Is it cheating to say a movie told in two chapters with an intermission at the centre is a tale of two halves?
It is clear that the opening chapter is much easier to wrap your arms around. While lots of the style and direction from Corbet is new and interesting, it is a story about an immigrant coming to America and their struggle to achieve success. There is a propulsive momentum to this half as we follow every success…
Did I watch this movie because of the recent news, no. Did I change the poster because of the recent news, you're goddamn right I did. I'm doing my part!
I really enjoyed the idea at the centre, and Gere's performance is really thorny and great. Some of the memory flashbacks overly complicate what probably should be a little more straightforward. It's clear that as the older Leo Fife's memory is fading certain events get jumbled together, but the changing colour grading and aspect ratios muddle the story to the point that I wasn't sure where or how things are supposed to line up.
Trying to split the difference between traditional rock biopic and fiction Velvet Goldmine ends up being neither fish nor fowl. While the movie wants us to look at Brian Slade or Curt Wild and see David Bowie or Iggy Pop, the simple truth is neither character comes close to the genuine article. McGregor does at least get a couple Stooges songs, which are his best moments, but Rhys Meyers is mostly miscast from the global popstar perspective, and if the…
Does a good job of setting up why the eventual outcome was really the only outcome that was ever going to happen. It's honestly dizzying how many issues there were with the festival before they even let people into the venue, let alone after people started getting dehydrated, sexually assaulted, and a million other things that exacerbated the event. It was a powder keg, and they were so ill prepared for what they were about to unleash, and lots of…
Martin McDonagh understands one key element of the black comedy which I think most don't, and that is you have to push the darkness as far as it can possibly go, and even then give it one extra nudge. His comedy is almost more of a release of tension than it is actual jokes, and this is where Banshees sings.
The two lead performances are pitch perfect, Farrell perhaps being the standout because it's another "against type" role (does he…
ciaran_vallely liked Quinn Gale’s review of Queer
ciaran_vallely liked shahbakht’s review of The Philadelphia Story
ciaran_vallely liked Rachelle Younie’s review of My Neighbor Totoro
ciaran_vallely liked Quinn Gale’s review of Violent Cop
ciaran_vallely liked Colin🙃’s review of A Real Pain
