BestBenedikt Reviews

The Promised Land (2023)

Status or merit?

[7/10 · 28 December 2023]

That's the overarching question, or rather field of tension, in Nikolaj Arcel's BASTARDEN - a film that offers both beautiful cinematography and a brilliant, subdued performance by Mads Mikkelsen.

Set in Ancien Régime Denmark, a retired soldier attempts to cultivate the heath of Jutland in the name of King Frederik V for wealth and social advancement - a rather venturous project, not only because of wolves and bandits, but above all the property claims of local landlords. While one particular nobleman insists on his inherent rights, Mads Mikkelsen's protagonist relies on hard work to sustainably secure the rights to the land for himself. It is a case of ethics of merit (Verdienstethik) vs. Ethics of status (Standesethik). This fundamental conflict of modernity ironically seems to be better expressed by the film's international title THE PROMISED LAND than by the Danish one, which emphasizes the protagonist's dubious origins.

Unfortunately, the film somewhat loses sight of this basic theme as the running time progresses. A brilliant first half is followed by a half-baked second one, increasingly unsure what it is actually about - with echoes of a revenge thriller and even a love story. There is also a sub plot involving an adopted child that superficially tackles themes of exclusion and belonging, which felt a little out of place. Thus, some of the plot lines sort of fizzle out at the end. Given the 18th century setting, there are also some noticeable, though never distracting anachronisms, be it some forms of behavior, the perfect High German spoken by the peasant colonists or certain terms used (the "German army" f. E.).

In the end, however, Mads Mikkelsen's strong performance, the great direction as well as cinematography almost completely make up for these weaknesses. Arcel crafted a period piece that so confidently ignores the jarring conventions of modern Hollywood that you can't help but admire it.

The Flash (I) (2023)

Seems like we're living on the wrong spaghetti

[3/10 · 18 July 2023]

If it accomplishes nothing else, this "movie", much like ANT-MAN 3, offers a glimpse into a not-too-distant future, anticipating what AI-created Hollywood blockbusters are likely to look like. THE FLASH is admittedly not a "movie", however, but an IP monstrosity.

Much has already been said about this basically being a soulless showcase for intellectual property, which is concurrently robbed of its original emotional and artistic value by being displayed in this way. And THE FLASH does indeed embody everything that is wrong with modern nostalgia-based content - so much so that one can only hope that these movies will finally self-destruct not only artistically, but more importantly at the box office.

THE FLASH is also one of the ugliest films I have ever seen. I don't know what's going on with Warner Bros. And their visual effects studios, but it's like they were told to use the scorpion king CGI from THE MUMMY RETURNS as a benchmark, while at the same time having too little time to finish their work. It's absolutely baffling - and entertaining in a morbidly strange way: At least twenty percent of this thing looks like straight out of a PS2 cutscene, even the actors' faces look artificial. I wouldn't be surprised if Ben Affleck was only on set for 30 minutes and all of his full-body scenes were completely animated afterwards.

I'm honestly glad that this movie flopped big time. Seems to be the only positive aspect about this "hot mess".

Women Talking (2022)

Thou shalt not bore

[5/10 · 2 March 2023]

Uff, now this was a didactic experience - I guess this film will be shown in schools for the next 20 years from now on.

I was actually very much looking forward to WOMEN TALKING based on the short synopsis I read and it has been part of my watchlist for quite some time now. Having never seen one of Sarah Polley's films before, I also can't draw a comparison to her previous work, but I have to emphasize that this is one of the most boring and uninspired looking films I've seen in a very long time. I don't know if this is based on a book, but it sure feels like one of those dull and sluggish adaptations.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't utilize its unique setting at all. The discussion between the women just goes on and on without any factual or intellectual progress and often feels unplausible and artificially constructed - especially with regard to the relationship between things these women don't know (basically everything including reading, as far as the script is concerned) and concepts they apparently all of a sudden do know, because the movie needs to somehow convey its "subtle" message I guess. It therefore neither works as a milieu study nor as an allegory, being highly inferior to conceptually similar films like 12 ANGRY MEN.

And dear God, if they had shown this glaringly obvious green screen view from the barn one more time, I would have jumped into the hay wagon myself.

