My Review of Insomnia (2002)

 

Written by Hillary Seitz

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Will: "You don't get it do you, Finch? You're my job. You're what I'm paid to do. You're about as mysterious to me as a blocked toilet is to a fucking plumber. Reasons for doing what you did? Who gives a fuck?"

Delving into an earlier timeline, remember during the pre Batman days when Christopher Nolan was somewhat more small scale in his storytelling? Those were genuinely interesting times.

This movie for example was a straightforward enough cat and mouse detective drama with two top tier performances from both Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Of course, both men are on opposite sides of the law.

Al Pacino took on the role of hardened Will Dormer. The death of a young woman named Kay Connell (Crystal Lowe) had Will and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) being paired with Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank) in order to solve the case.

On the other hand, there's Walter Finch as played by Robin Williams. He's a writer of detective fiction and was more than happy to assist Dormer in cracking the case. He's also a killer, an expert at mind games and knew enough about Dormer to be a serious threat to the man.

For the most part, Dormer was a good man but he suffered from insomnia and that impaired his judgement at times. Dormer was also responsible for the death of his partner and bent the law to make sure that a paedophile was sent down. Finch had no problem trying to use these things to control Dormer. They only worked for a bit.

In fact, the closer that William got to Ellie, the more he was able to be honest with her about the things he had done. This however did put Ellie in danger and there was a tense stand off at a lake house between Dormer and Finch. It ended in a rather brutal way for both men that felt thematically satisfying either way.

- There's some strong supporting performances from Maura Tierney, Nicky Katt and Jonathan Jackson.

- This is the only film that Christopher Nolan has directed by not written or co-written. 

- Standout music: Coldplay's Sparks and Ivy's One More Last Kiss.

- Chronology: Dormer and Eckhart were from Los Angeles but this story took place in Nightmute, Alaska.

Insomnia (2002) reminded me of Nolan's earliest and more low key of movies. There's a part of me that would like to see him go back to that type of storytelling again, at least for one future movie. Getting back to this one, both Al Pacino and Robin Williams are just on mighty form here.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Cecil B. Demented (2000)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Cecil: "I'm Cecil B. Demented, and you're in my movie. Do not look into the lens and ruin the shot or you will be shot."

Heading into the 2000s, was it the right time to make a film deeply critical of Hollywood? Maybe it was a case of being a little ahead of it's time. That's happened with certain directors before.

Let's take an actress named Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith). She's an A List actress but she's not very liked and one of her first scenes involved her humiliating her put upon publicist, Libby (Ricki Lake). She's also not a fan of Baltimore either.

Being in Baltimore for work however put her in the cross hairs of rebel filmmaker Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorf) and his band of misfits. Those involved actors like Cherish (Alicia Witt) and Lyle (Adrian Grenier), art director Lewis (Larry Giliard Jr), make up artist Raven (Maggie Gyllenhaal), hairstylist Rodney (Jack Noseworthy), driver Petie (Mike Shannon), costume designer Fidget (Eric M. Barry), sound artist Chardonnay (Zenzele Uzoma), cinematographer Pam (Erika Lynn Rupli) and producer Dinah (Harriet Dodge).

That's a lot of characters to keep up with for this particular band of terrorist filmmakers. Honey's not particularly thrilled with helping them but it's not long before their rebellious spirit started to rub off on her and she became a bit too willing to go along with Cecil's increasing demands.

This included disrupting a screening of the directors cut of Patch Adams, public filming, endangering the general public but on the plus side, Cecil and the gang did manage to do humanity by sabotaging an ill advised sequel to Forest Gump and a very public final act at a drive in theatre. I'll give Cecil his due, he certainly knew how to go out in a blaze of glory while Honey Whitlock might have given herself a defining career performance.

- Honey had an ex-husband played by Eric Roberts. He had problem blasting her on Roseanne Barr's show. John Waters and Mink Stole had minor roles.

- We got to see some of Cherish's pornographic past on the big screen. One of her moments involved a gerbil. I can't imagine who that was referring to.

- Standout music: Substance D's Everyday and Liberace's Ciao!

- Chronology: Baltimore of course in 2000.

