wellthatswhatithinkanyway
Joined Nov 2000
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STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
Jimmy Erksine (Ian McKellen) is a critic at a major Fleet Street newspaper, renowned for his brutal put downs and sharp tongue. His present target seems to be struggling young actress, Nina Land (Gemma Anderton), leading to him being laid off by senior editor, David Brooke (Mark Strong.) To enact revenge, he concocts a scheme with Miss Land to bring him down, leading to a trail of destruction and death that leave a devastating trail.
Among the other underrepresented minority groups in stage and screen, elderly/older actors get a lot of attention for losing out on headlining roles to their younger counterparts, often seen as less of a box office draw for the apparently younger cinema-going audience (even though most of them are more into streaming now.) But The Critic, from director Anaud Tucker, headlines legendary elder thespian Ian McKellen, in a role that suits him to the bone and which he devours with relish. He's probably the best thing about it.
The script has the perfect concept for a biting dark satire, in an age when professional reviews appearing in established daily papers (i.e. Not this one) still have an impact on a major new films box office opening weekend, but the whole farrago is just strangely uninvolving throughout, with a meandering script that veers between its dark comedy setting, and heavier dramatic interludes. An all star cast, including the likes of Anderton and Strong, deliver committed, credible performances, but can't really lift the material any higher.
This is, if nothing else, a worthy effort to bring a project headlined by an older actor to the screen, even if it did disappear fairly quickly from theatres, but sadly it all comes off wrong, and is all the more of a shame for it. **
Jimmy Erksine (Ian McKellen) is a critic at a major Fleet Street newspaper, renowned for his brutal put downs and sharp tongue. His present target seems to be struggling young actress, Nina Land (Gemma Anderton), leading to him being laid off by senior editor, David Brooke (Mark Strong.) To enact revenge, he concocts a scheme with Miss Land to bring him down, leading to a trail of destruction and death that leave a devastating trail.
Among the other underrepresented minority groups in stage and screen, elderly/older actors get a lot of attention for losing out on headlining roles to their younger counterparts, often seen as less of a box office draw for the apparently younger cinema-going audience (even though most of them are more into streaming now.) But The Critic, from director Anaud Tucker, headlines legendary elder thespian Ian McKellen, in a role that suits him to the bone and which he devours with relish. He's probably the best thing about it.
The script has the perfect concept for a biting dark satire, in an age when professional reviews appearing in established daily papers (i.e. Not this one) still have an impact on a major new films box office opening weekend, but the whole farrago is just strangely uninvolving throughout, with a meandering script that veers between its dark comedy setting, and heavier dramatic interludes. An all star cast, including the likes of Anderton and Strong, deliver committed, credible performances, but can't really lift the material any higher.
This is, if nothing else, a worthy effort to bring a project headlined by an older actor to the screen, even if it did disappear fairly quickly from theatres, but sadly it all comes off wrong, and is all the more of a shame for it. **
STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor -* Awful
Agent Levi (Miles Teller), a man with deep personal scars, is summoned to a meeting with Miss Bartholemew (Sigourney Weaver), who offers him a special assignment. He must perform guard duty on a secret 'gorge' in the middle of nowhere, on a designated side. After a while, he spots the guard on the other side, Drasa (Anna Taylor-Joy), a firm headed French national with her own issues to deal with. After forming a bond and coming together, the pair are thrust into a devastating final battle with an unimaginable life force.
The Black Phone director Scott Derrickson's latest feature offering appears to have arrived on Apple TV+ with little in the way of fanfare and in turn any sort of anticipation. Luckily I stumbled across it whilst skimming for my Saturday night film, and now the connection with the man at the helm of that most wonderful horror flick is all the more pleasing. And while nowhere near the standard of that film, what we have is a curiously pleasing work indeed, an extraordinary cross between Love, Actually and Resident Evil, with a touch of The Lord of the Rings thrown in. Yes, you read that right.
Derrickson opens his project with a dark, moody tone that isn't entirely consistent with what is to follow. While the dim lighting and oppressive cinematography are fairly enduring, the script chirps up midway through, with a lively soundtrack added to the mix that helps lift the proceedings. It's really not the best plot, pretty thin and piecemeal, and all rather outlandish and far fetched, but the insanity of it makes it all the more fun. Performances wise, Teller is a convincing straight tough guy with some clear internalised demons, while Taylor-Joy delivers a commanding tough girl whose front cracks at the right points. Weaver is also cold and unfeeling in her supporting role.
