lostonthehighway

Why do I feel that someone gave Robert Eggers a little too much money and a little too much fake blood?

I hate to be writing this review, I'm sorry, I really am. I know that The Northman is important in terms of an original blockbuster that isn't some flicks superhero thing in a world when we sorely need them. But I highly doubt that this is the way to go about it.

This film has been lauded a lot for its raw violence and its gritty edge, but honestly, I wasn't a big fan of that. Maybe this is a personal choice, but this film felt very primal and I couldn't say I loved that. I suppose it's the thing where they try to shock you with weird stuff to try and take your mind off the film's storyline problems (something that I found Midsommar particularly guilty of). I don't like that. But hey, if you want to see Ethan Hawke drinking blood, have fun with that.

In a lot of ways, this film reminds me of The Revenant. Now, I enjoyed The Revenant (more than this, might I add), but it suffers a lot of the same problems. Beautiful visuals, but for no meaning, really. The storyline of this is flat, which makes me confused over how you can mess up the story of Hamlet, and the fact that this isn't my first time saying this (see my review of that horrible 2000 version for more). To quote a very particular internet adage - if I had a quarter for every time someone messed up a film adaptation of Hamlet, I'd have two quarters, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice. Back to the film, the shaky story, which drags soooooo much in the second act, really did end up showing through when you weren't being blinded by pretty cinematography.

This film is really aimless. That is my main critique, which is weird to say for a film that seems to have so much gusto and force - or, at least, you think it does, until you realise it's all a facade. The character development doesn't go anywhere, the characters themselves felt flat, Anya Taylor-Joy looked like she had walked onto the wrong set the entire time, I could go on.

I mean, you know what's going to happen from the start. It's literally the main character's catchphrase - avenge his father, save his mother, kill his uncle. Great. And that's exactly what he does. Amazing. Am I supposed to care that the thing that was drilled into my brain to anticipate from the start was going to happen? Wait, no - the second act is full of dumb plot choices that just kind of delay what you ALREADY KNOW IS GOING TO HAPPEN. And that's just annoying, man.

Of course, the cinematography is great, et cetera et cetera, and there's good production design and stuff. But again, no matter how nicely and fancily you present a plain piece of chicken breast, it's still going to be a wet lump of meat with no seasoning and no point. And that's what this film felt like to me - pointless.

I haven't see Egger's other films but I might check them out to have an apt comparison. In the meantime, I'd like my money back.

-Sasha.

I don't usually review short films because they seldom leave me with anything distinctive to say. The reason I'm writing this review is because this film is basically the dictionary definition of distinctive. And, despite the fact that I've seen more short films than I can count, I can safely say that this is my favourite short of all time.

A lot of people find this film weird and I don't blame them in the slightest. In fact, when I showed this film to my friend, their first reaction was "the f$%&?", and, in all fairness, so was mine. But the thing is, for the longest time, I've loved weird, off-beat humour, so this scratched that very particular niche in my brain. The reason this film is so funny stems from its absurdity and its campiness. In fact, when I was watching it for the first time, I really had no idea where it was going to go next. And, I mean, what else can you expect from a film about someone who gets struck in the face by lightning?

Oscar Isaac once again proves that he is an incredible actor by simply stealing the show for the entire 20 minutes. Said 20 minutes are essentially him having a complete mental breakdown whilst confined inside his apartment (strangely enough predicting both Moon Knight and all of 2020). And somehow, even though this film (as I've mentioned) is one of the, if not *the* weirdest film I've ever seen, Isaac gives an incredibly realistic, if not a little over-the-top, performance. I'd definitely watch a feature film of him just throwing stuff around a very nice-looking apartment.

Speaking of throwing stuff around a nice-looking apartment, the single-space set-up works really well and shows how creative you can be even if you've just got one location on your hands. In general, despite all of its transcendental monkey-themed lightning weirdness (well, that's a sentence I never thought I'd write), it's a really interesting portrayal of someone who is clearly losing it. And I love the ambiguity of it all - despite watching it twice within the last two days, I am no closer to understanding it, and I can't stop thinking about it.

