Letterboxd — Your life in film

Impossible for me to rate this because I feel indifferent to at least half (if not more) of this film, which felt monotonous and like a constant repetition of the impressive (but increasingly dull) action choreography style that this franchise has trademarked. But everything else, specifically the section of the film set in Paris, is a nearly incomprehensible achievement, the likes of which I’ve never seen in a blockbuster aside from Fury Road. Not ashamed whatsoever to admit I nearly…

Flawed in very frustrating ways, yet there’s a profound beauty coursing through the center that makes this impossible not to love. Even it’s flaws are fascinating; I see After Yang as being directly of a piece with Crimes of the Future— both present thematically overstuffed techno-futures with a narrative flow more akin to a pair of miniseries episodes than a feature-length film. Although the films contrast in episode placement; Crimes is the beginning of a story, while After Yang is functionally the…

As someone who tends to be nicer on Marvel than they deserve, and who came in with expectations of this being slightly underwhelming at worst, it’s shocking how firmly I believe this thing (which I wouldn’t dare call a “film”) is an abomination. A dramatically inert, horribly rendered mess which so fundamentally depletes this universe of any stakes going forward that it makes the entire enterprise worthless. Shockingly, despite being Peyton Reed’s third Ant-Man film, there’s absolutely no development or genuine emotion…

Absolute fucking dynamite. Chazelle’s Eyes Wide Shut, Inherent Vice, Jackie Brown, After Hours, Miami Vice, etc.; an undeservedly ridiculed gem that people will, 15-20 years after it’s release, suggest/realize is the masterwork of one of our greatest living filmmakers. Which Babylon is. The film strings you along on a maniacally glorious thrill ride for so long you might begin questioning the film’s purpose, only to hit you with one of the best (and likely the most divisive) endings in years.…

From the get-go, the film has a clear problem with how it positions Charlie. Even before getting to the camera (which makes the problems so much worse), calling this The Whale is disgusting. I’ve seen the film; I know what the metaphor means, and that’s fine. But it’s a clear play at words, and the released poster all but affirms to any person looking at this film from the outside who would think our lead character is “The Whale”. For…

Avatar is still not good, and even less so in the face of The Way of Water, which is hands down a better film in every way; almost inconceivably so. Latches onto the few aspects of the original film that even its haters would admit still work and improves everything else. I’ve spent so long caring about every new Marvel film that I forgot what it was like to see a blockbuster have real world building and actually make you care about characters…

Kinda the perfect example (for me) of The Big Picture’s “Get everyone together and try again” experiment; the film isn’t perfect, but every aspect of this film that works for me is operating at a scale beyond comprehension (Mathon, Merlant, Sciamma’s direction) that I’d feel fine with it’s stature if some of its more glaring problems were fixed.

1. The opening scene/set-up to the story is downright atrocious. It feels like Sciamma and co. would’ve realized how cliché it was…