I knew so little going into my viewing of Emerald Fennell’s (
Promising Young Woman)
Saltburn that I thought this movie starred Paul Mescal. Imagine my surprise when his name was not mentioned in the opening credits. Furthermore, I wasn’t able to identify the name or face of either the film’s lead character (Barry Keoghan –
The Banshees of Inisherin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) or primary supporting character (Jacob Elordi – HBO’s
Euphoria). As I reflected on the movie afterward and thought about each of these actors’ performances, I was impressed as I compared them to their other roles. Likewise, though Fennell’s film (which she also wrote) was as outlandish in premise as
Promising Young Woman (a movie that earned her an Oscar nomination as a debut director, nonetheless), Ambitious, the film excelled more visually than it did in substance. That’s not to say there wasn’t an intriguing, underlying story. Rather, the lack of cohesion, inconsistencies, and reasons for some of the character’s actions left us with a less-than-satisfying conclusion.
Continue reading Saltburn (2023) →
Disappointing. That’s the word I would use to sum up A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to A Quiet Place and the third movie in the successful trilogy. John Krasinski wrote and directed both A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II. Krasinski only has producer credits for the final installment. We felt his absence. A Quiet Place: Day One lacked originality, coherence, and suspense. It was a cash grab, which I played into. Michael Sarnoski (fresh of writing and directing credits of his debut film, Pig).
Finally! This is what a Godzilla movie was meant to be! Since 1954, there have been 
Michael Fassbender, it’s been a minute. We haven’t seen the once-up-and-coming next big thing in a movie since 2019’s Dark Phoenix or anything good since 2017’s 
It isn’t so much that Alice, Darling, the feature-length directorial debut of Mary Nighy, was a good movie nor an enjoyable watch, but rather how it remains in your mind long after its watch. It’s both a timely and timeless movie about emotional abuse, told exclusively through the eyes of a victim amid the turmoil, but having no sense of what to do about it or even if she knows if she’s genuinely experiencing this abuse. In this regard, the movie hits on all cylinders, even when it misses almost everything else.