One of the most controversial directors currently working today, Nicolas Winding Refn is a provocative force to be reckoned with. He has an utterly distinctive voice that couldn’t ever be mistaken for anybody else. Each of his films is widely divisive, almost always opening to heated opinion from audiences.
The vast majority of video game films have failed for not respecting their source material, using them only as basic backdrops to put some hackneyed plot in place for a quick cash-grab. Various franchises like Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia have all failed because of this blatant apathy, and because those involved in their making didn’t care about how to integrate the art of making video games with the craft of making films. The less said about the absolute disasters that were the various video game films directed by talentless hack Uwe Boll, the better.
Every Tuesday Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: Finding Dory, Central Intelligence, Tickled, The Last King and Clown.
Whenever I watch a Nicholas Cage movie I feel myself expecting to see a certain eccentricity in his performance. His over the top outbursts or erratic body movements distance away from more serious tones and instead cross over into that of slapstick comedy. Cage’s acting has always entertained me, yet my ironic enjoyment often makes it hard to take his characters seriously.
While many recent horror films have been heavily influenced by the works of prominent directors of the 1980s like David Lynch, John Carpenter and David Cronenberg (very good ones like The Guest and It Follows), this one addresses subject matter not even those films were willing to tackle. Richard Powell’s Heir is the next great homage to those great directors, and can proudly be a part of the recent resurgence in thoughtful horror films designed more to represent real world conflicts as opposed to cheap scares. The plot is simple at first:
Well, you can’t say that Ben Affleck isn’t trying to capitalize on his success. Since winning his second Oscar for Argo, he’s famously taken over the role of Batman, including writing and directing the upcoming caped crusader’s first solo film in the DC Extended Universe. In addition to that commitment, he’s also peppered in several acting appearances in stand-alone thrillers.
Set in 1630, Robert Eggers’ The Witch follows a family banished from a Puritan community and forced to live, isolated and penniless, in a remote woodlands shack. Soon, malevolent forces begin to molest the kids and infect the goat, and the family is engulfed in a maelstrom of religious hysteria and occultist magic. With its deeply unsettling atmosphere and frenzied performances, The Witch has (not undeservedly) become one of the most acclaimed horror films of the new millennium, with many critics praising its attention to detail and the slow-burning tension of its narrative (as well as its mascot:
One of the only films that can take on Ghostbusters as the most hated project of 2016 is Ben-Hur. It’s not drawing the same level of public ire, but those with any sense of film history will remember the 1959 epic led by Charlton Heston and immediately wonder why. The complication is that the 2016 Ben-Hur is not a remake of the 1959 film or the 1925 silent version.
In all production tools of filmmaking, using sound effects is a fundamental factor in capturing a film’s escapist experience and the audience’s reactions. Although sound is not seen on-screen, it does play a crucial role in how films work, and in how it progresses narrative, develops characters and addresses significance. John Williams is an example of a composer whose work has established the importance of music within cinema, and how they play a fundamental role in the entire experience.
Concerning remakes in modern cinematic environments, there is a strong dominance during recent years involving large companies and production studios to provide audiences with an extensive range of remakes and indistinguishable plots and storylines with the twist of live action appearances. Speculations regarding Disney in particular are most prominent in terms of feature film announcements, with approximately 16 possible films arriving in the future that focus on existing narratives and characters. There are different approaches to this that Disney are experimenting on, from remaking the same story faithfully, adapting a different spin to the classics or even creating long awaited sequels – such as Mary Poppins Returns, set for release Dec 2018.
Every week Film Inquiry shares the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: The Conjuring 2, Warcraft, Now You See Me 2, Genius, De Palma, Diary of a Chambermaid, From Afar and King Jack.
In this part of Positive Psychology & Film, Laurie Agard interprets Life Is Beautiful, the inspiring and gut-wrenching Italian war film.
Whilst people constantly bring up the current increasing slog of superhero films, there’s another string of films that are much worse in their repetitive nature that seemingly seem to go under the radar: the bro/stoner comedy. Seth Rogen could be seen as the unofficial face of the stoner movement, films where a manchild is forced to grow up, usually through the love of a woman, in between bouts of marijuana, pop culture references and hanging out with your “bros”.
Riding into the summer movie season with some neon cool is Nerve, a thriller starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco. The plot sounds like something out of a Dark Web horror story: an online site that pays players to take dares from watchers quickly escalates into a real-life game of survival for our two protagonists.
Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is underrated horror films from the 1980’s.
