Change Your Image
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Reviews
Asteroid City (2023)
The first time I've walked out of a cinema since the third Matrix
You know those generative AI images that are all the rage? You give it a prompt and it makes you an image that, on first glance, is exactly what you asked for! Amazing!
Then, you pore over it in a little more detail, and find all the details that are missing and wrong. Spend long enough giving it a serious examination and you come away from it completely empty, realising that what you have is an amalgam of pieces, with every imitation box ticked except 'meaning' - the whole is less than the sum of the parts (ironically, "in the style of Wes Anderson" is a very popular generative imagery prompt).
Well, watching this film is a similar experience. If you're just glancing, or just going to drop in for any five random minutes, it ticks all the Wes Anderson boxes.
Pastel colours? Tick.
Kooky typography? Tick.
Kooky cast in kooky roles? Tick.
However, watch it long enough and you'll notice all the details that are missing and wrong. It feels like a parody of a Wes Anderson film by someone who really dislikes him, almost like it's designed to have you begging for just one scene with normal colour grading, without an obnoxious kid who looks just like one of their parents, whatever your pet Anderson peeve is.
Hopefully, it's a blip. I remember feeling similar when I watched Death Proof - an obnoxious pat on his own back by Tarantino, who has since gone on to make more greats - hopefully someone will sit him down, explain that he doesn't have to give Bill Murray a cameo in everything, and we can all get back to enjoying a talented filmmaker.
Howards' Way (1985)
Fun if you're out of your mind on drugs
Me and my mate ended up really quite worse for wear and ended up watching about three seasons of this in one night. Don't really remember anything about it but we kept it on, can't have been that bad.
Twisted Pair (2018)
The pure majesty of nature
Last night I had the privilege of seeing this film at the Hard Rock Cafe, and I highly recommend viewing Twisted Pair with as many other people as you can. It's truly a shared experience. A venue full of strangers p*ssing themselves laughing, bonded by sheer bafflement; it was a great atmosphere and Breen deserves genuine credit for this, however insane and incomprehensible his films are. On that note...
As you already know, the script is abject nonsense. At some points, it is only technically English. Much of Cade's dialog sounds like Breen is just reading out his search history (AI...mutant biological warfare...etc), he has his usual knack for relatable, strong female characters, and he's called in every favour in his local diner to assemble another great ensemble cast. The main antagonist is a man called Kuzzx who owns, and really likes, a little bowl of plastic crystals.
Neil has discovered an actually-quite-creepy background noise and, predictably, torn the arse out of it. Romantic scenes and military engagements alike are underscored with the same throbbing synth undertone. The hilarious depictions of 'drug abuse' should also kill any notion that Breen's wild imagination is fuelled by anything more than good old narcissism.
Everything you expect, and more, and a couple of surprises at the end strongly hint at either a shared cinematic universe, or him being in on the joke.