Cecil B. Demented did take a bite out of so many trends in Hollywood that are rather relevant to today. I wasn't sure about this one at first but I found myself  pretty taken with this movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of The Rules Of Attraction (2002)

 

Written And Directed by Roger Avary

Sean: "I didn't know where I was going, some place unoccupied I hoped, at first I thought there were things about her I would never forget, But in the end all I could think about was-..."

I saw this movie only once and it was a few years after it's initial release. It wasn't a movie that particularly impressed me but I decided to go back to it recently. I can't say that time has altered my view on it.

Based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name, you've got well college students. None of whom are particularly likable but this movie did something of a deep dive on these particular characters.

Going in for LGBT representation first, there's Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder). He's a bisexual guy caught up in a love triangle with fellow students Lauren Hynde (Shannyn Sossamon) and Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek). Yes, that last is related to who you'd expect him to be related to.

It's a rather toxic triangle to watch unfold with all three characters being frustrating to watch and none of them on the same page as one another. Paul pined for Sean. Sean pined for Lauren but had no problem sleeping with Kelly (Kate Bosworth). Lauren also pined for her ex boyfriend Victor (Kip Pardue).

There's a whole segment in the movie that nearly delved into Victor's European exploits that were moderately entertaining enough to watch. Victor also had sex with Lara (Jessica Biel) and there's also a purple letter subplot involving Sean to boot.

It's a film where none of the three got what they truly wanted. Sean didn't get Lauren and left. Paul didn't get Sean but reflected on things with Lauren. Lauren didn't get back together with Victor.

- Casper Van Dien was cast as Patrick Bateman but his scene was ultimately cut from the film.

- There's some good support roles from Faye Dunaway, Swoosie Kurtz, Eric Stoltz and Fred Savage to name a few. Lot of recognisable people appear in this one.

- Standout music: James Van Der Beek's version of Anna Begins and George Michael's Faith.

- Chronology: Set at Camden College in New Hampshire.

The Rules Of Attraction was more of a frustrating than fun experience. Thr performances are fine and there's some interesting character bits but it didn't really come together that well as a film.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Pecker (1998)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Pecker: "I love you Shelley! I love you more than Kodak!"

I'll admit that 1990s era John Waters might be his most interesting time. There's a clear attempt to be a little mainstream while also keeping with the shock value that his earlier works have done.

There's also more of a conscious effort to have a sympathetic main character and Pecker (Edward Furlong) might be his most likable to date. Pecker's genuinely a nice kid with a hobby and talent for taking photos.

Pecker's got a family he adored - parents Jimmy (Mark Joy) and Joyce (Mary Kay Place), sisters Tina (Martha Plimpton) and Little Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey) and his grandmother (Jean Schertler). The latter had a talking Virgin Mary statue and Pecker's family and girlfriend, Shelley (Christina Ricci) were incredibly supporting of his photography. They were also subjects too.

Anyways Pecker quickly caught the attention of New York art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor) and pretty much became an overnight success. On the downside, it made Pecker a tad unpopular in his own town and his family a victim of burglary to boot.

There's a look into Pecker taking apart the elitism of the art work during the second half of the movie as well as getting back into the favour of his home town. It's a funny turn of events with Pecker this movie by proclaiming his own aspirations to make a movie himself.

- There's cameos and voice roles for John Waters, Mink Stole and Mary Vivian Pearce respectively. Tobey Maguire was originally considered for Pecker but turned it down.

- Apparently Christina Ricci wasn't a fan of either Baltimore or laundromats. Shelley ran a laundromat obsessively.

- Standout music: Paul Evans's Happy-Go-Lucky Me.

- Chronology: 1990s Baltimore as well as a brief trip to New York.

Pecker (1998) does have a certain charm to it. It's not John Waters best effort but neither would it be his worst. I think Edward Furlong did a good job in making the character as likable as he could've done.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Inception (2010)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Cobb: "I need to get home. That's all I care about right now."

Ariadne: "Why can't you go home?"

Cobb: "Because they think I killed her."

One of my favourite films from the 2010s and one of the best movies from Christopher Nolan himself. Released between his two billion dollar movies from a certain trilogy, Nolan was cooking something truly extraordinary here.

Most of his players from The Dark Knight trilogy factor into this film but it's Leonardo DiCaprio who was leading the events as Dom Cobb. Cobb was an extractor along with Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Their mission involved striking their targets subconscious to extract information. Needless to say there was going to be a fall out from that.

