Film Words

THE LIGHTHOUSE A small island containing two men, a seagull, and a lighthouse. This simple set up is spun out into 110 minutes of filthy, horny and utterly gripping psychological torment for whoever it is Robert Pattinson is playing. He’s terrific, as is Willem Dafoe opposite him. Their characters are constantly in flux, as volatile as the sea swirling around them. Rage and guilt and sexual tension are twitchily repressed one minute and the next unleashed in a storm of violence and accented monologuing that brings to mind Daniel Plainview at his milkshake stealing best. Director Robert Eggers continues to display an absolute command of his craft. Just like his near perfect debut ‘The Witch’, he’s making big bold choices with confidence and clarity, and everyone involved seems to be right on the same page. The camerawork manages to absorb you into each chaotic sequence, whilst presenting some intricately composed, boxy tableaux that could be slotted right into a maritime art galler...

The bad boys are back, after another significant absence, this time without star director Michael Bay at the helm. It’s an interesting development for a series defined as much by his style and sensibilities as the charms of its two leads, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The fact that this comes right on the heels of Bay’s own new film 6 Underground, also makes for an interesting comparison. I did not like that film at all, save for an exhilarating opening car chase sequence, and I was curious what I would make of a Bad Boys film without his decidedly not-deft touch. There is no doubt Bad Boys for Life differs from its predecessors in a couple of significant ways. The action scenes, while serviceable, lack the overwhelming bombast of Bay’s work, and there are few images that are going to stick in the brain the way the famous shot of Smith emerging from under a white hood in front of a burning cross does. Having said that, any scene that doesn’t involve action is decidedly more pal...

The epic war film is one of the most storied genres in all of cinema. Since the early silent era they have usually represented a high water mark in technical achievement, giving audiences a chance to see the widest lenses, the largest pyrotechnics, and the highest number of extras that can be crammed into one frame. Whether any given film is for or against what’s happening on screen, the spectacle can’t be denied, and the logistical feats must be acknowledged. So goes the case for 1917, the latest work from director Sam Mendes and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins. Any discussion of the film must begin by saying that these two men, as well as a whole team of talented technicians, have created something that is a real marvel to take in. The film is made up of a series of extended one-take tracking shots that all told contain about five cuts, some more obvious than others. There are a few moments in 1917 where the effect of this relentless camera work is truly breath-taking...

Uncut Gems made my top ten of 2019 list which was a little surprising as I didn’t like it anywhere near as much as I had been led to believe I would. It’s a testament to the films greatness then that I still do think of it as great, the best example yet of Josh and Benny Safdie’s take on the slimy, sketchy, pulse raising underbelly of New York. The film thrusts us into the sparkling hurricane of a life of Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), a diamond district adrenaline addict who gets his fix by making a series of increasingly ludicrous and high stakes bets, hedges and parlays. To be honest that might not be the exact right terminology, but the movie isn’t really concerned with the technicalities either, hand waving the jargon and giving Howard a clear sequence of tasks to complete no matter how convoluted the specifics.       This is the movies great trick, to create a sense of whirling, fast paced chaos whilst never letting the audience lose sight of what need...

Greta Gerwig has been on the promotional trail in the last few weeks talking about her second solo feature, an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s landmark 1868 novel Little Women. I would encourage listening to as many of her interviews as possible, the longer the better, as they provide the best insight as to how and why her sophomore effort is as magnificent as it is. Interviews with filmmakers are often not as interesting or insightful as you want them to be, with many giving vague or over rehearsed answers to questions they’ve heard hundreds of times before; this is not the case with Gerwig. She has been passionate, generous and articulate in describing her relationship with the novel and the various choices she made in adapting it. She can provide in depth reasoning for every narrative and filmmaking decision, displaying an intelligence that makes her ascension as one of Hollywood’s top talents seem retroactively inevitable and totally deserved. The film she has made refl...

So the Rise of Skywalker came out, and it was not a good movie. I don’t want to get into why here, as that has been covered extensively on every other corner of the internet, but I do want to address something that have seen getting mentioned as the key fault in Disney’s space trilogy. It’s become a common talking point that Disney did not have an overarching plan for their new batch of Star Wars films, and that the story of Rey, Kylo and the rest would have been better served by meticulous collaborative planning by the creatives in charge. Like Marvel, people say, Marvel had a plan. But did they? People seem to think Kevin Feige had the details of Endgame in mind from the beginning of the MCU, or at least since the first Avengers film. In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth.     Avengers: Endgame certainly seemed to tie 10+ years and 20+ movies together in a nice little (or actually a very large) bow. But what were the specifics of the plan? That Th...

Jojo Rabbit is hitting UK cinemas this week having already caused quite a kerfuffle among critics who saw it last year at festivals and in the US. The Nazi filled, feel-good comedy is a self-described “anti-hate satire” that’s somewhat controversial reception will be a new feeling for its writer/director Taika Waititi. The New Zealander’s previous work is mostly made up of crowd pleasing, generally agreeable films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor Ragnarok, and What we do in the Shadows. This time out he has taken the risky approach of melding his cutesy, naïve sensibilities onto a story with the darkest subject matter possible, the Holocaust. Set in Berlin during the dying days of the Second World War, our hero is ten year old Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), a tiny and anxious boy who’s lack of killer instinct earns him an embarrassing nickname at his local Hitler youth camp. He is seemingly everything a Nazi is not, sweet and kind, with a loving mother played by Scarlett Johanss...