Black Adam (2022)

Shazam! There go your brain cells

[3/10 · 20 November 2022]

How can a 200 million dollar movie look this ugly? Every shot looks fake, every action sequence like straight out of Tarsem Singh's IMMORTALS, just with less style to it.

Besides some weird exposition, there is almost no story to be found here - just lazy MacGuffin chasing as a framework for the most untasteful CGI extravaganza that makes you feel like experiencing a migraine aura. And if BLACK ADAM's dialogue doesn't manage to kill of your brain cells, I don't know what will.

The context this movie chooses to localise itself in is also odd to say the least: a fictional country named Kahndaq, basically an americanized version of Iraq, occupied by "international mercenaries" - with a kid on his skateboard telling one of the evil occupiers that they are "stealing our resources, suppressing our heritage" within the first few minutes. That's strangely ideological and vague for the sake of being applicable to global audiences at the same time.

I guess Pierce Brosnan is the only bright spot in this seizure-inducing schlock. And I still don't get why they won't just say "Shazam!" all the time.

Dead for a Dollar (2022)

A very disappointing late-career outing from Hill

[3/10 · 2 October 2022]

Walter Hill making a Western with Christoph Waltz and Willem Dafoe? Count me in! At least that's what I was thinking before I saw the trailer, which was already a little underwhelming, to say the least.

Unfortunately, the first impression didn't deceive: Everything here feels amateurish almost beyond belief. From the "color grading", which is really just a sepia filter reminiscent of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 3, to the cinematography, the most obvious CGI blood and smoke as well as the editing with its constant and obnoxious fade-outs. If anyone would have told me that this is an amateur production made for YouTube, I would have believed them in an instant.

The story is as generic as they come, the writing especially in the first act extremely uninspired, accompanied by wooden acting. If Christoph Waltz playing a bounty hunter sounds promising and somewhat exciting to you, make no mistake: He is the blandest I have ever seen him here. Always a joy to watch though and probably the only bright spot in this mess is Willem Dafoe - although his character ultimately surves no purpose for the main narrative.

It's always baffling to witness former great directors reaching late-career lows - Brian De Palma would come to mind here. The problem isn't that Hill tried to make a B movie, as he successfully did before. DEAD FOR A DOLLAR is unfortunately just bad.

The Northman (2022)

A Viking epic made for the big screen

[8/10 · 29 April 2022]

Over a decade ago Mel Gibson was still about to make his Viking epic "BERSERKER" and stated in interviews that his Vikings "are very unsympathetic characters" and that "these guys will be bad". The project was ultimately never realised, since Gibson was declared persona non grata by Hollywood, but THE NORTHMAN very much feels like the film he would have made - except that Gibson probably would have shot the entire thing in Old Norse and thus created a Viking version of APOCALYPTO.

Instead, now Robert Eggers blessed us with a mid-budget Viking revenge saga - and I have to say it's glorious. The cast is great, the score is atmospheric and the film is beautifully shot, even though it could have benefited from a more dynamic cinematography in some scenes - but I guess Eggers can't escape his A24 roots. I also really appreciated the incorporation of many different locations like Norway, the Rus lands and Iceland as well as mentions of places like Orkney or Constantinople, exploring the wider historical context without making the narrative feel too fractured.

In general, the entire film breathes authenticity - and that doesn't necessarily mean that everything displayed here is historically accurate, nor that it needs to be. But Eggers succeeds in creating a plausible feeling of alterity, a sense of very different, pre-Christian societal norms and values. And by both letting the viewer perceive the events through the eyes of our protagonist and subverting this perspective - and thus the main narrative - at just the right moments, he achieves immersion without alienating the audience.

My expectations were already high for this film, and I somehow still managed to be positively surprised. It's a shame that THE NORTHMAN probably won't make its budget back, much less turn in a profit - because these are the kind of films we so rarely get to see nowadays.

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

A very unpleasant deja-vu

[4/10 · 26 December 2021]

After all the disastrous reviews flooding the internet in the last few days I have to say I'm almost surprised about THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS just being mediocre and underwhelming in every respect.

