It’s 2023, and movies are finally back. Hollywood has at last reached the point where the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are barely felt, and the ensuing bounty of film has resulted in one of the best years for the movies in recent memory. This was the year of the Barbenheimer craze that occupied our collective consciousness over the summer months, the year of features ranging from the nostalgic and personal to the unsettling, the harrowing, and the deeply, fantastically odd.
Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire released on Netflix on December 15th, 2023, burdened with an overly-long title and an unfortunate lack of cohesive plot or characters. Rebel Moon represents Snyder’s long-awaited crack at a space opera, packed with sneering villains and epic CGI battles, endlessly hyped by Snyder’s fanbase, but ultimately doomed to be remembered as yet another generic, shallow, derivative, and utterly forgettable film.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire’: Zack Snyder Does It Again”
In Poor Things, director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favorite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) crafts a tale reminiscent of a mythical hero’s journey, telling the story of a woman newly created by mad science embarking on a quest to discover herself. Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is returned from the dead by Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) with no memories and the mind of an infant, rapidly maturing as her brain grows to fit her body. She exists entirely within Godwin’s control as a scientific experiment, her movements meticulously documented by his assistant (Ramy Youssef) who quickly becomes infatuated with her. At the same time, Bella begins to discover her own sexuality, finding enjoyment in pleasure but confused by social constraints and soon desiring to see the world outside Godwin’s abode. An opportunity for her escape comes in the form of Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a hedonistic lawyer who offers to take her away. The pair subsequently embark on a sex-filled tour of the Mediterranean, where Bella discovers within herself a deep desire to help the unfortunate of the world.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Poor Things’: An Odyssey of Sexual Liberation”
In Dream Scenario, Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli paints a portrait of an ordinary man suddenly thrust into worldwide fame by events outside his control, and just as quickly torn down by the once-adoring public. The plot is simple – Nicolas Cage plays Paul Matthews, a professor of evolutionary biology at a small college, who inexplicably begins appearing in the dreams of nearly every person in the world. His unexpected prominence brings initial uncertainty, as Paul angles for a book deal and begins to come to terms with the changes that fame brings. He is not a man drawn to the limelight, but one who begins to come to terms with it just as people’s dreams of him turn to nightmares and his fame turns to widespread public hate.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Dream Scenario’: Nicolas Cage Hits the Mark, but the Movie Misses”