The fallout being the death of Cobb's wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). She served both as a femme fatale and a guilty conscience of sorts for Cobb with some rather heated moments between both former spouses. There's some genuinely strong chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard throughout the movie.

Cobb however had a mission courtesy of Japanese businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe). The mission involved extracting information from Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) and for that Cobb needed a team.

This was where characters like Ariadne (Elliot Page), Eames (Tom Hardy), Yusuf (Dileep Rao) and Stephen Miles (Michael Caine) factored into things. All of them had certain skill sets that Cobb and Arthur needed for the mission.

It's a chaotic mission with various details into the complexity of the dream world, including limbo being outlined. There's a lot of mind bending sequences, a deep dive in Cobb's own family guilt as well as the use of a totem to see if the real world was still out there. 

- Various actors, including the likes of Kate Winslet, Emily Blunt and James Franco. Some of these actors also turned Nolan down for certain parts.

- Other actors included Lukas Haas, Peter Postlethwaite and Talulah Riley. The latter's role was rather amusing.

- Standout music: Édith Piaf's Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.

- Chronology: Largely set in the dream world, but also in Lis Angeles.

Inception (2010) deserves the accolades bestowed upon it. It's a mind bending madness of delight with weighty themes and a series of exceptional performances. It's really one of the best things I've seen Leonardo DiCaprio in and I hope that one day he will work Christopher Nolan again.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Interstellar (2014)

 

Written by Jonathan Nolan And Christopher Nolan

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Cooper: "We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down, and worry about our place in the dirt."

Yes, I'm going backwards here, given the previous movie from this director that I reviewed. Christopher Nolan has explored many things but him tackling a space based story wasn't on my bingo card at the time.

Coming off a massively successful Batman trilogy, Nolan clearly had blockbusters on the brain and this one was lofty in its ambitious but at the same time, it felt quietly intimate. It's about a family man and he just happened to be played by Matthew McConaughey.

McConaughey took on the role of former NASA pilot turned farmer, Joseph "Coop" Cooper. Being a farmer wasn't something he seemed content with because the moment he had the opportunity to venture back into space, he certainly seized it with both hands.

Cooper being part of the Endurance meant leaving behind his children - Tom (Timothee Chalamet) and Murph (Mackenzie Foy). The latter didn't exactly take her father's departure particularly well but she would follow her father footsteps and surpass him in many ways.

As much as the film focused on Cooper and Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) off planet, there was an equal amount of focus placed on Murph. We got to see older versions of her, played by both Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burstyn respective and I gotta be honest, I found her a lot interesting to watch than her father. Saying that, there's no denying that Cooper's absence really did inspire the choices that Murph made with her life and their final reunion was beautifully bittersweet.

As per usual, there's a lot of supporting players from Nolan's collection of actors as well as some newer ones in the mix. Both John Lithgow and Casey are on good form as Cooper's father in law, Donald and the older version of Tom respectively. Matt Damon had a good supporting role as Dr Mann while Michael Caine popped up as Amelia's father, Professor John Brand.

- Other actors in sizeable roles included Wes Bentley, Topher Grace, David Gyasi and Josh Stewart to name a few.

- The method of space travel for the movie was based on Dr. Kip Thorne's work. He provided guidelines for the movie.

- Standout music: Dylan Thomas's Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

- Chronology: This movie spanned several decades. Cooper reunited with Murph as she was dying of old age.

Interstellar (2014) might be one of the best movies from Christopher Nolan. It's a genuinely beautiful movie from start to finish with incredible performances all round from everyone involved. The last few minutes alone are breathtaking.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of House Of The Dragon: "Tumbleton"

 

Written by David Hancock 

Directed by Clare Kilner 

Ormund (to Daeron): "Now, you must be king."

And just like that, James Norton became the MVP of Season 3. I both love and hate Ormund Hightower in equal measures. He's a breath of fresh air and he's also a toxic menace. The influence he's got on Daeron was staggering to watch.

In his own twisted way, I don't doubt that he might love Daeron but Ormund made it abundantly clear that he's got a deep hatred for the Targaryan bloodline. The way he talked about Rhaenyra on the Iron Throne was one thing but he wanted Daeron to usurp both Aegon II and Aemond as well.