A lot has been said in particular about the meta statements and the self-referentiality of this newest installment of the franchise. And while I definitely agree that most of it was heavy-handed and at least some of it shouldn't have made it into the final cut of the movie, I think the self-awareness is not necessarily the main problem here. It rather seems that a lot of winking towards the camera was used to disguise an ultimate lack of originality, ideas and talent, which is what characterizes the fourth MATRIX-film above all.

The movie constantly denounces Hollywood's sequelitis, a rehashing of old ideas commercialized and trivialized in a seemingly never-ending loop - only to do exactly that for over two hours. THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS is filled to the brim with blockbuster tropes like odd comic reliefs, ultimately tells a very linear and uninspired story and - most inexcusably - does every technical aspect worse than the previous entries: This one got worse cinematography, worse editing, worse lighting, worse acting, worse music - you name it.

As a result, the biggest problem of this film is its absence of purpose. Why did this story need to be told at all and why should anyone care? When you literally got Chad Stahelski in your team, but let the fight choreographies be handled by someone less talented and instead let him play some random side character named Chad (*wink* *wink*), you should probably rethink your whole project twice before rolling the camera.

The Forgotten Battle (2020)

A mostly average effort despite an interesting concept

[6/10 · 23 October 2021]

Big- or even mid-budget war films are rarely to be seen these days. While I appreciate Netflix for providing a platform for such niche genres, it is ultimately frustrating to see, how little those films have evolved ever since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN vigorously set new standards in 1998.

Let me start with the positives: I liked the whole production value and especially the somewhat unique perspective, as the story is in parts told from the point of view of a Dutch Waffen-SS volunteer. Unfortunately, these interesting conceptual choices are quickly thwarted by many inaccuracies that range from "sloppy" to "irritating": From the incorrect borders displayed on the map right at the beginning of the film to anachronisms in language use - f. E. an SS officer refering to the Kulmhof concentration camp as "Chelmno", the Polish name of the town.

All this nit-picking aside, the main problems of the film lie in its script and its direction. While a big part of the story depends on a forced conflict between the German military and the local townspeople - Who would be stupid enough to throw a rock at a soldier, when there's still a massive troop presence in town and the war is in its final phase? And does a German Oberst in these times of frantic chaos have nothing better to do than visiting a local household in person, sitting down in an armchair like a clichéd Bond villain? -, the direction indecisively vacillates between worn-out melodrama and rather unoriginal action set pieces.

In the end, you are left with an entertaining, yet very average film that mostly confuses war with fast-paced action. Films like THE THIN RED LINE (1998) or LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006) had a much better understanding of war and human tragedy that most modern films apparently can't capture.

Bliss (I) (2021)

What a bliss

[2/10 · 10 February 2021]

A few years back, I ORIGINS caught me completely off guard in terms of how utterly horrible and stupid that movie was. Now Mike Cahill made a new one, and guess what - it's ****.

BLISS is your type of film, if you want to see Owen Wilson sleepwalking through a convoluting plot and Salma Hayek overacting like crazy, constantly screaming and wildly gesticulating with a thick accent to top it off. But don't let that appearance fool you: She's actually a scientist - with cool science stuff like ... thought visualizers ... and brain boxes. And there's also a lot of drug-taking and neurobiology and dialogue that feels like it was written by an algorithm.

In one scene towards the end of the film Owen Wilson randomly picks up a rock, looks at Salma Hayek and asks her to crush his skull with it. That's pretty much the thought I had going through my head for 90 minutes at this point.

In the end, the only relevant question in this vortex of strange ideas is: How and why did Slavoj Zizek get a cameo in here?

On the Rocks (2020)

A pleasant, yet unremarkable movie experience

[6/10 · 28 October 2020]

Having seen THE VIRGIN SUICIDES for the first time lately, I was naturally looking forward to Sofia Coppola's new A24-produced film, starring good old Bill Murray.

Overall, ON THE ROCKS is an enjoyable experience with some charming New York-based scenes and a tight runtime. Unfortunately, that's already everything there is to say about it, since Coppola's newest basically turns out to be a witty, yet unremarkable rom-com: not bad by any means, but definitely too easy to forget given the talent involved. The acting here is surprisingly mediocre, especially since it cannot benefit from the dialogue, which feels stiff and non-dynamic in too many scenes.

