Nothing else to say
(Note: All actors regarded to are in the English version of the film).
I’m not sure if I was too late in joining the Studio Ghibli band wagon when I discovered Spirited Away (which, after two decades, is still the best animated film of the century), but I have yet to jump off of it.
It’s been a little less than a year and a half since we got Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic with Austin Butler.
At first glance, one could easily assume it is poor timing to have another film about the king of rock n roll, but that is not the situation. The title of the film itself should prove that the film is not about Elvis, but his wife Priscilla.
It should be obvious, but it is nigh impossible to call oneself a cinephile and dislike the films of Martin Scorsese (or at least not appreciate them).
His name is on par with directing giants of the past: Hitchcock, Ford, Ozu, Welles, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Fellini. He has been in the twilight of his career for a little over a decade now, but has never lost his unique cinematic eye. For those like him working into his 80s (it should be noted before this film, I saw two trailers for up coming films from two octogenarian filmmakers: Michael Mann and Ridley Scott), it is not easy to bring about something fresh as well as ones old tricks.
I was allowed to see most R rated movies growing up in my pre-teen/teen years, with the sole exception of 1973’s The Exorcist. My mom was so convinced she could be possessed that she was against me seeing it until she would be able to watch it with me, and pause before every scary part.
Even after a half century of sequels and (truly) countless rip offs, The Exorcist has still retained it’s immortality on the Mt. Rushmore of horror films. It is hard to argue its impact. From that view point, it is easy to see why director David Gordon Green, who just finished a trilogy of Halloween sequels (which I have yet to see), would want to use the same approach and make a direct sequel to the late great William Friedkin directed masterpiece. The result, The Exorcist: Believer, is a true let down.
I’m not much of a proponent for AI, but I do admit it has positives I cannot deny (let us never underestimate what spell check has done for us, and iif it weren’t for a GPS, I would be disoriented on the road).
AI also has helped tremendously as a subject for film, dating back to its real starting point (in what is arguably still the greatest Sci-Fi film to date) with the HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Since then, AI has been somewhat over used in media, so one may even be excused to think some of what is shown in Gareth Edwards’ The Creator is cliche.
As someone on the autism spectrum, I sometimes think what life would be like if my intense interest in cinema was instead in wall street.
I am not saying I wish that to be the case, but if it were, perhaps I may have had a chance at the whole GameStop issue from the start of 2021, and then clearly understand what is happening in the film based off of these events, Dumb Money.
The tagline for George Lucas’ pre-Star Wars breakthrough American Graffiti reads
“Where were you in 62?”
Simply put, I was a quarter of a century away from being born. Even so, if the film were set in 1962, 1922, or 2006 (the year I graduated), the film would still showcase human elements that apply to young adults everywhere.
“BARBIE! BARBIE!”
“When I say ‘Bar’, you say ‘Bie’! Bar-Bie’”
-actual young teen boys at my screening.
With the possible exception of Tom Cruise, no entity in Hollywood today cares more about the theatrical experience more than Christopher Nolan.
His name is the first to come to mind when thinking of directors of his generation, and few have been as successful. His is one of the very few names in Hollywood that can draw an audience just by his name alone. He is one who goes big with every ingredient that makes a movie, letting everyone from the actors to the replacement sound guy to shine. In Oppenheimer, he has gotten the closest he has gotten to outdoing himself in some time, as it is easily the best he has done in years.
Up until a few months ago, I had only seen the first two Mission Impossible films. Believe me, I know. It is somewhat sad that it took me this long to get caught up.
Perhaps I was just not yet willing to accept the mission ahead of me.
Nothing else to say