Joaquin Phoenix

NAPOLEON: A Great Humiliation of a Great Man
NAPOLEON: A Great Humiliation of a Great Man

Napoleon feels a lot like its titular character: loudly ambitious to a fault, and it can’t make up its mind on what to be.

NAPOLEON: A Great Humiliation of a Great Man
NAPOLEON Trailer

The film takes a personal look at Napoleon Bonaparte’s origins, and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor.

BEAU IS AFRAID: The Guilty Remains of a Mad Genius
BEAU IS AFRAID: The Guilty Remains of a Mad Genius

Beau is Afraid is an aggressive, arguably juvenile film that throws everything at the wall, and truly needs to be seen to be believed.

BEAU IS AFRAID Trailer
BEAU IS AFRAID Trailer

A decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.

C'MON C'MON Trailer
C’MON C’MON Trailer

A radio journalist embarks on a cross-country trip with his young nephew.

NYFF 2021: C'MON C'MON: Tender and Simple Right to the Very End
NYFF 2021: C’MON C’MON: Tender and Simple Right to the Very End

Despite the occasional meandering of the script, much of the film feels like an honest search for peace and a sense of balance in life.

TIFF 2019: JOKER: A Lackluster Attempt at Humanizing an Iconic Character
TIFF 2019: JOKER: A Lackluster Attempt At Humanizing An Iconic Character

Joker, although clearly a different approach to comic book movies than in the past, just doesn’t feel like a fully developed film.

Venice International Film Festival 2019: JOKER
Venice Film Festival 2019: JOKER

Dark and gritty, Joker is a pressure cooker of emotional abuse that is just ticking, ready to blow at every minute.

Rubber Duckies And Killing Kittens: Why Has Mainstream Film Become Fixated on Backstory?
Rubber Duckies & Killing Kittens: Why Has Mainstream Film Become Fixated On Backstory?

With more and more sequels, prequels and spin-offs hitting our screens, Luke Walpole examines the focus on backstory in cinema.

Breaking Down JOKER's Influences
Breaking Down JOKER’s Influences

After the recent Joker trailer, we breakdown the many influences of the infamous character’s latest iteration.

Iconic Character Breakdown: The Joker
Iconic Character Breakdown: The Joker

The Joker is one of the most popular and most frequented DC villains to hit the screen – Kristy Strouse looks at his evolution over the years.

JOKER Trailer
JOKER Trailer

Joker tells the origin story of the Batman villain: A failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and becomes a psychopathic murderer.

THE SISTERS BROTHERS: Slow, Contemplative Western Subverts Expectations
THE SISTERS BROTHERS: Quiet Western Subverts Expectations

There is much to admire about The Sisters Brothers; the powerful performances, the beautiful cinematography, and the statement on violence in the Old West.

THE SISTERS BROTHERS Trailer
THE SISTERS BROTHERS Trailer

In 1850s Oregon, a gold prospector is chased by the infamous duo of assassins, the Sisters brothers.

Were you familiar with Mary Magdalene before you read the script? Garth Davis: Not in a deep, detailed way, but in the movies I have seen before and in the way everyone kind of understands. When I read this it was a completely different version, so that got me curious. I started to investigate it in a deeper way and found it astonishing it has taken us so long to put that story out there in a more popular light. Extraordinary really. It was definitely different than the story I grew up reading in the bible. I remember when the Passion of the Christ came out, an actor got struck by lightening during shooting. Anything like that happen on set for you? Garth Davis: There were a couple of pretty amazing moments. When we were shooting the scene of the exorcism, where the family was exorcising Mary in the Sea of Galilee, just before we were about to walk into the water the wind just completely stopped. Completely still, almost on cue, right? Then suddenly lightening appeared all over the ocean. It was unbelievable! So much so, that when shooting the scene I had to paint it out. It just felt like a trope, you know? People would have thought it was a visual effect. [laughs] Wow!Garth Davis: The other one was during a scene on the beach of Magdala. I did a drawing of the location and I wanted to add some smoke in the background. So we went down to the Recee, and as I was standing there, smoke emerged exactly where I was drawing it (laughs). It was one of those moments where you have to ask if something was guiding us in some way.
MARY MAGDALENE: A Surprisingly Secular Biblical Tale

Garth Davis proves once again his skills behind the camera can help uplift middlebrow material, but only to a certain extent, Mary Magdalene significantly undercut by the increased familiarity and conventional storytelling.