Film Review - Napoleon (2023)

Napoleon is the new film by Ridley Scott and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon, Arnold Rimmer’s all time favourite fascist dictator and this movie not only chronicles his rise to power in France but also his relationship with Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) and how that relationship was central to his life.

I was very much looking forward to this movie as it was a big historical epic and a new Ridley Scott film and I am a big fan of both plus Phoenix and Kirby are good actors but could it soar to great heights or does it meet its Waterloo.

Well sadly it is a bit of both, this is not in any way a bad movie but its also one that I feel falls short, firstly Scotts direction is very assured especially during the many battle scenes which look and sound amazing on a big cinema screen with a great sound system and during them I thought to myself “Ridley Scott is nearly 86 years old and he’s still giving us this” and the battles themselves are ugly, violent and glorious to watch as it feels like they were done for real on open plains and lots of extras fighting it out and they are fantastic to watch.

Also the films performances are good as well, Phoenix at times sounds like he’s just reciting the lines as Napoleon as he does the role in an American accent but he does a good job for the most part, Kirby is very good as Josephine and she finds a way to balance the sexual nature of her role as well as the isolation of her later years, I also enjoyed seeing Rupert Everett in a small role as well.

But where this film falls over is either in its script or its editing and Scott has since teased a longer version of this movie for its streaming release, watching the version in cinemas right now feels like the pieces of a great film are here except one crucial one and it holds this film back and a lot of the time the film feels like it is doing a lot of time skipping in too short a time frame, I wish Scott had decided to do a 3 hour cut for cinemas much like Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer and James Camerons Avatar the Way of Water were both 3 hour films that made good use of that runtime as I can’t help but think that if he had done so we would’ve gotten a much better film.

And so that was Napoleon and it is probably my biggest disappointment of 2023 movie wise, the pieces are here for a great film but it feels like something is missing and time will tell whether it was an editing decision or a scripting decision but for now its worth watching on a big screen but I wish this was so much better than it is, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is based off of the 2020 prequel novel and stars Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow who we know as President Snow in the earlier stories, this story takes place 64 years before the first Hunger Games story and Coriolanus is a young man wanting a prized university scholarship and to rebuild his once proud family name but Dean Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) wants his students to make something of the Hunger Games and Snow is assigned a District 12 girl Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) and Snow wants to land on top.

I was very keen for this movie as I am a big Hunger Games fan and I really liked the book when I read it during the Dark Times in 2020 but this film version was going to have a tough task ahead of it because when I read the young Snows lines in the book I was hearing them in Donald Sutherlands voice which fundamentally would not work in any film version without it sounding ridiculous to have this old man’s voice coming out of this young mans mouth but could the film version pull it off or be yet another franchise revival that should’ve stayed dead with its picture in the sky and the sound of cannon.

Well happily this movie version pulls it off as I really really liked this movie a whole lot and first I will start with Tom Blyth who embodies the young Snow very well and more often than not when looking into his eyes you can see the lack of a soul behind them and the evil that Sutherland brought to his Snow is there waiting to bubble up to the surface with the right push, Zegler is the perfect Lucy Gray and like Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen I cannot imagine anyone else in this role, she nails the southern accent and when she sings she is captivating and her and Blyth have this dark twisted chemistry that really worked for me.

What also worked for me was the feel of this movie, it really does feel like Francis Lawrence the director of the film, James Newton Howard the score composer and the production design by Uli Hanisch pick up right where they left off from 2015’s Mockingjay Part 2, you see a lot more of the Capitol in this movie than you did in the earlier films and while its not quite that Post World War 1 Berlin vibe I got from reading the book it feels like the earlier films and the score also fits right in with the earlier films with a couple of neat callbacks that worked well for me.

And lastly the performances outside of the 2 leads are very good as well, Hunter Schafer was very good as the young Tigris even though that character is not a big one in this story, Jason Schwartzman channels Stanley Tucci well as Lucky Flickerman the first real host of the Games while Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage are a lot of fun as the sadistic leaders of the school Snow goes to.

And so that was the Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and I liked this movie a whole lot, it brought me back to Panem in a way I found very satisfying and adapted its source very well, I haven’t enjoyed a movie this much in quite a while and after the middling year we’ve had it feels like a big relief, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - The Killer (2023)

The Killer is the new movie by David Fincher and his second for Netflix after 2020’s Mank and stars Michael Fassbender as an assassin who has a hit go wrong in Paris and someone he cares about is targeted in another attack so he decides to go after those responsible.

