehand, and the viewer doesn’t need to tensely search for the “unknown” (in the mathematical sense) together with them, but through the reinforced principle of deadlines and, to some extent, the butterfly effect, too. And he really pulls it off at least in the first two acts. The events unfold in an unpredictable and entertaining way, the reveal of new differences in that one and the same day is gratifying and the titular dilemma that arises from the dying Tree is a strong enough element to deepen her relationship with Carter and to think about the entire plot in a broader context than would be necessary. This is no longer a slasher, the dominant line of the first part plays a very secondary role, but the narrative mode was still a lot of fun, and that’s why the last half hour bothered me so much: it delays the inevitable resolution only because it has to, and most of the scenes with the dean are just cheap and cringe-worthy. If it was 10 minutes shorter and the events got more straightforward as they approached the finish line, I would have been thrilled despite all the questionable logic, as it is, though, it barely gets to 70% with the mandatory praise to the again flawless Jessica Rothe, who could easily play a female version of The Last Boy Scout or Kate Winslet’s character in Titanic. Give this woman a blockbuster now!

An Icelandic breeze into stereotypical mainstream filmmaking that admirably manages to blend the needs of classic narrative methods with national folklore, while being able to captivate both with the interesting story of a person fighting against windmills and address the extremist ideas of Greenpeace. Maybe, if I was better acquainted with the culture, I wouldn’t have any reservations towards this film, but I’m not and that enormously suppressed self-awareness started to bother me at some point, perhaps it was supposed to increase the weird mystical aura around the actions of the protagonist, but its fatality and moral relativity didn’t really work out. Either way, I’m curious as to wether this refreshing and original concept will offer me more a second time around or, on the contrary, will get weaker.

A sharply funny, but mostly bitterly sad story about the fact that the world has no place and understanding for a decent person. The viewer doesn’t need to identify too much with the protagonist as the attention is increasingly drawn towards the consequences his moral intransigence and purity has on his corrupt and manipulative environment – in this sense the film is perhaps predictable and not very original, but nonetheless appealing and true. I didn’t like some of the tedious dance numbers and the weak crescendo before the otherwise satisfying ending, but other than that, it’s a mature film and an interesting metaphor of the story of Jesus Christ.

The combination of humour and drama couldn't be any shabbier. Although the script makes a promising attempt at capturing the rifts and inner motives of an immature soul, the story takes paths that are so stupid and unlikely that I held my head in disbelief several times. A young girl loses her father on a mountain expedition, she’s the only one in her entire family who’s grieving, she then meets the forgotten star of a kids TV show who now sells cars for a living and who gets in her head, and on top of that, a goat and an Asian immigrant end up at her place… WTF, this can’t be serious, right?

An easygoing film that despite its appealing premise doesn’t deliver many original twists or confrontations. The performances are great, Turner in the 80s didn’t have much competition, the unruly Cage is traditionally funny and there’s also Jim Carrey in the back practising his rubber face, perhaps for the first time; the soundtrack is flawless and Coppola shows his firm director’s hand, even in a small movie like this. And yet, it’s nothing but slightly above-par with routinely arranged characters and a not very convincing finale that almost makes it to 4*.

The plot arc is handled well, the film has no problem holding our attention and culminates in a thrilling sequence, where the director expertly uses the concept of dimmed lighting at the style level and confuses the viewer at the level of the narration, but the way towards that climax is fairly unremarkable in hindsight, mainly because we don’t care at all about most of the characters. Regardless, it’s still a good and nice piece of work, and further example that you can make a little Hollywood grade thriller for a few bucks if you have a well thought-out narrative structure and a talent for staging.