Movie Review - The Father

Director: Florian Zeller
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Mark Gatiss

Description: A man (Anthony Hopkins) refuses all assistance from his daughter (Olivia Colman) as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of hid reality.

Review: Anthony suffers from Alzheimer’s disease so his memory is beginning to fail him more and more. He doesn’t want to admit and accept that he needs care in his old age. He lives in with his daughter Anne and we see his condition getting worse.
Alzheimer’s disease has left so much suffering and grief. It’s a mental illness, there is nothing you can do but stand by and watch helplessly as someone you love slips away from you to the point that they may not even recognize you. “The Father” attempts for the first time to make the illness tangible and visualize it by highlighting the perspective of someone who suffers from it.
“The Father” manages to break free from the conventional way of storytelling in order to present us with something unique. All facets of film are pulled out to make us as disoriented as this broken old man who is slowly losing grip on reality.
The his ingeniously shown by playing with different aspects. Scenes are not entirely in chronological order, conversations can be partly fabricated in Anthony’s head, there are hallucinations of certain people who may not be there at all and even the furniture in Anthony’s apartment changes subtly throughout the film to show that he feels increasingly alienated from the outside world.
This angle tries to give us the most realistic look into the mind of someone with Alzheimer’s/ dementia. Like Anthony, you are frustrated-confused and along with him you are challenged to puzzle out to correct course of action. I have never seen a film that comes so dangerously close in depicting the mental state of someone with this horrific disease.
The film is carried by the Oscar-winning role of Anthony Hopkins. He is a veteran actor, in his eighties, but he still manages to win us all over. In everything he does, he is believable. Hopkins shows a range of emotion, where he can change in a fraction of seconds between being nice, funny, confused, sad and anxious. His final monologue leaves you heartbroken. And this perfectly describes this movie.
The film forms a fantastic whole, but also leaves room for your own interpretation. A great piece of cinema with a lesson in acting from Anthony Hopkins. A movie you seriously need to see!

Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Review - In the Heights

Director: Jon M. Chu
Genre: Musical/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 143 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Olga Merediz, Jimmy Smits, Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz

Description: A film version of the Broadway musical in which Usnavi (Anthon Ramos), a sympathetic New York bodega owner, saves every penny every day as he imagines and sings about a better life.

Review: In Washington Heights, Manhattan we see several stories of people who are struggling to make ends meet, love problems, and dreams of getting a better life in the future, among other things.
In 2020, the Broadway film adaptation of Hamilton was a favorite for many. The man behind the music, Lin-Manuel Miranda, would now make a film adaptation of his other well-known Broadway hit, “In the Heights”. Another infectious musical that draws you in from the first song and leaves you with a feel-good feeling.
I’m a musical fan and I’m very happy to see that the genre hasn’t died yet. Lin-Manuel Miranda has a certain style that I don’t always like, but his mix of rap, hip-hop, Dominican swing music and slow pieces really fit perfectly in this setting.
I think “In the Heights” is the type of movie needed in this difficult time, to feel happy and be surrounded by song, dance and music. A feel-good movie, even if you’re not necessarily a musical fan.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - The Mitchell's Vs. the Machines

Director: Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Genre: Animation/ Family/ Adventure/ Science Fiction/ Action
Runtime: 114 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Abbi Jacobsen, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Michael Rianda, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, Eric André, Beck Bennett, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Conan O’Brien

Description: A quirky dysfunctional family’s road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity’s unlikeliest last hope.

Review: Thanks to a selfish tech slouch in Silicon Valley, all robot and machines are tuning against humanity. There seems to be only one family that can stop the evil this man has wrought. Let that be a dysfunctional family of awkward misfits. “The Mitchell’s Vs. the Machines” is full of witty jokes about the evils inflicted on humans by big tech companies, but then seems to negate these criticisms with the decidedly meme-like aesthetic regularly chosen.
Katie Mitchell is different from others, but that’s really true of her entire family. Katie makes crazy videos, which she uses to get accepted to film school. Father Rick doesn’t quite get these videos, but he doesn’t seem to be able to get a grip on the internet and his growing daughter anyway. Brother Aaron has a very big obsession with dinosaurs and mother Linda tries to keep the family together with her patience and love. When the robots seize power, this seems like the last family that can offer any hope of saving humanity.  
Chaos is already rife when destructive robots fly around, but when a vengeful siri variant decides to shut down the global wifi, panic really breaks out. “Will someone take pictures of my food”, screams a woman desperately as the world behinds her burns. These are the kinds of highly visually elaborate cynical jokes that the film is full of, providing and extremely witty take on humans and their technologies. When murderous Furby’s, dryers bent on massacre and aggressive robot vacuum cleaners also come along, the film proves truly hilarious.
The makers also seem to want to appeal to a younger audience, it is after all a children’s film. However, they do this with an aesthetic what is midway between Snapchat filters, memes and TikTok movies. This form of animation withing animation not only looks very annoying, it sometimes actually ruins successful jokes and undermines the fiilm’s strong criticism Big Tech. the result is king of a cacophony of memes that are projected in between the successful animations when you weren’t actually looking for them. But still, because of many hilarious scenes and top-notch cast, the makers are forgiven.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - The Last Duel

Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Drama/ Action
Runtime: 153 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Marton Csokas

I WATCHED THIS FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 50: A MOVIE SET IN A EUROPEAN COUNTRY
 
Description: King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) settle his dispute with his squire (Adam Driver) by challenging him to a duel.