ON THE ROCKS is a charming little film, but ultimately unremarkable when compared to Coppola's previous work. It's not my least favourite film of hers, but definitely the least exciting thing she has done so far.

The Devil All the Time (2020)

A bleak and vicious circle of violence

[7/10 · 17 September 2020]

Antonio Campos' THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME is the newest star-studded Netflix Original and the kind of film we don't get to see often nowadays.

Campos tells a dark and dramatic saga set in rural West Virginia and Ohio in the 1950s and 60s. Pretty much all of the performances are great and the narrative balances the characters' relations nicely and never looses sight of the bigger picture, even if the first act might seem a little overblown and it certainly takes some time until Tom Holland's protagonist even appears on screen.

My main problem with the film - and that's somehow strange to say - was its gruesome and bleak tone. I'm usually all for dark dramas, but basically every character here is morally corrupt and acts reprehensible to an extent, where it can become implausible. The one-dimensionality of most characters, who are solely defined by being hypocrites, rapists, murderers or psychopaths, and the excessive use of voice-over certainly add to this overall impression.

I would ultimately suggest watching THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME because of its obvious merits. But the film's goal of depicting a vicious circle of violence cannot avoid the impression of being an end in itself.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

He's Thinking of Ending Things

[8/10 · 4 September 2020]

I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is undoubtedly one of the more inaccessible films Charlie Kaufman has made over the years, but it definitely carries his unique signature and might just be the best film of 2020 so far.

Like every Kaufman project before, his newest in the end turns out to be yet again a film about life (or Charlie Kaufman) itself, masterfully depicting the human interior on screen. While the initial plot of a young woman visiting her boyfriend's parents at their farm may seem quite simple, the film takes an interesting turn, tackles many different themes and asks questions about desire, love, fulfillment, aging and death.

With that being said, the surreal touch of the film at times became a little bulky and self serving, especially in the second act. But that does not conceal the fact that Toni Collette and David Thewlis both did a great acting job here (as did Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons) and little details like changing colours and garments were aesthetic and intelligently thought out.

Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS is definitely worth seeing, even if it's a little confusing for people who didn't read the novel. I personally prefered it over ANOMALISA, and it's one of the better films of the year for sure.

The Painted Bird (2019)

An overall disappointing film

[5/10 · 2 August 2020]

Having finally seen Václav Marhoul's talked about THE PAINTED BIRD, I can't help but feel quite disappointed by an eventually pretentious film that neither justifies its reputation nor its overblown runtime.

First of all, THE PAINTED BIRD lacks any real depth. It spends almost three hours showcasing a young Jewish boy's journey through an unspecified region in Eastern Europe during World War II, but there is absolutely no impact to the severe change the protagonist goes through as the film maintains an irritating distance to this character from the beginning. I also found the lack of any historical foundation and a sense of time increasingly annoying - the war basically acts as a mere backdrop to a series of cruel scenarios with lots of misplaced cameos.

The extreme violence somehow manages to be completely ineffective and mostly comes off as voyeuristic, nihilistic and at times even unintentionally comical. While I appreciated some of Marhoul's decisions and casting choices throughout the film (the scene with the young woman in her shack or the appearance of Aleksey Kravchenko f. e.), others felt completely out of place and contradictive to the bleak and serious tone - namely the use of the Wilhelm scream during a village raid and the casting of Barry Pepper as a sniper (*wink* *wink*). The film also contains a lot of scenes with characters being silent for no reason other than it trying to be contemplative and artsy.

Despite those harsh words, THE PAINTED BIRD is not a terrible film. But it's also in no way noteworthy and most of the time just try-hard filmmaking that is far from genre masterpieces like Elem Klimov's COME AND SEE.

Mile 22 (2018)

Combine "Sabotage" and "Nighthawks" and you get "Mile 22"

[4/10 · 18 May 2020]

All I could think of while watching Peter Berg's MILE 22 was how strongly it reminded me of David Ayer's SABOTAGE from 2014.

