Much has been made of Ridley Scott’s (Prometheus, Robin Hood) films in the last decade or so as being a far cry from those earlier in his career. Highly anticipated, high-budget films such as House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Gladiator II, and Napoleon have failed to deliver either critically or financially. While three of the films turned a profit, The Last Duel grossed just $30 million off a $100 million budget, though it was the highest-rated of the four on Rotten Tomatoes (critics), IMDB, and Metacritic. I saw all four in the theater. I thought The Last Duel was great, Gladiator II was good, and the other two were terrible. The budget for his most recent film, The Dog Stars, was around $80 million, similar to House of Gucci and The Last Duel. Based on its audience and critics’ scores (40%, 71% on Rotten Tomatoes) and opening-weekend box office gross of just $8 million, The Dog Stars appears to be well on its way to being a massive flop. This will be a shame as it’s a pretty good, albeit flawed, film. Continue reading The Dog Stars (2026)
Category Archives: Guy Pearce
The Brutalist (2024)
Brutal. That was how I had already decided how I was going to describe Brady Corbet’s (The Childhood of a Leader, Vox Lux) The Brutalist, regardless of what I thought about it. With a runtime of three hours and forty-five minutes (plus a 15-minute intermission), I asked myself before my theater viewing, “Why am I seeing this?” The answer is not because I had any interest in seeing it but because it had been nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor (Adrien Brody – The Pianist, The Jacket), Best Supporting Actress Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, On the Basis of Sex), and Best Supporting Actor Guy Pierce (Memento, The King’s Speech). I saw it in the theater because content creators I follow told me the viewing experience had to be there, since Corbet shot the film on VistaVision. This process involves shooting the film horizontally on 35mm film stock to achieve a higher-resolution image for large screens. I wouldn’t have noticed a difference if I had not learned this beforehand.
Memento (2000)
A tour de force with its initial viewing, Christopher Nolan’s (Dunkirk, Interstellar) mind-bending Memento felt, more than 99% of the films I watch, worthy of a second viewing. What initially captivated but also confused me would likely enthrall me further as it clears up plot holes. It turns out that this wasn’t the case. Not only did my second watch make me more uncertain about the events, their timelines, and the overarching structure. It also left me feeling bored by the premise and disengaged from the story. In a way, it feels odd to say that. At the same time, the film could be more straightforward in its attempt to entertain and differentiate itself in new and unique ways. Even in the early stages of his directing career, Nolan was, for better or worse, telling his viewers that he was the most intelligent person in the room and to get used to it.
The Hurt Locker (2009)
“The rush of battle is a potent and almost lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” – Chris Hedges, author of War Is A Force that Gives Us Meaning.
2009’s The Hurt Locker is one of the finest movies ever. It was utterly gripping in its year of release and is a movie that will remain relevant until the end of time. It was monumental that director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty) became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director and the first woman to direct a Best Picture of the Year. It only took 80 years. Just as impressive, and a significant credit goes to Bigelow, was the breakout performance for two future Hollywood A-listers in Jeremy Renner (The Town, Wind River) and Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau, Triple 9). Ironically, both have landed themselves as Avengers characters, something I will touch on later in this review. There have been many excellent movies about the war in Iraq (Stop-Loss, The Green Zone, The Messenger, Grace Is Gone, Lions for Lambs, In the Valley of Elah, Jarhead), The Hurt Locker is second, falling just behind Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. And it’s close. Each is a film that should receive multiple views. Each had a lead that hit his performance entirely out of the park, had incredible direction, and had a chilling score that could be listened to on a quiet night on the couch at home. It is, without a doubt, a movie that should be viewed by anyone who enjoys/appreciates war movies.
The Road (2009)
John Hillcoat’s (Lawless, The Proposition) The Road is the best film adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel. Yes, I know that this means I preferred The Road over 2007’s Academy Award-winning Best Picture No Country For Old Men. The Road is a good adaptation of McCarthy’s novel, though not a great one. The novel, with the same name, presents a desolate 2929 America where nomadic tribes scour the earth, looking for any signs of life that would allow them to sustain existence. With the animals and vegetation extinct, cannibalism is alive and prevalent, though the number of people inhabiting the earth dwindles yearly.
Continue reading The Road (2009)