He didn't hold back with testing Daeron by having the poor lad murder Hugh's brother in law. Oh, the brother in law by the way committed the crime of protecting his sister from Ormund's rapist soldier. Sadly, Daeron did exactly what Ormund wanted and just like that, both Aegon II and Aemond are no longer Rhaenyra's biggest threats.

Speaking of Aegon II, he's not having the best time. Both him and Larys have become latrine cleaners and Aegon's reunion with Sunfyre had Larys dismissing the possibility of the poor dragon still being alive. I hate that I actually feel a little bad for Aegon II this season.

As for Aemond, he's still not around but Criston got to have a delightful conversation with Alys where the latter made it clear not to mess with her. Criston's encounter with her certainly spooked him and also forced both him and Gwayne to get along and ditch Harrenhal for Tumbleton. 

Back to King's Landing, it was nice to see Rhaenyra find some common ground with Alyn, put Ulf in his place, appoint a Master of Coin on Mysaria's advice, get some useful information on Ormund from Alicent but once again, it seemed like there will be more tension between her and Daemon. Rhaenyra did a lot this episode, including trying to get the upper hand on her latest threat.

Speaking of Daemon, he didn't exactly have the greatest of meetings with Lady Jeyne but he did get some gold. Daemon also discovered that Rhaena was responsible for Jace's death and his attempts to remedy things will only make things worse. As for Rhaena, she's just taking herself out of the equation.

- Ormund certainly had a temper that Daeron was too aware of. Ormund's also sensitive to smells.

- Helaena is pregnant, which so far only Alicent is aware of. It doesn't seem she's too far along either.

- Torrhen Manderly was appointed Master of Coin. Orwyle was allowed to keep his position but has to work with Mysaria. Daemon's mistrust for the latter keeps growing.

- Ormund's view on sexual assault leave a lot to be desired, even if he did geld that soldier of his. He's also not a fan of dragons or incest.

- Corlys was still pissed at Rhaenyra that he went off to fight more Triarchy remnants. 

- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

Tumbleton might be the weakest compared to the first three episodes but it's a great showcase for both James Norton and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. The Ormund/Daeron dynamic might be toxic but it's fascinating to watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "The Death Of Superman"

 

Written by Marguerite Bennett 

Directed by Chris Palmer 

Lex (to Jon): "I hear you're trying to travel back to the past. That really doesn't work for me. Where would you even get an idea like that?"

I'm never going to get a Superman media that won't do this story, huh? This episode kind of subverted the idea with consequences. It also turned out that, future wise, Jon Kent cannot catch a break.

In this present day scenario, Hank Henshaw went on the mother of all rampages in his quest to actually kill Superman. Hank was also rather keen to kill Supergirl and Superboy and almost came close to taking all three out.

In between the big fights moments, Jon brought everyone up to speed on the future he came from. Both Superman and Lois dead. Supergirl raising him until he died. Doctor Luthor being the one to help him. It was a lot for Superman, Supergirl and Lois to take in. 

The big battles itself were the best the show has accomplished so far. It really felt like Cyborg Superman was going to annihilate all three heroes until things took a rather tragic turn for him. On top of that, Superman just lost his powers and Superboy had to go back to his own timeline.

Speaking of timelines, it turned out that things could definitely get worse. Instead of Cyborg Superman devastating the world, try a mashup of Lex Luthor/Brainiac and Eradicators. Yet again, another episode ending on one hell of a cliffhanger. This season isn't pulling it's punches.

- Lois got to punch Lex, much to Slade's delight. Lex challenged her on being Superman's girlfriend.

- Kara being the one to train Jon led to some rather cute flashbacks between the two. Kara thought Jon hated her when the truth was the exact opposite.

- I liked the changing of the title card for this episode. It worked in highlighting the more serious tone here.

- Chronology: Stopping Cyborg Superman led to a worse future where Jon is called Jonathan Lane. 

The Death Of Superman has been done so many, many times but I did genuinely like this take on the idea. How long will Superman go without his powers? Is this future going to be resolved quickly or will it play out for the remainder of the season? It's gotta be the latter.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Dunkirk (2017)

 

Written And Directed by Christopher Nolan

Tommy (to Alex): "We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be..."

