This April, Cobain: Montage of Heck, the new rock doc by Brett Morgen, was released into the world. I was a little apprehensive because I felt as if all the insight that we would be given into the life of Kurt Cobain had already been exposed.
Fun relies on spontaneity. If you over-plan something, the less likely it is that people are going to have fun, because nothing will ever live up to expectations. Happiness equally relies on spontaneity and equally cannot be forced; the family in Force Majeure appear to be happy as the movie starts, yet look closely and you’ll see everything isn’t so straightforward.
Look into Johnny Depp’s eyes in this trailer for Black Mass and you see a man staring you down into the void. A black abyss contained deep in his eyes. Stare at them as he gives you one of the most chilling speeches spoken in one of the most threatening ways possible.
Last month Film Inquiry contributor Rachael Sampson reviewed The New York Film Academy’s newly released infographic exploring gender representation in cinema. In addition to this infographic, the NYFA also published statistics on the portrayal of drugs in movies from 1894 to 2014 for us to review. I’ve always been interested in how society’s feelings towards something considered more ‘taboo’ like drugs is mirrored, if at all, in pop culture, especially in the context of film.
Somebody help me, I’m so lost. The only thing I’m sure of is that this is Chile in 2010. A 121 year old copper-gold mine has just collapsed.
With 2015’s blockbuster season kicking off with two box office smashing sequels in Fast & Furious 7 and The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the film industry now, more than ever, lies at the behest of the big-budget follow-up. Star Wars:
Every week Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: Hot Pursuit, The D Train, 5 Flights Up, Maggie, Saint Laurent, Noble, The Seven Five and Skin Trade.
When I think back to Avengers: Age of Ultron, the best thing I can compare it to is a multi-layered Impressionist painting. From up close, it often looks and feels like an over-stuffed mess, as if director Joss Whedon was trying to cram as much as possible into his 2 hour and 20 minute timeframe.
It’s your usual humble beginnings story. A group becomes rich and famous after enduring great hardship. That group is composed of rappers Dr.
There is no formula for making a perfect kids film, yet studios have set up entire animated devisions that churn out movies under the tried-and-tested “jokes for the parents and jokes for the kids” formula. The twin assumptions that filmmakers don’t feel children are sophisticated enough to understand certain jokes in a movie tailor-made for them and that parents also need to be pandered to in order for them to enjoy the film are relatively new. After all, back in the early days of silent cinema, most movies were experiences for the entire family, with everybody (no matter how young or old) being catered to equally.
Stoner movies aren’t really the best education on weed culture, I’ll be honest with you. If you learnt everything about toking up from watching comedies like Pineapple Express (2008) and This is the End (2013), you know that men like to get really high. They roll up joints and blunts, take plenty of hits on bongs and bowls, and order in family-size pizzas.
This just gets convoluted to an extreme after a while. Let’s just say the obvious, Superman is Jesus even though he’s suppose to represent the American dream from an immigrant perspective. Batman is the personification of order surrounded by chaos.
Even though I may make it look like any idiot can do it, writing reviews is far from easy. The hardest things to review aren’t the plot-heavy science fiction movies or the obscure art house efforts with impenetrable plots like you would imagine – the most difficult movies to review are the films that are just plain boring. I watched Child 44 two days ago, where I made up 100% of the audience for that screening – in the two days since, I have found myself struggling to remember quite a lot of it.
It’s difficult to truly think of others. I’m not saying there is some sort of innate apathy, but there is always a divide between ourselves and the people we should help. We can donate thousands upon thousands of whatever currency, but I can’t imagine, in full capacity, what they suffer.
There are those people who turn their noses up at the romantic comedy. They see it as a silly kind of film designed to entertain a delusional audience. I am not one of those people.