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The Holdovers (2023)
I saw The Holdovers and really enjoyed it. I saw it on a whim when a friend suggested it, and approached the film almost reluctantly, thinking that it seemed like one of those formulated Oscar-bait dramas that get awards because they’re about important themes. I also hate coming-of-age films, and the marketing made it seem…
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Imaginary (2024)
Well, I just saw Imaginary, the latest Blumhouse excretion, and it’s an Oscar contender for most boring film of the year. This was actually a major disappointment since the trailers made it seem as though it’d be visually and conceptually interesting. Filmed through what seemed to be eyeholes in a mask and evoking a topsy-turvy…
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Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
I just watched Lisa Frankenstein and it was one of those movies where almost nothing really works, and yet… I kind of loved it. The unfortunately named Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is an ‘80s teenage outcast whose mother was killed by an axe murderer. She’s now struggling to deal with a bitchy stepmother (Carla Gugino)…
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Madame Web (2024)
You know superhero movies are in trouble when studios start downplaying the fact they’re superhero movies. Sony’s marketing for Madame Web has focused on its supposed properties as a “suspense thriller”, which is a bit like trying to sell I Spit on Your Grave as a screwball comedy. Of course, anyone sensible knows it’s going…
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Jade (1995)
Why was Joe Eszterhaz the highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood at one point? Maybe I need to watch more of his movies to find out, but I’ve seen a fair few now, and my overall impression is that he’s a witless hack who can’t write well-motivated characters and can barely even plot coherently. Harsh? Perhaps. But…
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Bad Movie Night choices: Body of Evidence (1993) and Strait-Jacket (1964)
One of the more famous movie disasters, Body of Evidence is surprisingly entertaining as a film to watch with friends, so long as you’re comfortable watching sex scenes together. It stars Madonna at the tail end of a string of panned movies, the previous entries being Shanghai Surprise (1986), Who’s That Girl (1987), and Bloodhounds…
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The Zone of Interest (2023)
The first thing I noticed about The Zone of Interest was its certificate. 12A. The equivalent, I suppose, of PG-13 in America. Most adult-oriented films about the Holocaust (or any genocide) would presumably earn a higher rating given what it needs to depict. Schindler’s List (1993), which I was shown in school, is a 15. …
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High Tension (2003)
Perhaps all you need from a slasher film is a lot of gory killings and cat-and-mouse scenes. If so, Alexandre Aja‘a High Tension is for you. As for me, this is a film that forced upon my consciousness a realisation: whatever mood I’m in, I do at least need a story that makes a basic…
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American Fiction (2023)
I recently saw American Fiction and it was good. The directorial debut of Cord Jefferson, it stars Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a literature PhD and novelist whose upper-middle-class Black experience is a hard sell for publishers looking to flog books. With his widowed mother’s medical bills to pay, however, he decides to turn…
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The Beekeeper (2024)
I just saw The Beekeeper and it was fun. I had my doubts given that it’s directed by David Ayer, whose track record hasn’t been great. He’s long seemed kind of a hack to me, given films like the travesty that was Bright and the total junk-food-for-the-mind first Suicide Squad. But a film like The…
I Just Saw
Telling you about movies I just saw
