Movie Review - The Pale Blue Eye

Director: Scott Cooper
Genre: Crime/ Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 192 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Toby Jones, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Robert Duvall,
 
Description: A world-weary detective (Christian Bale) is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case – a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling).

Review: Augustus Landor arrives anno 1830 at West Point, a remote military academy on the frozen Hudson River. It’s an atmospheric landscape, except that outside the gates a corpse is dangling from a tree. The mystery of “The Pale Blue Eye” loses momentum with each subsequent victim, and the icy setting is especially convincing.

Landor meets Edgar Allen Poe, who in his young adult years spent the winter at West Point. Landor and Poe work together in solving this crime.

Not surprisingly, after the first victim, many follow. During his search for the truth, Landor is tormented by his own demons: he is a widower, and sees before his mind’s eye his disappeared daughter.

The partnership between the elder Landor and the young Poe is by no means trouble-free, especially when Poe becomes obsessed with Lea, a stylish young lady plagued by a rare disease. Seeing Landor and Poe together is and remains somewhat uncomfortable, mainly because the film’s persistently serious tone suites Christian Bale better than his counterpart Harry Melling (best known as cousin Dudley in the Harry Potter-series). His interpretation of Poe’s character feels increasingly forced.

Through its blend of personal drama and occult mystery, “The Pale Blue Eye” ultimately tells two stories. In theory, these stories should complement each other seamlessly, but it eventually breaks up the story and make it overly explanatory. Still the well-kept picture direction and the atmospheric view of a wintry snowy landscape keep the first major film of 2023 engaging for more than two hours.

Rating: 3/ 5

10s Movie Review - Early Man

Director: Nick Park
Genre: Animation/ Adventure
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Timothy Spall, Miriam Margolys, Richard Ayoade, Mark Williams, Rob Brydon, Maisie Williams

Description: Set in the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, we meet Dug (Eddie Redmayne), along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) and his Bronze Age City to save their home.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2020 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 19: AN ANIMATED MOVIE

Review: I’m a massive fan of stop-motion animation. And the British company Aardman has brought us several amazing films, with their so-called Claymation creations. And “Early Man” is again a work of craftmanship that was made with a lot of love.
This time no smart dog and his owner, rebellious chicken or grinning sheep, but a completely new story set during the battle between the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. When you’re a bit into history, you already know that historically this film is not accurate and it’s rather absurd. But historical accuracy was not what director Nick Park was aiming for.
The men and women in bear furs, centering the young Dug, are a bunch of losers. Them having to catch a rabbit for dinner is a hellish undertaking. Dug suggests to start capturing bigger animals. They live in a valley that their ancestors lived in after a meteor hit the land, but time stood still there. All of a sudden Dug and his group face the people of the Bronze Age. They are led by the vain Lord Nooth, who wants to get rid of Dug’s beautiful living area. The ‘modern’ idiots love soccer and let this sport be the one accidentally invented by the cavemen.
The film is filled with jokes and slapstick and has a lot of word jokes and puns. I love this. “Early Man” has the unmistakable Aarman charm and is a typical British film. The film has a good combination of humor, action, adventure and heart.
If you like previous work from Aardman, you will also enjoy “Early Man”.

Rating: 3,5 / 5