Was a wee quiet regarding movie reviewing this year – it’s been busy! But I
still managed to get to ‘Barbenheimer’ that took over the world there for a while. All I can say is I’m glad I managed to source a pink hair accessory for the Barbie premiere. It was a very pink affair. And a surprisingly refreshing feminist message that did balance in the end. But like everyone, I’ve never seen a film so blunt – ‘I’m a man without power, does that make me a woman?’
I was more drawn to the thriller genre this year – surprise, surprise, with Saltburn blowing away the cobwebs with its sharp wit and extravagance, but let’s start the list with a documentary that I still think about, particularly while watching the TV series, The Fall of the House of Usher with the documentary about Nan showing in the background to underline the correlation her story had with the series about the evils of pharma, meet photographer and activist, Nan Goldin:
For me, I was captured by those slide shows, the people in the photos like characters in the movie of Nan’s life.
It’s a heavy story, but the telling is simple, measured and driven not by the production, but what felt like Nan herself.
Thought-provoking, intriguing with moments of beauty – this is a balanced film that gets you thinking.
If you’re already a fan of the John Wick franchise, Chapter 4 is obviously a must-see and in my opinion, as good as the previous JW3: the detail, the humour, the dogs, the camera work, those shots from above a seriously successful device to show more of the action… Action at its very best.
Complicated, suspenseful, political, scientific and psychological. It’s a lot.
But that raging fire and those blurred edges and uncertainty around Oppenheimer’s character to then reveal the truth of all those involved in the creation of the bomb added up to a sophisticated film that demanded full attention.
Somehow, Nolan has captured an aberration using Oppenheimer as a voice. And that takes brilliance.
Inviting, surprising, edgy and a pleasure to watch, like a guilty indulgence – this is a movie that keeps me coming back to the cinema wanting more.