It's similarly cynical, gory, has unnecessary shaky cam and terrible editing galore - that alone should be considered a crime since Iko Uwais does some great stunts in here, which are completely chopped up and thus robbed of their potential weight - and last but not least those incredibly unlikable and off-putting characters.

Don't get me wrong: having no identification figure and not an ounce of empathy in a film can potentially create an interesting moral ambiguity, but in the case of MILE 22 it just became tedious to watch very early on. All the swearing and macho mentality really felt like a tiresome obligation after a while.

With that being said, has anyone noticed that this film is basically a bad remake of NIGHTHAWKS from 1981? Mark Wahlberg's character is even named "Silva" as compared to Stallone's character "DaSilva" ... just saying.

The Hunt (II) (2020)

Entertaining and somewhat brave, but ultimately nothing more

[6/10 · 22 March 2020]

After being delayed due to the controversy it sparked off last year THE HUNT can finally see the light of day now, although it may not be the best timing after all.

Let me start off by saying that the excessive satirical approach taken by Craig Zobel's film about people hunting people by reason of their political views is definitely interesting, its biggest positive being the intent to avoid one-sided political preaching. But it's also blatantly obvious that the movie is not as smart as it thinks it is.

Just like everything that Damon Lindelof has ever written THE HUNT is heavy-handed and literally beats you over the head with its message. It constantly fires on all cylinders and some of it hits the mark, some doesn't. Despite being expectable, it's still unfortunate that the film is too superficial to have any subversive potential.

With that being said, the movie definitely works as pure entertainment, not least because of its tight pacing. And it's most of all nice to see that something like this got made by Hollywood and actually snapped up a theatrical release - even though the film seems to be cursed by now with the current pandemic dooming it to financial failure.

Ready Player One (2018)

The endless reference

[3/10 · 16 March 2020]

With READY PLAYER ONE Spielberg arguably hit a new career low. It's really baffling how unaware of its own socio-economical and cultural themes this film actually is.

The whole setting couldn't be more dystopian and depressing with people basically living in a virtual reality because of their frustration with real life. But the film never adresses that, never once questions the system as a whole and instead chooses to gloss reality over with its naive celebration of nostalgic escapism where 1980s pop culture is elevated to high culture standards.

READY PLAYER ONE is a mind-numbing accumulation of endless references with a very simple and formulaic story barely holding it all together. The way this film presents "culture" is ultimately very telling. Everything is being reduced to either edgy quotes or visual appearance - the Overlook Hotel taken out of Kubrick's THE SHINING is nothing more than a cool backdrop and the Iron Giant just some powerful weapon.

Spielberg probably thinks that a world where all cultural knowledge is reduced to John Hughes movies and the suit from Buckaroo Banzai is cool and somehow desirable. It's not.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Henry - a late New Hollywood exponent

[8/10 · 25 January 2020]

Watching HENRY, one thought flashed through my mind constantly: I feel like Lars von Trier saw this film and then decided to make THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, which is basically an amped up European version of the former.

But aside from those similarities, HENRY is a very unique tale about a Chicago serial killer that walks the thin line between terrifying disgust and darkly humorous cynicism. Featuring an outstanding performance by Michael Rooker, the film is basically a gritty psychogram with a very New Hollywood-esque tone and really feels like it should have come out in the 70s.

The tagline "He's not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real." may seem goofy at first, but HENRY is exactly that: A last rearing up from old New Hollywood against the inevitable takeover by franchise slashers, which should shape pop culture in the years to come.

The Nightingale (I) (2018)

Tough to watch, but very rewarding

[8/10 · 23 December 2019]

THE NIGHTINGALE may be the most unsuitable film ever for Christmas season. But it for sure is one hell of a follow-up for Australian director Jennifer Kent, dealing with an Irish convict's thirst for revenge in the Tasmanian wilderness in 1825.

What this film does so well is exploring the dynamic of preconceptions and power relations in a very restrained setting. Except for maybe the main antagonist no one in this film is pure evil. You get where every person is coming from and what specific social relations they are shaped by and just try to make the best out of it all. Even the female protagonist is no moralistic do-gooder as one could expect given the plot synopsis, since she also sets explicit boundaries against the Aborigines while simultaneously belonging to a marginalized social group herself.

