I watched Luther: The Fallen Sun, which picks up the story of the critically-acclaimed BBC crime drama Luther directly after its fifth season finale (which aired four years ago, in 2019), without having seen any of the show, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much it worked for me despite my unfamiliarity with the world and its characters.
The game’s in the name! I love movies and television, and I always try to look for the good in everything while also respecting the amount of work that goes into creating a piece of content. After years of reviewing for the Cape Cod Chronicle, I decided to start my own self-published review website where I can continue to build my skills and experience as a critic while also chronicling my love and appreciation for new and older films alike.
February 28, 2023
“Luther: The Fallen Sun” is a New Dawn for the BBC Crime Drama (Review)
I watched Luther: The Fallen Sun, which picks up the story of the critically-acclaimed BBC crime drama Luther directly after its fifth season finale (which aired four years ago, in 2019), without having seen any of the show, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much it worked for me despite my unfamiliarity with the world and its characters.
February 27, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Director
Martin McDonagh has made some spectacular, and simultaneously polarizing films since he made his feature film debut with 2008’s In Bruges. Now, he’s reunited with both stars (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) for The Banshees of Inisherin, a dour tragicomedy, which is precisely where McDonagh’s skills lie. McDonagh, whose background is in playwriting, is highly skilled in threading the needle between darkness and humor, and it’s more evident here than it is anywhere else. Once you get past the Irish accents — trust me, it will take a moment to adjust — you’ll get hit with the genius of McDonagh’s stellar screenplay, chock-full of quotable idioms and engaging character moments that will have you contemplating for days to come, and marked direction, which immerses you beautifully in the quasi-fictional world of 1920s Ireland. I wrote in my review that “no one is better at communicating that sorrow, coupled with the funny little quirks of existence than Martin McDonagh, and Banshees is certainly him at his best.” This is one of six nominations McDonagh has received throughout his career, along with one win (in 2006, for his short film Six Shooter).
This directing duo is nothing short of astonishing, and some of the most interesting creative minds whose work I’ve had the pleasure of seeing come to life on-screen. Nothing makes me happier, sadder and silly like Everything Everywhere All At Once, and I truly believe that the Daniels have captured lightning in a bottle. Their recognition at the awards this year is much deserved.
February 25, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Adapted Screenplay
Lighter on the dialogue than most of these other nominees, the screenplay for All Quiet on the Western Front (co-written by director Edward Berger, writer Ian Stokell and professional athlete Lesley Paterson, and adapted from the 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque) is violent, upsetting, and never pulls its punches in the brutal depiction of war at its worst. The characters are flawed, but personable, and we care about them despite their allegiances to the “wrong side” of the First World War — after all, it wasn’t the fault of the soldiers, but the people in command, some of whom are spotlighted in the occasional cutaway, which transforms the film into a political drama for incremental periods of twenty-odd minutes.
February 24, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Costume Design
Ruth Carter’s win for costuming the first Black Panther was a major victory and a big surprise when it comes to superhero films at awards shows, so it’s only sensible to see her nominated once again for Wakanda Forever — a film with less opportunities to show off lavish costumes, but with a whole batch of new characters to clothe in a vast manner of fascinating regalia. The introduction of underwater nation Talokan, led by villain Namor, offered ripe opportunities with whole new worlds to create. Other new characters like Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) are either costumed “normally” or dressed up entirely in a CGI creation — an issue which plagues many parts of this film (see my Visual Effects breakdown for more on that front).
February 23, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Original Screenplay
One of the kookiest and zaniest scripts of the year (and perhaps one of the most ambitious of all time) is the one that made me cry, gasp and laugh the hardest I ever have at a first watch. Everything Everywhere All At Once is a visual treat, but everything starts with the script — and the Daniels know how to elicit emotion better than most. Its shocks are its strengths, but the real value lies in the passion, clearly present all over this movie.
February 22, 2023
Cult Hit “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” Ruins Childhoods with Murderous Glee (Review)
Unfortunately, Winnie the Pooh does not speak in this horror-themed reimagining of the classic Disney character, but if he did, I imagine he’d say his iconic catchphrase more than once — because this is a film which certainly deserves it.
Masterminded by English director Rhys Frake-Waterfield, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was announced in May 2022 and instantly gained notoriety and garnered significant controversy, but also stamped a permanent place in the minds of hardcore movie-goers such as myself. I wouldn’t say I was particularly excited, but I was intrigued, and sometimes, that’s enough.
February 21, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Editing
Frantic editing is a staple of Baz Luhrmann’s films, and probably my least favorite mainstay of his. Elvis is done no less frantically, with more cuts-per-minute than I could keep up with. Still, it’s unique, and some might consider it great, so its presence in the category is not entirely surprising.
February 18, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Visual Effects
Not since (ironically) 1917 has a film immersed me to the extent that it is nigh-impossible to tell what is a visual effect and what isn’t. Sure, it may be obvious that a tank rolling over numerous people through the trenches (among other war atrocities) is CGI, but it’s so well-assimilated into the world that All Quiet creates that it’s easy to believe the verity of everything you’re seeing…as awful as it is.
Avatar revolutionized digital filmmaking in 2009, and nothing less was expected from its blockbuster sequel. I wrote in my review that “it would be hearsay to claim that Avatar: The Way of Water is not incredibly beautiful to look at. Every frame is rendered meticulously, and because most of what we’re seeing on-screen is composed entirely of visual effects, it’s unequivocally awe-inspiring. I also had the opportunity to see it in 3D, a medium I’m not always the biggest fan of — in fact, I was worried about subjecting myself to it for the three and a half hours this movie runs — but it seemed effortless more than anything else, like the 3D is a natural part of the world that Cameron has created.”
February 15, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Animated Feature
There are lots of things present here I never thought I would see depicted in an adaptation of Pinocchio, primarily among them the blatant atrocities of war and an unfiltered look at the brutality of early 20th-century fascism. Even though this is a family film, it’s about what I expected from a del Toro-led adaptation of this story — the man has a penchant for telling dark tales, and this is about as restrained as he can be. The film incorporates elements of the classic story that Disney-fied versions never would, like religion and war, and it only further elucidates the metaphors on display here. The story of Pinocchio has never been more cogent and captivating than it is here.
February 13, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Supporting Actress
February 11, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Supporting Actor
February 9, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Actress
February 7, 2023
2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Actor
The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role!
February 4, 2023
The January Movies of 2023: A Review Roundup
February 1, 2023
Taut Horror “Knock at the Cabin” is a Return to Form for Shyamalan (Review)
Our leads are Eric and Andrew, a married couple who are vacationing in a remote Pennsylvania cabin with their adopted daughter Wen (Kristen Cui, making her feature film debut). Eric and Andrew are played by Jonathan Groff (he of Hamilton and Mindhunter fame) and Ben Aldridge (who recently starred opposite Jim Parsons in the under-the-radar rom-com Spoiler Alert), and they’re the perfect grounding force for a film that very quickly strays into the psychological extreme.