Jeremy Saulnier’s low-budget revenge thriller, Blue Ruin is a masterclass in suspense, visceral action and dark melodrama. With expressive performances and a stripped-down style, it’s an intelligent vigilante story. Macon Blair stars as Dwight Evans, an emotionally damaged vagrant, who lives out of his car and scavenges for food and money. He is seemingly so […]
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Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! is an experimental horror film unlike any other and quite comfortably earns the “it’s not for everyone” tag. If you’re seeking conventionality, don’t even bother watching Mother!. It’s jam-packed with shocking imagery and possesses a nightmare quality. When Mother! was released last year, pretty much everyone came away with their own interpretation. The most prominent conversation was about […]
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Why make your film linear when you can flit between past and present, and leave audiences crying “Wait, what?” Martha Marcy May Marlene has a free-moving timeline that messes with your head, and it’s completely absorbing. It’s a tense, oppressive movie with one of the most difficult titles to remember, at least after you see the film. […]
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This is a dramatisation of a true social experiment that took place in 1971, at Stanford University. With searing performances by its cast, The Standford Prison Experiment thrills you for most of its runtime. It starts with one simple question: “Would you rather be a prisoner or a guard?” That’s what 24 college guys get asked […]
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Imagine you lose your memory and forget your past. Everyone becomes a stranger… What would you do? Would you reinvent yourself or try to find your identity? Memory loss is a key feature in Memento and The Bourne Identity. I’m looking into both films in one article. Memento (2000) Leonard (Guy Pearce) looks at a photograph of a dead guy when Memento starts. The […]
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Everything about The Killing of a Sacred Deer gets ingrained in your mind. Director Yorgos Lanthimos forces you to pay attention to every single detail. When watching, you’ll have no idea where the story is going to take you. Lanthimos’ deadpan humour ripples beneath the surface and there are no clear answers. Is this a revenge movie? A […]
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A History of Violence doesn’t try to be an action flick; it takes a hard look at violence in its many forms. Can violence ever be justified? Are you still heroic when you’re violent? I missed this film when it was released in 2005. I would have been ten years old at the time, so […]
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Sweet Virginia has a slow, menacing burn, which harks back to the classic street-wise films of the 1970s. I really enjoy these type of movies. They might come across as very straight forward, but hyper-realism is their style. Sweet Virginia is soaked in gritty realism. Its Alaskan setting is a brooding place, where Sam (Jon […]
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First of all, I’m surprised there has been next to no fanfare for Wind River. Its reception has been kind, but it didn’t get much mainstream hype. My theory is the plot makes it sound like a conventional murder mystery. So, it wasn’t able to grab the attention of a large audience. I suppose for some of […]
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Blessed with the direction of Angelina Jolie, First They Killed My Father is a fine war movie. The story is through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl. It’s based on Loung Ung’s memoir about her experiences when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. This was a violent campaign that wiped out almost a quarter of the […]
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Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is the kind of guy that would ridicule anyone who went to see a psychiatrist. Meaning, he would never go to see one himself. Well, he really needs to since he spends his spare time killing people for fun. (Or does he?) I’ve seen American Psycho a couple of times now, so you’re […]
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There are crime films and then there are TRUE crime films. Zodiac falls into the latter category. It’s based on California’s notorious Zodiac killings, in which the killer in question took great pride in giving clues by sending letters to the press. Yet still, the cops hit brick wall after brick wall in their pursuit. “The Zodiac” was […]
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