The Killer is not one of David Finchers best movies but it is also a very good one at the same time and a lot of that comes down to the films craftsmanship, Fincher’s direction first of all is much better here than it was in Mank it feels tighter, more concise and yet knows when to ramp up the action and the tension as well as let things slow down to either let character moments breathe or the inner monologue of the assassin play out, the films editing by Kirk Baxter is very good as well and adds to the tight concise feel of the film well.

The film is also well photographed by Erik Messerschmidt though some scenes will be too dark to watch on your TV during the daytime and the music score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is a memorable one.

As for the cast it was nice to see Tilda Swinton and Charles Parnell (Warlock from Top Gun Maverick) in brief scenes but this is Fassbenders movie through and through and he is very good in it whether it be his voiceover work or the way he creates a memorable physical presence with his focused walking, his eyes and his facial expressions, I doubt this will happen but I hope he will be in the running for Oscar consideration for his work here.

And so that was the Killer and Fincher being very good can sometimes be other filmmakers hitting it out of the park and while I don’t love it there is a lot to like here, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Marvels (2023)

The Marvels is the newest Marvel Studios film and this time Nia DaCosta takes the directors chair from Anna Bowden and Ryan Fleck who directed the first Captain Marvel film in 2019, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (Teynoah Parris) find their powers entangled and they swap places with each other when they use them just as the Kree warlord Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) wants revenge on Carol.

The Marvels is not in any way shape or form a bad movie but its also one that at the end of the day isn’t really anything much either but before I talk about that I will talk about the positives and firstly Iman Vellani is wonderful in this movie, every moment she’s on screen you can’t help but love her as well as her family and those moments in particular were a lot of fun to watch.

Also the chemistry between Vellani, Larson and Parris is good as well but that sadly leads me into my first problem with this movie.

And that is this movie ultimately ends up wasting that chemistry as the films storytelling is all over the place, the power swapping ends up being confusing to watch for the most part and the times this movie tries to reach for sincere payoffs especially between Monica and Carol and their family history from the first film they fall completely flat because their either dismissed as a flashback moment or immediately followed up by a gag or something the scene sees as more important and to do that felt like a real waste.

What also feels like a waste is yet another Marvel Studios villain, I cannot tell you how utterly utterly utterly fed up I am with these movies just doing next to nothing with their villains, it has been one of the main reasons that I was never really in love with the MCU as a whole over the years even though I was not one of those who dismissed them out of hand as others have done but these types of films need good villains to properly work and more often than not the MCU films have not for me because of this very thing and more than once watching Dar-Benn’s plan I thought of 1987’s Mel Brooks comedy Spaceballs and not in a good way.

And lastly the Flerkens who had a nice moment in the previews for this movie that made me go “awwww look at the tussi pusses” barely feature in this movie and again feel wasted especially as Goose was a big part of the first film.

And so that was the Marvels and this movie feels like a waste across the board, a waste of talent, storytelling, villain and cute cats but this was not terrible but it wasn’t a movie that was all that great for me, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Five Nights at Freddys (2023)

Five Nights at Freddys is based off of the video game series and stars Josh Hutcherson as Mike a security guard with a troubled past who takes on a night shift job at an abandoned pizza parlour called Freddy Fazbear’s but there is more to this Pizzeria than old tables and old days of children and their families enjoying themselves.

There is a good movie in Five Nights at Freddys but it is not this movie sadly but before I delve more into that I want to talk about what I do like and firstly I liked the fact that this movie scaled back on its horror kills and left as much as possible to the imagination, I know that isn’t really the norm these days but more often than not the more gruesome kills don’t work as well for me as you don’t feel scared watching them or you don’t really feel that inner sense of bloodlust and letting the blood flow (the blood is the life after all) being satisfied.

Also the films animatronic work with the Pizzeria creatures is really good and again a welcome change from the digital creatures you might see in these types of films or someone in make up or prosthetics that don’t really work as well plus the films cast is solid, Hutcherson is fine as Mike but the whole time I kept thinking “Peeta is in trouble again, this is the last time I take him anywhere” or “Where’s Katniss when I need her?”

I also liked Piper Rubio as Abby, Mike’s younger sister and Elisabeth Lail as Vanessa a local cop who gets caught up in the night time events at Freddys.

