REVIEW: Darkest Hour

-

A riveting wartime drama to mirror Nolan's masterpiece. Seeing it from the political side feels like a director's cut or television spin-off of Dunkirk. It's a great performance by Oldman, of course. The little mannerisms and patterns of speech stand out beyond just the prosthetic perfection to create a blinding realisation of Britain's greatest ever leader. Wright does an extraordinary job of maintaining engagement. It is not the most eye-catching of stories, and Darkest Hour could have done with more war/evacuation scenes, but the way it maneuvers through the key dates and decisions keeps the pulse and sentiment of the film alive, ending in that iconic motivational speech.

B+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: The Humanity Bureau

-
Image
So this is my ninth Nicolas Cage film of the year. If this is not a spoof (it's not a spoof), then the filmmakers might be retarded. This is hilariously bad. I'm talking In The Blood and The Asylum's The Terminators -level of bad. In the future, the post-Trump Utopian United States is now led by a fascist government in which one government agency, The Humanity Bureau, regulates the contribution citizens make to society. Basically, they send people that take more than they contribute to a place called "New Eden". Little do these people know that they are being sent to their death. They kill them Auschwitz-style, then burn them, put them in boxes and pallet them up for some reason. The government keep people in the US and in the cities with fear. Instead of building a wall to keep people out and Americans in the cities, they have concocted lies, such as that radiation is strong along the borders, there are no longer roads that lead north, rivers/lakes have all
Read more

REVIEW: I Love You, Daddy

-
Image
It is such a shame that the accusations toward Louis C.K. happened on the eve of I Love You, Daddy 's release, because it is a brilliant film and a real achievement. It is extremely topical, not just with regards to C.K's recent tabloid life but with the whole movement regarding feminism, consent, positions of power etc., and it not coincidentally (I hope), in terms of dialogue and framing and locales, is a retro imitation of a Woody Allen comedy under the technical guise of a 50s drama. How gorgeous does that sound? It has all of the typical Allen elements. New York, Paris, relationship dilemmas, inadequacies, and even a direct real-life reference of an auteur filmmaker (played deceitfully predatory by John Malkovich) dating a minor. The film connections and conventions of yesteryear, editing, cinematography score...all brilliant. There is something magical that takes place when a film is shot in black-and-white. The lighting changes, and it instantaneously becomes art. Eac
Read more

REVIEW: Rampage

-
Image
I've never really agreed with the notion of mindless fun, but it is certainly present with Rampage .  It is a hollow monster-destruction flick that feels like it was written by the same people as Power Rangers .  The script is pretty generic, Dwayne Johnson is irritatingly more wooden than usual, and the villains are two-dimensional misfires.  On the flip-side, it's saving grace if you will ... there is a bunch of big, CGI monster fights, and I don't care what anyone says, they're fun to observe.  Not exciting or moving in any other way (apart from the short-lived final battle), but it's always at least visually interesting to behold these clashes.  There are also some comedic attempts, only two of which actually work (both are the gorilla's hand gestures).  The film jumps into gear pretty much as soon as it begins, and before you know it, it has ended. Not a lot of time for development. There is nothing outright terrible, but a lot of forgettable characters
Read more