Fresh on the tail of Tomb Raider, Rampage arrives to demonstrate that there is no easy route to videogame movie success. Where Alicia Vikander's vehicle attempted to ape the thematic success of its complicated source, Rampage aims to drop Dwayne Johnson into a situation as preposterously stupid as the arcade game it was "inspired" by. Its success is extremely limited. … Continue reading Rampage
Silence is a risk factor for the modern mainstream film. Used well, it can be atmospherically transformative, and tension-ratcheting. Given audiences’ current predilections toward chat and crunchy foods, however, the prospect of a film primarily steeped in total quiet, as promised by A Quiet Place, is itself a stress-inducing one. When this assured debut from John … Continue reading A Quiet Place
Spielberg is a banker, common sense dictates. Whether telling procedural spy stories, emotional war tales or evocative family yarns, he churns out the good stuff. Ernest Cline has demonstrated that this theory has a limit, and with a tired script based off that author's hateful novel Spielberg has produced the nostalgia-ridden and flimsy Ready Player One. … Continue reading Ready Player One
Wes Anderson, we can credibly speculate based on the title of his latest film, loves dogs. In Isle of Dogs, running with this clear affection for man's best friend, he takes the strengths of his first animated outing, Fantastic Mister Fox, and improves on them all, while telling a charming tale in a dystopic Japan. Megasaki, a fictional … Continue reading Isle of Dogs
It is a strength of the new Star Wars saga that John Boyega's leading man credentials haven't been fully verified yet - those films have shared the limelight around. With Pacific Rim Uprising, he demonstrates that his wit and charm can carry a movie - a shame, then, that this one is reluctant to let him do so. … Continue reading Pacific Rim Uprising
The fruits of a titanic individual effort are rarely conventional. Chinese animator Liu Jian's independently conceived and created Have a Nice Day is a brief, stylish noir thriller that the Chinese tourism board is unlikely to love. Our story is centred around a bag of illicit cash, the proceeds of racketeering and mob rule. At first stolen … Continue reading Have a Nice Day
Ruben Östlund’s new satire, The Square, is an epic shot across the bows of the art world, savaging pretension and selfishness. It is almost certainly overlong and over-ambitious, but contains moments of sparkling wit and toe-curling discomfort, and some truly memorable imagery. Claes Bang, whom only Scandi fans will likely recognise, is the achingly cool Christian, curator … Continue reading The Square
Alex Garland is developing a justified reputation as an auteur for our times - he has written well-liked genre films, from 28 Days Later to Dredd, alongside a pair of the more thoughtful narrative games of this decade, DMC and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. His directorial debut Ex Machina cemented his position as a rising genre star, and his … Continue reading Annihilation
Lynne Ramsay’s new film nods heavily to Taxi Driver but offers a pleasingly individual and characterful take on isolation and trauma. It is taut and considered, carefully brutal, and produces a number of artfully crafted and sensitive shocks. Joaquin Phoenix is Joe, a quiet veteran who lives with his aging and declining mother in New York. His … Continue reading You Were Never Really Here
Netflix's quest for cinematic world domination continues with Duncan Jones's new film, Mute. The director of eerie cult classic Moon and the sprightly Source Code has demonstrated the fallacy of Netflix's model, however, with a frankly dull science fiction thriller. Alexander Skarsgård is the film's central and titular mute, a future-Amish man named Leo who won't have his vocal chords … Continue reading Mute
