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Starts off strong, effectively building tension through striking cinematography and sharp editing/pacing, but once the table has been properly set, it's a gradual nosedive to the perplexing finale. The acting is undeniably committed and the child actors are pitch-perfect, but the exaggerated, go-for-broke lead performances teeter into overkill and would have been more effective if reined in a bit. Also, the frequent attempts at humor, though sometimes successful, completely undercut the unnerving tone. It felt like Peele wasn't confident in…
Not incisive enough to really work as satire, not funny enough to work as a dark comedy, not suspenseful enough to work as a thriller. The best thing it has going for it is the slow unraveling paranoia of the main character, and even in that, it’s fairly inconsistent. There are some really entertaining scenes, the acting is fantastic, and the writing is engaging, but it’s less than the sum of its parts, unfortunately.
Jarmusch's work occasionally falls flat for me but with The Dead Don’t Die, he goes beyond anti-comedy and anti-horror, essentially creating an anti-film so lazy and uninspired—the cop car's number is “001”—it’s as if complete apathy is his entire approach. Some may be charmed by the lack of style, substance, character development, purpose, and, well, anything to really latch onto, but to me, Jarmusch's refusal to commit to anything is maddening. The social commentary is so thin, it almost feels…
This thing goes in such an absurdist direction, which I wouldn't have a huge problem with if it didn't completely undercut the deeper thematic material. The third act completely falls apart and the film never really commits stylistically which is a shame because there's clear potential in front of and behind the camera.
Feels like Almodovar came up with the concept and didn't really put much effort into building a compelling narrative around it. Pretty disappointing because there are some really interesting characters and it the premise is initially intriguing, but really didn't come together in any meaningful way for me.
Apart from the main character, who is clearly meant to be an irresistible narcissist though I found him rather charmless from minute one, there's no sense of depth or complexity to these characters or their circumstances. Whishaw comes out strongest, mostly because he has the film's biggest scenes, but Exarchopoulos is given a thankless role and Rogowski is wildly miscast in a role that basically defines the film. It briefly flirts with boldness in its final act, but on the whole, the material is woefully predictable and underdeveloped.
Maybe I'm just broken after seeing Shoplifters 3 times, but I had a relatively mild reaction to this one; found it mildly funny, mildly moving, mildly pleasant, etc. I liked how unpretentious it was and some scenes are pretty powerful, especially in the closing stretch, but the stripped-down narrative and characters feel more underdeveloped than appropriately simplistic.
Burning is seared into my mind. Lee Chang-dong has crafted an absolutely stunning slow-burn psychological drama that respects the audience’s intelligence and rewards their patience. On paper, the premise is simple: a quiet, unassuming man loses his girlfriend to a charismatic psychopath. But the film is lush with psychological complexity and by employing a non-traditional structure and hypnotic pacing, Lee keeps his audience in a tight grasp.
Lee Chang-dong has always toyed with narrative structure. His second film Peppermint Candy…
Visually breathtaking, but apart from a few narrative flourishes, it still trades in many aspects of superhero films that simply don't appeal to me. It's brimming with eye-rolling one-liners and really uninspired dialog, which is likely only made more apparent by the fact that it's juxtaposed with an incredibly inventive, vibrant, and refreshing visual style. The animation utilizes image, color, and light distortion to create a gorgeous, entirely unique style that mimics pages of a comic book, yet still feels…
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