Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is ugly, prosaic, and dull, pandering to an audience willing to be spoon-fed lines that they once recognised and moves as gracefully as its geriatric lead.
Category Archives: Reviews
Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismäki’s first film since 2017 continues with his trademark mix of deadpan humour and social realism in a clear-eyed take on class politics, mobility, and never succumbing to hopelessness.
Fingernails
Christos Nikou’s second feature doesn’t quite reach memorable comic and painful heights, but does have something to say about modernity’s continual perversion of the human experience and the need to dissect, categorise, and package it. Romance is far from dead, but FINGERNAILS takes a forlorn look at what might kill it.
Is There Anybody Out There?
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? is a cry for solidarity outside the bounds of what society considers normal. Filmmaker Ella Glendining is as exacting and rigorous with her assumptions as she is in challenging others, encouraging an empathetic reflection as the film’s ending scenes roll.
Anatomy of a Fall
A competent, intriguing drama like this gaining award traction feels more symptomatic of it being the kind of good film that is now a rare occurrence within the film zeitgeist, rather than one that feels like it will be remembered after the award cycle.
Evil Does Not Exist
The title of EVIL DOES NOT EXIST initially implies a sense of virtue, an optimistic hope that the world isn’t as fatally flawed as our experience would make us believe, but Ryusuke Hamaguchi slowly and surely maps out the different layers of the local community that are a microcosm of our larger society.
Foe
FOE feels lethargic rather than slow-burn, a throwback rather than progressive and misjudged in too many key aspects, and its disservice to Ronan and Mescal is unfortunate. It’s left to the audience to determine who the foe of the title might be, but on the evidence presented, the strongest candidate would seem to be the script.
Shortcomings
SHORTCOMINGS is a title that almost invites criticism, but this easygoing look at relationship difficulties has more strengths than weaknesses. It doesn’t default to feelgood safety, and has flawed characters that don’t undergo magic transformations.
The Royal Hotel
With THE ROYAL HOTEL, Kitty Green has once again shown that she can strike a perfectly pitched tone, knowing exactly how she wants to escalate tension, whether it be from female powerlessness at the hands of predatory executives or the roaring, blistering diatribe spat from the drunk mouth of an average man.
Killers of the Flower Moon
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON achieves a delicate balance and underscores the dysfunction of America as a result of the pursuit of wealth; the warping of ambition into exploitation, ingenuity into criminality, and dreams into delusions.