And yes, the film is very violent and a tough watch at times, but the violence always progresses naturally, adds to the general feel of authenticity and is never once exploitative and ostentatious. Moreover, every outburst of violence has an impact on the individuals involved - whether it deepens an escalating cycle of abuse or acts as a cathartic incident, maybe even questioning the concept of revenge as a whole.

At times Kent's newest film surpasses her debut THE BABADOOK, having a stronger sense of urgency and defying genre conventions. And while it's definitely less accessible and maybe even deterrent to some people, those who make it through are rewarded with a genuinely touching ending at last.

6 Underground (2019)

Bay let lose

[2/10 · 17 December 2019]

Time is money, so long story short - this movie has everything you'd expect out of a Michael Bay Netflix cooperation: Cool military guys, explosions, product placements, cultural stereotypes, cringeworthy humor, narrative incoherence, shaky cam galore, abysmal editing, ugly color grading from 2007, Ryan Reynolds playing Ryan Reynolds, lots of American democracy, dubious countries named "Turgistan" and magnets, b***h.

Film snobs would probably argue that Bay has never been more tasteless and reached a point in his career, where he's basically parodying himself. But this movie isn't for them. It's for teenage boys with an attention span of two seconds. Oh dear, what a crime.

The King (I) (2019)

Neither historical nor entertaining - A rather dull effort by Michôd

[5/10 · 1 November 2019]

While I appreciate Netflix for still financing big budget historical epics in a time when no major studio does, I couldn't help but feel quite disappointed by David Michôd's THE KING.

Once you look past its stunning visuals, there is really not much substance to the film. Being almost entirely deprived of historical markings - e.g. location informations, time specifications or even just names of historical figures - and filled with inaccuracies, THE KING basically fails as a historical film. Now, that in itself wouldn't be a problem as shown by films like BRAVEHEART, which are highly inaccurate in their depiction of historic events and figures, but nevertheless work from a cinematic perspective. Michôd however, who clearly wants his film to play out as a dramatic character study, never achieves depth, empathy or even a sense of urgency for his story to be told at all.

Watching this film, its obvious flaws made me think a lot about last year's OUTLAW KING. But while Mackenzie's Netflix epic at least had an exciting core to it as well as somewhat compelling characters backed up by memorable performances, THE KING is ultimately a dull and sluggish two-and-a-half-hour drag. And who on earth thought casting Robert Pattinson as the (English-speaking!) Dauphin of France was a good idea? At a time when this man is starring in films like GOOD TIME and THE LIGHTHOUSE, Michôd's script manages to craft a role that may be good meme material but is embarassing to watch and almost an insult to Pattinson as an actor.

In the end, THE KING is a very average film, potentially boosted by great visuals and an undeniably high production value. Thinking about all the talent involved though, it's definitely one of the bigger disappointments of 2019.

Rattlesnake (2019)

Subpar thriller riddled with clichés

[4/10 · 25 October 2019]

Halloween is getting closer and Netflix blesses us with just another subpar original film. Coming from Zak Hilditch, who directed the surprisingly decent 1922 two years ago, his second Netflix movie RATTLESNAKE is unfortunately a formulaic bore.

Reading the plot synopsis, I was somewhat confident that this could be a gripping small-scale horror-thriller evolving around someone bitten by a rattlesnake in the middle of nowhere. Instead Hilditch introduces us to a supernatural element almost right away - one that is of course never thoroughly explained and makes the film feel like a bad Stephen King adaptation - and crafts an extremely uninspired film around it, checking all possible boxes in terms of clichés and stupid character decisions. It seems like the director himself wasn't at all excited about his script and just wanted to get it over with.

When even an 85 minute runtime feels like two hours something definitely went wrong. RATTLESNAKE is by no means a disaster of a film, but it's so formulaic and uncreative in every single way that it ultimately turns out to be the worst kind of wasted time.

Ad Astra (2019)

The psychology of exploration

[9/10 · 24 September 2019]

"Now we know we're all we've got."