But this movie sadly gets too dragged down into this boring family drama about whether Mike can raise his sister properly or whether his aunt is going to win custody or the events in Mikes past that feel very similar to the opening of IT from 2017 that I just lost all interest in this movie and that’s mainly because I would’ve just rathered a fun horror story about this guy who takes a job and gets stuck in the abandoned pizzeria as the animatronic creatures stalk him and Vanessa.

And so that was Five Nights at Freddys and there’s a fun horror movie in here but its stuck in a boring family drama, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Dumb Money (2023)

Dumb Money is the new film by Craig Gillespie who made I, Tonya and Cruella and stars Paul Dano as Keith Gill, a Youtuber who decides to invest in GameStop in 2020 during the Dark Times of the COVID shutdown as he feels it is a stock that investors want to see fail so they can cash in, sensing a chance to get one back for the little guy many others jump in.

Dumb Money is quite a good little film and first off big kudos has to be given to the cast, Dano has been hit and miss for me in movies but he hits here this time, Shailene Woodley is okay as his wife Caroline but doesn’t get an awful lot to do, Pete Davidson is fun as Keith’s brother while Dane DeHaan is a lot of fun as Brad the owner of a local GameStop who does his whole performance in a facemask.

But the standout here is America Ferrara and between this and Barbie she is having a great year, she plays a local nurse named Jennifer and you really get behind her as someone who is an essential worker and just wants something back for herself given she is putting her life on the line every day during those Dark Times.

Special mention must also be given to the films editing by Kirk Baxter who is one of David Fincher’s editors and he does an excellent job here with the various website grabs, videos from that time and footage shot for the film and make it all look frenetic and seamless and it gave good life to this story.

And lastly I liked how this movie really depicted the dark times of 2020 and early 2021 as this desolate time where people were stuck indoors and life was shut down and how some people lost someone they cared about to those events, its probably the best depiction of those days I’ve seen in a movie so far.

And so that was Dumb Money and at the moment it stands at #6 on my favourite films of the year so far list, its good fun while telling a good story with good performances, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Killers of the Flower Moon is directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese (his co-writer is Eric Roth) and is based off of the novel by David Grann and concerns the Osage nation in Oklahoma who strike it rich when oil is discovered on their lands meanwhile a young man named Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) comes to stay with his uncle King Hill (Robert De Niro) and he starts seeing a local Osage lady named Mollie (Lily Gladstone) but the Osage people are now being murdered for their oil money and Ernest and King might be at the centre of it.

Killers of the Flower Moon the more I have thought about in my mind is a movie that I feel is on the whole good but not a great film and I wish it was now this isn’t to say it’s a bad movie its not but its also one that has some problems.

Firstly the performances in this movie are very good, DiCaprio is I think the weakest of the bunch and I think that he is good in the film but the way he talked really grated with me after a while, De Niro is very good as well as the local mayor like figure of the Osage county near where the oil was found and who has this prospector feel to him but not without his darker side owing to the prejudice against Native American people while Jesse Plemons is very good as well as an FBI agent tasked with investigating the murders.

But the real star here has to be Lily Gladstone, for the first half of this movie she is fantastic and comes across as a real find able to say so much with little more than just her facial expressions and her body language and she develops some real chemistry with DiCaprio in those scenes but sadly at the back end of the film she doesn’t get as much to do and the film suffers for it somewhat as a result.

And there is where I want to mention my issues with this movie and the first of those is the length, at 3 hours and 26 minutes this is a long film to watch in the cinema (and if you can see it in a cinema please do so) and there were numerous times where I checked my watch and because of this long length I feel that the tension and the dread of the Osage murders begins to dissipate after a while and it loses that emotional punch that a more tightly edited version of this story might have been able to bring out.

Now I am not against long movies, James Cameron has proven to be a master of it with the Special Edition of the Abyss as well as Titanic and Avatar: The Way of Water and recently Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer rarely felt its own 3 hour runtime but here it did bother me and I think the movie as a whole suffers from this long length.

And that leads me to my next issue and that is the storytelling, now Marty and Eric Roth were right in their decision to refocus the story to the betrayal of the Osage people instead of the FBI agents tasked with investigating the murders but sadly as a result I feel the film as a whole has this split focus that instead of feeling cohesive in the way that Oppenheimer did it feels like your watching one movie and then another start in its place not unlike how you watch a streaming series and that bothered me especially in the second half.

And so that was Killers of the Flower Moon and it is at the end of the day a good movie but I wish it was a great one with tighter editing helping to bring the 2 main stories into better focus and really heighten the tension and the dread of the story, 3 out of 5.