jamiedarlow-37510

Philosophically rewarding and hilarious in one wallop! Larry David is the PERFECT performer to deliver some of Allen's most scathingly pessimistic material.

It does demonstrate the weakest trait of Allen's work which is the problematically condescending attitude towards anyone with a perceived "lower IQ" or musical interests outside of classical/jazz. This never gets overwhelming here though thanks to fully-rounded character development that faces that issue head on.

Despite the cynicism and misanthropy of the main character (of whose existential panic alarmingly rings true) there is romance to be found throughout the narrative; a genuinely sweet and soft centre to the film with a really uplifting ending.

Genuinely spooky and expertly told, this adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel is truly spectacular. This is my third time watching upon writing this review and I can safely say that it still shocks and entertains me to this day. Director Andy Muschietti (Mama) had a strong connection to King's story, in particular through the central group at the heart of the story; in his own words '... developing the film, I was retrieving my emotional experience reading the book. I wanted to communicate the feeling of intimacy and innocence of the Losers.' His goal was very much achieved and then some! The bullying the group encounter along their journey is severely repulsive, captured perfectly on screen and making us root even more for the already immensely likeable characters, played to utter brilliance by the terrific cast.

Then, there's the genius casting of Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the Clown... the bodily and vocal contortions are creepy as sin and it's an extremely memorable performance. Considering there's only 4 minutes of actual dialogue from the character throughout the movie, his presence is astounding. The visuals effects used to project Pennywise's disturbing visions upon the children are masterful, contributing to a powerful cinematic experience. Taking inspiration from iconic movie psychopaths like The Joker, Jack Torrance and Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange, Skarsgard has stated '... I have to scare a whole generation. My take was that Pennywise functions very simply... he's animalistic and instinctive.'

With absolutely beautiful character work, gorgeous cinematography by Chung-hoon Chung (Oldboy, Stoker), captivating music score by Benjamin Wallfisch (The Invisible Man) and just stunning work from the entire cast and crew, IT is a gem to be cherished and remembered.

Malignant is absolutely going to polarise its viewers which is part of what makes it such a fascinating one to talk about. I really want to give this a glowing review because of how admirably weird it gets in its second half. But I have to be honest, I came out underwhelmed. The two main reasons for this are firstly, that it changes tone very frequently between being goofy and having it's tongue firmly in its cheek to then going for the more predictable horror elements we're used to in a negatively disorientating way. Secondly, the central performance by Wallis; it's with a heavy heart to say that I found it shriekingly terrible to the point of being unwatchable which was a massive distraction from the enjoyment, even when keeping the campiness intended in mind.

On a technical level, it has really impressive aspects such as the great stuntwork (Troy James' contortion work as Gabriel is massively entertaining) the score by Joseph Bishara (The Conjuring, Insidious) featuring an incredible theme in the opening titles, great production design and fantastic practical gore effects. Mckenna Grace's performance as the young Madison is magnetic. A certain reveal is absolutely insane and makes for a riveting 15 minute sequence in the finale. Gabriel is also an awesome character and will definately be inspiration for this Halloween's fancy dress!

Despite the majority of his output not being my thing, I think James Wan is a great filmmaker and I can't wait to be as wowed by a movie he makes as I was with Death Sentence (2007) and Saw (2004). That 15 minute sequence is further proof of his exciting talent behind the camera.