Directed by Phil Lord, Chris Miller The Lego Movie is all about the hero's journey, that old tale in which an ordinary person is plucked out of reality and told they're special. It's Neo from The Matrix, Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker, all set in a stimulating world like that of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. Emmet Brickowski (Chris … Continue reading The Lego Movie (2014)
Month: December 2018
High Sierra (1941)
Directed by Raoul Walsh "It's infernally cold up here, maybe it's nerves. The rock above, where Earle is hiding looks like a huge ice berg. Whenever the flares are lit, the faces of the crowd gathered around here look like great masts of snow. They look dead, all but their eyes..." - Radio Reporter at … Continue reading High Sierra (1941)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Directed by the Coen Brothers The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is about death, even as it starts as a broad comedy and certainly as it transitions into a surreal drama. It's a Coen Brothers' comedy in the mostly in the style of Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, and Intolerable Cruelty. Also O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Hail, Caesar! These … Continue reading The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Directed by Stefano Sollima Sicario: Day of the Soldado isn't a movie that needs to exist. It's a sequel to the 2015 Sicario, a movie that establishes complex characters who don't seem conducive to a series of further cinematic adventures, though as this one suggests there may be a third. Like with other surprisingly successful movies, … Continue reading Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Burning (2018)
Directed by Chang-dong Lee Burning is a wonderful, tense character study. It's a thriller in some sense, though not initially. Such genre construction only develops over time from Jong-su's (Ah-In Yoo) obsession with and dissatisfaction over losing a girl he sleeps with, Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon). She's a classmate from middle school whom he once called ugly. … Continue reading Burning (2018)
The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
Directed by Susanna Fogel The Spy Who Dumped Me has a lot in common with the old Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn thriller/romance/comedy Charade (1963). In both cases the protagonist finds herself caught up in a world of deception and murder thanks to her connection to a dead or dying romantic interest. In Charade it was Hepburn's deceased husband, … Continue reading The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
Upgrade (2018)
Directed by Leigh Whannell In Upgrade a man who loathes automation will have to rely on a computer in order to gain back some agency in his own life. His story, a revenge thriller in the style of John Wick (2014), becomes something more thought-provoking, even if working in well-tread territory, like Ex Machina (2015). Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) … Continue reading Upgrade (2018)
The Meg (2018)
Directed by Jon Turtleltaub The Meg is a movie about Jason Statham, and a giant shark, that's all you need to know. It's campy, exciting and gets a little cynical (people brutally, quickly killed) before it gets romantic and sappy (when the shark is inevitably killed, and the heroes put their arms around each other), … Continue reading The Meg (2018)
Thunder Road (2018)
Directed by Jim Cummings Thunder Road is adapted from Jim Cummings' short film of the same name. This movie, in fact, begins with a recreation of that original short film, a long take of a uniformed police officer's grief and desperation at his mother's funeral (dancing to Bruce Springsteen music). This man is Officer Jim … Continue reading Thunder Road (2018)
Hollow Man (2000)
Directed by Paul Verhoeven A silly, campy movie quickly becomes a much more disturbing one in Hollow Man as a pervert turns invisible. That pervert is Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), an intelligent scientist working on a serum that can turn someone invisible and an accompanying serum that can bring you back. In his rush to prove … Continue reading Hollow Man (2000)
idrawonmywall.com 