With The Odyssey set to hit cinemas in less than a week, I'm going to try and watch and review as many Christopher Nolan movies that I've not watched in a while. Chances are I'll complete his filmography after reviewing his imminent release.

I'm also not reviewing them in release order but that's probably apparent by this particular choice. Remember when Nolan made movies that were under two hours? That was early into his career and as recently with this World War II era story. This was also a movie that was rather sparse on dialogue too.

Opting for a nonlinear narrative, there's a focus on a young British soldier named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead). His squadmates were lost and he helped another soldier Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) bury a body survive a Luftwaffe dive-bomber attack. Then he saved a Highlander named Alex (Harry Styles). Alex, Gibson and Tommy are almost killed but managed to barely survive.

Things then moved on to a father and son named Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) and Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) as well as George (Barry Keoghan). They made up the Royal Navy part of the story, saving a shell shock stricken officer (Cillian Murphy). There's also some rather and son conflict with George being a casualty in the mix.

There's also three Royal Air Force Spitfires that were flying towards Dunkirk. There's a focus on characters like Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collins (Jack Lowden) with involvement from Peter. The latter being responsible for saving Collins.

The third act revealed a betrayal among the first group of Tommy, Gibson and Alex and it's effectively handled while Farrier also had his own moments to do something heroic. The last few moments of the film then gave the other characters different outcomes, some arguably better than others.

- Other actors that factored in the movie were Michael Caine, James D'Arcy, Kenneth Brannagh, Luke Thompson and Harry Collett.

- The twelve ships that participated in the Dunkirk evacuation were re-enacted for the movie.

- Standout music: Benjamin Wallfisch's Variation 15 (Dunkirk).

- Chronology: The summer of 1940 during the Battle of France.

Dunkirk (2017) certainly portrayed the events in both a harrowing and bombastic way with some fine performances from most of Christopher Nolan's players on board. It's a compelling look into this particular moment in history and one of Nolan's finest films.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Serial Mom (1994)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Chip: "Mom, are you a serial killer?"

Beverly: "The only "serial" I know anything about is Rice Krispies."

For the last two movies, we've gone down the musical route and forbidden love stories. Now, we've got a suburban housewife with something of a darker side.

Yup, that's Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner). On the surface she appeared to be a devoted wife to husband, Eugene (Sam Waterson) and teenagers Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard). That's being the surface of course.

In reality, Beverly was a much darker person that delighted in making obscene phone calls to her neighbour, Dottie Hinkle (Mink Stole) over a parking space slight. Beverly's something of an easily slighted person. Even her litterbug neighbour Rosemary Ackerman (Mary Jo Catlett) came close to death a few times.

In fact, Beverly's reaction to being slighted went beyond obscene phone calls. Over the course of the movie, Beverly murdered various people who slighted or even mildly inconvenienced her family. That included a maths teacher, her daughter's cheating boyfriend and a patient and his wife of Eugene. Throw in an Annie obsessed neighbour and Chip's best friend, Scotty Barnhill (Justin Whalin) and Beverly's stacked up an impressive body count.

As a serial killer, Beverly's a campy delight to watch. She's completely in denial about her killer tendencies and her family's ongoing dread as the police close in on her was fun to watch. There's two detectives - Pike (Scott Wesley Morgan) and Gracey (Walt MacPherson) who delighted in finally catching her out.

The trial itself was the absolute highlight of the movie. Beverly representing herself and tearing apart the likes of Dottie and the detective to get off was brilliant. There's even a rather good use of Suzanne Somers as Beverly revealed her killer tendencies on poor Juror #8 (Patty Hearst). White shoes after Labour Day isn't a good idea around Beverly.

- John Waters voiced Ted Bundy for a brief scene. Mary Vivian Pearce popped up as a book buyer.

- Beverly had a thing for birds, specifically starlings. Her other taste in books however were more fitting for her crimes.

- Standout music: L7's Gas Chamber.

- Chronology: From May to October and of course in a suburban Towson, Maryland setting.

Serial Mom had me in absolute stitches. It's a delightful black comedy with Kathleen Turner on incredible form as the demented Beverly Sutphin. She's utterly charming and dangerous and there's too many laugh out loud moments among some horrifying scenes.

Rating: 8 out of 10