It really is a zany, unconventional piece, not unforgettable in any way, but a fun and wild ride while it lasts, and you'll be pleased you took it. ***
Agent Levi (Miles Teller), a man with deep personal scars, is summoned to a meeting with Miss Bartholemew (Sigourney Weaver), who offers him a special assignment. He must perform guard duty on a secret 'gorge' in the middle of nowhere, on a designated side. After a while, he spots the guard on the other side, Drasa (Anna Taylor-Joy), a firm headed French national with her own issues to deal with. After forming a bond and coming together, the pair are thrust into a devastating final battle with an unimaginable life force.
The Black Phone director Scott Derrickson's latest feature offering appears to have arrived on Apple TV+ with little in the way of fanfare and in turn any sort of anticipation. Luckily I stumbled across it whilst skimming for my Saturday night film, and now the connection with the man at the helm of that most wonderful horror flick is all the more pleasing. And while nowhere near the standard of that film, what we have is a curiously pleasing work indeed, an extraordinary cross between Love, Actually and Resident Evil, with a touch of The Lord of the Rings thrown in. Yes, you read that right.
Derrickson opens his project with a dark, moody tone that isn't entirely consistent with what is to follow. While the dim lighting and oppressive cinematography are fairly enduring, the script chirps up midway through, with a lively soundtrack added to the mix that helps lift the proceedings. It's really not the best plot, pretty thin and piecemeal, and all rather outlandish and far fetched, but the insanity of it makes it all the more fun. Performances wise, Teller is a convincing straight tough guy with some clear internalised demons, while Taylor-Joy delivers a commanding tough girl whose front cracks at the right points. Weaver is also cold and unfeeling in her supporting role.
It really is a zany, unconventional piece, not unforgettable in any way, but a fun and wild ride while it lasts, and you'll be pleased you took it. ***
STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
Young brothers, Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery) are raised by their mother, Lois (Tatiana Maslany) after the disappearance of their father. While sorting through his things, they discover a grinning toy monkey, that operates when a device is turned on its back. After a series of gruesome deaths occur, the boys get rid of the monkey, only to be drawn back together years later when the deaths resume, in a final confrontation with their furry nemesis.
Riding high on what could, at the very least, be described as the cult success of last summer's Longlegs, writer/director Osgood Perkins returns with an adaptation of a Stephen King short story (because, what else?), from his anthology, Skeleton Crew, sticking with the serial killer theme, albeit with a more outwardly supernatural slant. But unlike the morbid darkness of Longlegs, The Monkey emerges as a dark comedy, with its tongue lodged cruelly in its cheek.
Perkins takes a familiar horror trope, in the shape of a seemingly innocent, childlike entity being transformed into something sinister and unsettling, and could have crafted something much scarier, but instead embraces the absurdity at the heart of the premise, and delivers something knowingly otherworldly and exaggerated. Adapted from a short story, it's also pleasingly succinct and so doesn't wear the premise out. It's nothing more than it thinks it is, but for what it is, it's more than satisfactory.
Even the best horror ends up as a divine comedy of sorts, and this time Perkins takes a short King tale, and goes right to the source. How accurate it is to King's words, I don't know, but this in itself is something pleasingly different. ***
Young brothers, Hal and Bill (both played by Christian Convery) are raised by their mother, Lois (Tatiana Maslany) after the disappearance of their father. While sorting through his things, they discover a grinning toy monkey, that operates when a device is turned on its back. After a series of gruesome deaths occur, the boys get rid of the monkey, only to be drawn back together years later when the deaths resume, in a final confrontation with their furry nemesis.
Riding high on what could, at the very least, be described as the cult success of last summer's Longlegs, writer/director Osgood Perkins returns with an adaptation of a Stephen King short story (because, what else?), from his anthology, Skeleton Crew, sticking with the serial killer theme, albeit with a more outwardly supernatural slant. But unlike the morbid darkness of Longlegs, The Monkey emerges as a dark comedy, with its tongue lodged cruelly in its cheek.
Perkins takes a familiar horror trope, in the shape of a seemingly innocent, childlike entity being transformed into something sinister and unsettling, and could have crafted something much scarier, but instead embraces the absurdity at the heart of the premise, and delivers something knowingly otherworldly and exaggerated. Adapted from a short story, it's also pleasingly succinct and so doesn't wear the premise out. It's nothing more than it thinks it is, but for what it is, it's more than satisfactory.
Even the best horror ends up as a divine comedy of sorts, and this time Perkins takes a short King tale, and goes right to the source. How accurate it is to King's words, I don't know, but this in itself is something pleasingly different. ***