If this is a narrative about building new things from an existing foundation, the same is done with its source. This is an adaptation of the middle section of the spectacular novel, Poor Things. By being so, it shifts the themes and overall arc of intent of the novel. But, much like how Bella is able to make herself when she is set free (or when she frees herself), Lanthimos and his collaborators find something divergent, yet equally brilliant here.…
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This Is Me…Now 2024
In this bizarre vanity project, Jennifer Lopez proves it’s possible to be self critical yet completely un-self aware. The premise is that she’s addicted to love, so addicted to love that she can’t be alone and is churning through men in a way that even shocks personified Star Signs.
Of the relatively recent J Lo projects, it seems strange that she’s chosen to continue in the key of Marry Me rather than something like Hustlers. But who…
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House of Bamboo 1955
Always wanting to do something different, Fuller helms what is (arguably) the first major American studio picture filmed in Japan. In trademark Fuller fashion it is full of boundary pushing themes for the time — interracial love and homoeroticism. Boundary pushing in terms of their inclusion in Hollywood studio film, not in terms of their existence.
The highlight here is the look, the widescreen frame takes in stunning locations. A lot of it supposedly filmed without permission, a boots on…
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Midnight 2024
There’s being prolific, and there’s Takeshi Miike. If sharks must constantly move to live, it feels like Miike must always be making a film to get the same result. The byproduct of this, the films themselves, are variable: when he’s on his A Game, he’s one of the best to ever do it; when he’s shovelling them out, you can be in for a rough time.
Give him time and resources, though, and he’ll make something cool. This Apple financed…
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Aftersun 2022
Soren Kirkergaard wrote that 'life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards'. Aftersun is an impressionistic portrait of this truism, an intricate web of framing devices that comes across as effortless.
In fact, describing Aftersun makes it sound so much more complicated than it is. The film presents three narrative perspectives, all adopting the lens of Sophie (Frankie Corio), the daughter of Calum (Paul Mescal) (the father and daughter relationship that the film entirely revolves around).…
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The Tragedy of Macbeth 2021
As an English Literature teacher who has taught Shakespeare’s Macbeth for seven years, my perspective on adaptations will differ to most. While I understand that Joel Coen’s turn is a striking piece of cinema full of good actors saying pretty words, and certainly is cinematic (on a visual level), it is a lukewarm adaptation that is often at odds with the strength of the source material. Coen’s Macbeth feels like what people think Shakespeare is: an arch, arty thing to…