After loving this film a lot, I checked out some more of Brian Petsos's work. He's collaborated a lot of with Oscar Isaac (I presume that the two are friends), and I really love his style of short film. The other short of his that I saw, Ticky Tacky (2015), once again displayed that dry, absurd sort of humour, but I enjoyed this over that partially due to the weird premise. I'd very much like to see more collaborations between the two, maybe even a feature film.

In conclusion, I guarantee that this will be 20 of the strangest but most fulfilling minutes of your life.

-Sasha.

Let me get something out of the way - I don't like Marvel. I don't like superhero movies, mass-made media, action-y CGI-y flicks. But somehow, this defied all of my expectations.

What I think made me enjoy Moon Knight much more than I usually enjoy Marvel content is the fact that it's own thing. In my opinion, that is singlehandedly one of the strongest things this series has going for it. There are no stupid cameos, no attempt to shoehorn it into the Spider-Man films or whatever else it is these people like to do. Moon Knight is its own thing - a first in the MCU - and that in itself is incredibly refreshing.

Now, for the real star of the show - Oscar Isaac. This man elevates what would probably have been a pretty average MCU show to something that - dare I say? - could even be Emmy quality. Honestly, after seeing Isaac's other films, I strongly believe that he is one of the best actors of this generation, and damn does it show here. Even at times when other aspects of the show weren't top notch, his slight mannerisms and the way he switches seamlessly between the alters - not to mention the fact that he's more often than not doing the very difficult job of acing against himself - make this show stand out in and of itself. Episode 5, especially, is probably one of the best TV episodes I've seen in recent memory, mostly due to Isaac's performance. Honestly, again, referencing the fact that I don't even like Marvel, the only reason this show piqued my interest to begin with is the fact that I heard that he was attached to it, which prompted me to check it out, and he did not disappoint.

Hailing from London myself, his accent is probably more convincing than any of the times when American actors simply assumed everyone in Britain spoke Queen's English, and it was incredibly endearing. It was also very nice to have a change of location and not have the show set in New York like every other MCU thing, not to mention the switch between the accents made it simple to see the switch between Marc and Steven.

After watching the first few episodes, I decided to read some of the comic books - most notably Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood's 2016 run of the comics, which got me simply hooked on the character. After having read that 14-issue series three (3) times in the last week or so, I'd say that I now have enough of a scope of understanding to be able to compare the two. Although, that's not quite right, because comparing the two would be like comparing a pigeon and a stapler because they are two completely different mediums. Despite that, the Lemire run definitely had the most influence on the visual style and storyline of the series, and I highly recommend it to all that enjoyed the show as I did. Despite my aversion to Marvel films, I do greatly enjoy some of their comic work, and the show contains plenty of Easter eggs to reward comic fans like myself.

In terms of the story itself, it started off incredibly strong with a very compelling pilot, and only really went upwards from there, peaking at episode 5, which, as I already mentioned, was brilliant. The finale, in my opinion, felt slightly flat, partially because of the breakneck pacing and the bad CGI (mostly due to the fact that the story had to be shoehorned into 6 episodes, for some annoying reason). Despite that, I think that the quality of the first 5 episodes definitely evens it out, and the post-credits scene at the end of the finale contains a very neat and long-awaited surprise that will certainly please fans of the comic.

What makes this show good is the fact that it's so character driven. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely plenty of Marvel-y things in here (massive-scale CGI, one-liners, typical superheroey stuff) but what I enjoyed about the show is just how much it focused on the fragile character of Marc/Steven and the way it dealt with issues such as mental illness. I'm not saying it's 100% accurate (and I don't really have any way of knowing due to a lack of personal experience with DID), but you can at least see that they tried, and that in itself is a plus.

I almost wish that Marvel didn't quite tone it down so much - I know that a PG-13 rating is necessary because money, but again, based on my own knowledge of the comics and the character, the show could have been so much more fun and violent. And also, it annoys me ever so slightly that the titular character got maybe 10 minutes of screen time. But I mean, it was made for such a large audience, I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting, so I'm willing to let it slide.

In conclusion, this is a very good show, which I wasn't expecting to say. Watch the show, read the comics, have fun.

-Sasha.