Aaand there we go! Finally a truly magnificent film in the cinematic year of 2019. James Gray doesn't only provide us with some of the most beautiful shots lately, but also with a masterful and thoughtful entry in the sci-fi genre that broadens the scope of its conventions.

The main story evolves around astronaut Roy McBride and the classified search for his father somewhere around Neptune. Gray explores the human urge for discovery in a way we've rarely seen it before and strikes out on new paths with his portrayal of a man emotionally estranged from humanity because of his distanced, determined and always professional acting father.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed INTERSTELLAR, AD ASTRA prevails where Nolan's sci-fi blockbuster fails: the protagonist's characterisation. While McConaughey's Cooper was definitely a character written for the screen with some heavy-handed emotions, Roy McBride feels like a totally real person - and Brad Pitt plays the role in such a credible and subdued way it was a joy to watch and probably his best acting to date. There seems to be a surprising amount of people though, who call the film emotionless and stale - something I absolutely disagree on. I would even go as far as saying that some viewers simply didn't get the film or at least went in with wrong expectations.

AD ASTRA deals with the human impulse to explore in such a psychological and emotional way, it might even be a modern sci-fi masterpiece. Now I definitely need to watch THE LOST CITY OF Z and James Gray's previous films.

Child's Play (2019)

A surprisingly fresh take on the Chucky-concept

[7/10 · 11 September 2019]

I actually enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. Having Chucky be a smart doll, which got manipulated by a Vietnamese blue-collar worker, who got screwed by the economic system and acts out revenge that hits an innocent kid, is way more creative than a run-of-the-mill voodoo-plot we've all seen a thousand times by now.

The film also contains a surprising amount of dark humour and overall likeable characters, who were sufficient for a horror B-movie like that. The only thing I probably preferred in the original was Chucky's face, although the idea of making the doll look like one of those female A.I. robots with the uncanny valley facial expressions was in fact again quite clever and satirical. As was the idea that Chucky basically adopted his violent traits from US media and the society surrounding him.

I eventually ended up liking this new version of CHILD'S PLAY more than the cheesy original and I would recommend it to anyone, who wants to watch a fun horror flick and isn't obsessed with the romanticized 1988 original.

Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Probably the most underrated Scorsese film

[8/10 · 22 August 2019]

As a huge fan of Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette I truly don't know what took me so long to watch this film.

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD is a quite strange tale about a completely burned-out paramedic navigating through an almost apocalyptic feeling New York City. The displayed cynicism encapsulates the medics' mentality really well and is at times very reminiscent of TAXI DRIVER, even if it doesn't quite reach the mastery of the first Scorsese-Schrader collaboration.

Nic Cage's performance here is fantastic and the same goes for the other actors, namely John Goodman, Vingh Rhames and Arquette, who was actually married to Cage at the time the film was shot. The character interactions are filled with a lot of dark humour - a pleasant surprise, although it didn't always match with the more dramatic elements and made for some tonal inconsistencies.

I'm glad I finally gave this film a try, as I ended up pretty much loving it. Besides, I couldn't stop noticing similarities to NIGHT CRAWLER - it wouldn't surprise me if Dan Gilroy was influenced by this underrated gem.

The Tenant (1976)

Polanski's struggle with society

[9/10 · 12 July 2019]

Eight years after ROSEMARY'S BABY and eleven after REPULSION Polanski finished his inofficial "Apartment Trilogy" with THE TENANT, a masterful cinematic depiction of urban paranoia.

In direct comparison to ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE TENANT tackles very similar themes. Polanski, who not just directed this film but also starred as the leading role Trelkovsky, again puts a dark twist on urban day-to-day life and reflects on the individual's involvement in society.

Because as much as Polanski's display of elementary fears is a pleasure to watch, the film has an underlying level of meaning in terms of social criticism. In ROSEMARY'S BABY society attempts to incorporate the (newborn) individual, while here it has to engulf the outcast and unprivileged petty bourgeois Trelkovsky - a person not ruthless enough to withstand its pressure.

This is just great filmmaking, and I would highly suggest watching THE TENANT, even if it doesn't quite reach the mastery of ROSEMARY'S BABY and appears to be somewhat underappreciated.