After Christopher Nolan’s fabulous trilogy of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, I was sure we wouldn’t see The Caped Crusader in a standalone film for a long time. Nolan’s series was pure perfection. Whichever director attempted to bring, arguably, the most storied superhero in comic book history was already behind the eight-ball before a script was even imagined. With its 29% Rotten Tomatoes score, 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was far from what we all hoped it would be. 2017’s Justice League (39%, 68%) didn’t help much. However, However, Zach Snyder’s 2001 director’s cut, while chalking in at over four hours, faired much better (71%, 94%). Matt Reeves’s (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield) The Batman is a darker, more mysterious take and is the perfect movie to bring the iconic superhero back to the big screen in his own story.
Category Archives: Peter Sarsgaard
The Lost Daughter (2021)
Oliva Coleman (The Favourite, The Father) continues her recent run of extraordinary performances in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, a movie about the pressures of motherhood. Set in the present day on an unnamed Greek island. Leda (Coleman), a divorced Italian Literature professor from the United States, is on a solo vacation at a lower-level seaside holiday rental managed by the affable and a tad eccentric Lyle (Ed Harris – The Abyss, The Hours). When first meeting Lyle, we think he might be in the movie; you might feel you are in store for another of Harris’s outstanding performances. But, unfortunately, he’s not much of a factor, and I wonder why he even chose to take this role.
An Education (2009)
Set in 1961 England, Carey Mulligan’s (Shame, Drive) breakout performance in Lone Scherfig (One Day, Their Finest) is a movie that resonates in a way that is completely independent of its time frame as well as location. Does this mean it’s a timeless classic? Well, when I think of timeless classics, I think of very different films than An Education. This beautiful film was on pace to be a timeless classic, one where everything is fine and dandy and one that I probably would not have enjoyed as much if not for a late twist. The setting of 1960s Europe doesn’t exactly perk my interest. If, as I write this in 2018, in my early 40’s when I am much more into the independents than I am the big blockbusters, the synopsis for this film doesn’t attract, I can only imagine what I thought going into it back in 2009. I honestly have no idea what piqued my interest in this movie or what even got me past the first 15 minutes. Sure, a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes will have some positive effect, but even that can only carry me so far. Whatever it was that encouraged me to continue with this movie even, when I suspect that I thought I was getting into some variation of Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, or one of the many other Keira Knightley movies, I am grateful. I want to say that this movie had a lasting impact on me because it did. However, upon watching it for a second time, with an eight-year gap between viewings, I can unequivocally say that how I thought I remembered this movie was considerably different than what actually happened. I think I like it the same, though I feel differently about it, especially how I view the final act.
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Jackie (2016)
Less than a month ago, I would have said Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Brothers) was the one lock for an Academy Award win. Her portrayal as the grieving Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the wake of her husband’s assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald. Portman just looked the part, and it felt like this was the role she was born to play. Portman is a fantastic actress, and she did an above-average job in Jackie. But this movie was so flat and depressing that I wonder if it’s going to be enough to take out Emma Stone in La La Land, the movie that has been gaining lots and lots of steam in recent weeks. As I look at this list of contenders for Best Actress, I’m not overly impressed. This definitely helps Portman. This film only had to be pretty good to convince me that she should win. Unfortunately, the movie did not live up to my expectations at all. While I learned a lot about Jackie Kennedy, her relationship with her family, the media, and the people of America, and the events that occurred on November 22, 1963, and the week afterward, I felt this movie overall was very dark and very dull. Though only an hour and a half, it felt like a three-hour snoozefest. It’s hard to recommend a movie that felt more like a history lesson that you should be required to watch in your 11th-grade US History class.
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Black Mass (2015)
Black Mass? More like Black Mess. This movie was not just a story that most of us could care less about, but it’s boring. It reminded me of American Hustle in that it was set in the same time period; it had a fantastic cast and, most importantly, the high expectations coming into it. I wouldn’t say that this movie was as disappointing because it didn’t have the Oscar expectations going into it as American Hustle did. Nonetheless, like the Christian Bale-led movie, I expected big things from this Johnny (Finding Neverland, Chocolat) endeavor. I don’t know if this movie was trying to be a combination of The Godfather/The Departed/Public Enemies and others, but it didn’t succeed outside of making Depp look like an old Jack Nicholson. I liked seeing Depp outside of the quirky roles he has been performing in as of late. And while he was pretty good, I did feel like the movie was brought down, in part, to how boring his character was. Unlike American Hustle, in which the performances were good (yet still overrated), the performances in Black Mass were flat. A terrific cast is wasted here. It is a disappointing movie in every sense of the word.
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