"And know this: where death is, we are not. Where we are, death is not."
Admittedly safe when compared to Nick Cave's gonzo drafts some two decades ago, though markedly beyond the one-to-one "remake" that numerous critiques claim (and condemn).
Continuing the Gladiator saga – set sixteen years following Maximus’ epic – the past looms large on the present, each bloodied at the crossroads of legacy and tyranny as the forsaken Lucius returns to a decaying Rome under destiny's vengeful…
"The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end."
Flawed, yes, but unquestionably – and rather comfortably – among THE bona fide blockbuster classics. Even after twenty-four years, Ridley Scott’s era-defining heroic actioner just refuses to die, slashed at with either the considerable woes of its own production history or any critical revaluation since. A resolute, dogged epic helmed by a resolute, dogged industry legend, one who wields cast and crew with often peerless clarity.
Scene-after-scene, the experience…
"This is a twisted web, and we are not finished untangling it, not yet."
Crackling with a spirited originality made all the more pleasurable by the utter adoration for the narrative's influences, Rian Johnson's Knives Out is a whodunit for the ages; an irresistible, topical, and devilishly entertaining stroke of taut brilliance whose Christie-inspired roots find themselves simultaneously revered and rejuvenated with equal shades of Hitchcock, Columbo, and the filmmaker's genre-melding aptitude. The grasp on the assorted threads in play…
Sight and Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time (2022) – #82
"The stars are ageless, aren't they?"
That feeling. You know it, don't you? We've all been there. Your heartbeat quickens, your eyes widen, your breath slows. Hairs stand on end. It's as though you fade from reality, if only for a handful of fleeting yet transcendent moments as the frames burn themselves across every peak and valley of the mind. The reaction is unquestionable, utterly unstoppable. Emotional, chemical, something…
Ryne Walley liked Andrea Sue 🧇’s review of Red One
Ryne Walley liked Elijah_Quinn’s review of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Ryne Walley liked Aaron Stielstra’s review of Rambo: Last Blood
Ryne Walley liked ✨nick✨’s review of It Ends with Us
Ryne Walley liked Ryan Hurley’s review of September 5