Review: Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris are two friendly squires who go to war together for the king of France in the fourteenth century. De Carrouges is a somewhat gruff, antipathetic fellow who is at odds with everyone, while Le Gris is a charming man who gradually works his way up to become the confidant of the local count Piere d’Aleçon. And then Marguerite, the Carrouges’ beautiful wife, accuses Le Gris of rape.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon join forces again and wrote this script. Ridley Scott directs and the cast is completed with Adam Driver and Jodie Comer. The script is ingeniously put together. The film consists of three chapters, each of which sheds a different light on the case. The chapters show the whole case each time through the eyes of one of the protagonists: the Carrouges, Le Gris and Marguerite. Small details show us how the characters view the case, but in the end the truth comes out.
Ridley Scott is a master at creating atmosphere. As a result, the Middle Ages thought his eyes look almost as beautiful as they are brutal. The battles, the everyday worries, everything is cleverly rendered with a great eye for detail. And to top is all off, we get a brilliantly portrayed duel between the two formal friends.
Matt Damon is perfectly cast as the gruff Carrouges, while Driver seems the ideal Le gris. They are ably supported by a ravishing Jodie Comer, who I think is the true star of the film. Ben Affleck, not always strong as an actor, is the only downside when it comes to the performers. He comes off a bit cartoonish at times.
The contemporary theme is subtly addressed with, at the end, even the question of whether the punishment exceeds the crime and a stunning image of the peasant women who seem to silently encourage Marguerite. In short, a powerful epic with heroic battles and a particularly beautiful moral that manages to justify its long runtime.

Rating: 4/ 5

Netflix Friday - Volume 85

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: 2 Guns (2013)
Two hardened criminals (Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg) get into trouble with the US border patrol after meeting with a Mexiacn drug lord, and then revelations start to unfold.
 

Drama: T2 Trainspotting (2017)
After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) returns to Scotland and reunites with his odl friends Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewan Bremner) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle).
 

Comedy: Blockers (2018)
Three parents (John Cena, Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz) try to stop their daughter from losing their virginity on prom night.
 

Animation: The Lorax (2012)
A 12-year-old boy (Zac Efron) searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams (Taylor Swift). To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.
 

Romance: Love Actually (2003)
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
 

Horror: World War Z (2013)
Former United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) traverses the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatens to destroy humanity itself.
 

Science Fiction: The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Freedom fighters Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) continue to lead the revolt against the Machine Army, unleashing their arsenal of extraordinary skills and weaponry against the systematic forces of repression and exploitation.
 

Crime: Thoroughbreads (2017)
Two upper-class teenage girls (Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy) in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems, no matter what the cost.
 

Thriller: The Debt (2010)
In 1965, three Mossad Agents (Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas) cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Thirty years later, the secrets the Agents (Ciarán Hinds, Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson) share come back to haunt them.
 

Documentary: 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible (2021)
Fearless Nepali mountaineer Nimsdai Purja embarks on a seemingly impossible quest to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in seven months.
 

Family: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
On the outskirts of Whoville lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch (Jim Carrey) who plans to ruin Christmas for all of the citizens of the town.

Rewatching My 100 Favorite Movies - Update 11

I decided to rewatch my 100 favorite movies of all-time. What those are, you can check HERE. I watch them in random order, there is no rhyme or reason there, just watching those movies I love so much.
 

37/ 100: Enemy (2013)
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a reclusive history teacher who notices his exact double when he watches an obscure movie on DVD. He goes in search of the extra, who turns out to live in Toronto just like him. A secretive thriller by director Denis Villenueve. The film intrigues, is beautifully filmed and effectively claustrophobic. The movie is one big mind-fuck, reminded me of David Lynch movies. Check out my full review HERE.
 

38/ 100: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
When Mr. Fox learns that Mrs. Fox is pregnant, he must promise her to stop stealing. He keeps this promise for a while, but after a few years the wild beast in him resurfaces. Mr. Fox crawls out of his hole, goes to live above ground in a hollow tree and pays nightly visits to the storehouses of the mean farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean. A beautiful stop-motion animated film by Wes Anderson, who transformed Roald Dahl’s childhood book into a dryly comic ode to whimsy. HERE you can read my full review.
 
Still to watch: 62

Book Review - Seven Days by Alex Lake

Title: Seven Days
Series: -
Author: Alex Lake
 
Description: In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens… she loses her child.
For the last twelve years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged fifteen, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her. She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking…
 
Review:  It has been twelve years since a man driving a car asked Maggie Cooper for direction. Twelve years since he pulled her by her wrist through the open car window and stuck a needle in the arm. Twelve years since she woke up in a deathly quiet, pitch-dark basement. A basement that would become her home. 
By now, Maggie has lost all hope of ever being found. She also stopped thinking about escaping a long time ago. She has only one wish: save the life of her son Max. Because in only seven days Max will be three, and then her abductor comes in to get him… just like the last time. 
“Seven Days” is thriller writing at its best. It’s a chilling an suspenseful, a book that’s hard to put down. It’s bloodcurdling from the first page to the last. I always like stories that are told from multiple perspectives. This way you see the events from different points of view, knowing more then most characters, but not enough to unravel the entire mystery. 
It's an abduction story, with several gruesome moments. A crime story with a lot of tension. A real page-turner and recommendation for everyone who loves the genre.
 
Rating: 5/ 5