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 

My Review of Thoroughbreds (2017)

 

Written And Directed by Cory Finley

Amanda (to Lily): "You cannot hesitate. The only thing worse than being incompetent, or being unkind, or being evil, is being indecisive."

I fancied something of a black comedy and I remember that I saw this movie late at night a few years ago. I tracked it down again and watched it to refresh my memory. Two teenage girls and one much darker than the other. 

If you've ever seen the movie Heavenly Creatures, this movie felt like it was riffing some similar plot strands. You've got rich girl Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy). She's been hired to "tutor" social outcast and emotionless Amanda (Olivia Cooke). The latter clocked this immediately.

There was a time when both Lily and Amanda were friends but drifted apart. Amanda also opened the movie by performing a mercy killing on her horse but rumours of that incident have portrayed her in a much worse light to her peers. Is Amanda truly devoid of emotions?

She's definitely convinced that she's devoid of them and she was more than happy to show Lily how to fake crying pretty well. Amanda also quickly worked out how much Lily hated her stepfather, Mark (Paul Sparks). It's not like Lily made much of an effort to conceal her hatred for him.

In fact, it was slightly comical when Lily pretended to be affronted by Amanda's suggestion of killing Mark, only to openly embrace the idea in very little time. Trying to get local drug dealer Tim (Anton Yelchin) to perform the task however turned out to be more of a challenge. He wisely opted not to get dragged into their crazy scheme. 

As for the actual murder itself, Lily being the one to get her hands dirty but frame Amanda for the deed didn't surprise me. Amanda even going along with it almost didn't phase me either. In a bittersweet way, both girls got what they wanted.

- Tim had a conviction for statutory rape and ended up as a valet in the last scene. Mark was definitely coercive controlling Lily's mother. Anton Yelchin died shortly after filming.

- Keeping with the horse theme, there's one scene where Amanda started making horse noises. She even dreamed of a world with Thoroughbreds.

- Standout music: King Harvest's Dancin' In The Moonlight and Rome Will Burn's Chameleon.

- Chronology: Set in a suburban Connecticut.

Thoroughbreds (2017) might lift from better films but it did manage to hold it's own reasonably well. Both Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy are on solid ground with this one. A good final performance from Anton Yelchin too, I might add.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Cry-Baby (1990)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Cry-Baby (to Mrs. Vernon-Williams): "I may be a drape, but I love your granddaughter. And if that's a crime, I'll stand convicted, ma'am."

How do you follow up a success of sorts like Hairspray (1988)? For John Waters, it seemed like coming out with another musical focusing on teenagers was the way to go. Throw in a forbidden love story and there was potential for success here.

The 1990s were certainly a decade for Johnny Depp as an actor and he's suitably cast as bad boy teen rebel Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker. Cry-Baby was part of a group called "drapes" and everyone else was a "square" by comparison. 

One square in particular was Allison Vernon-Williams (Amy Locane). It took virtually nothing for Cry-Baby and Allison to fall madly in love with one another. There's some opposition from Allison's grandmother (Polly Bergen) and the boring Baldwin (Stephen Mailer) but Allison's love for Cry-Baby shone throughout.

Allison was happy to get a makeover from Cry-Baby's single mother sister, Pepper (Ricki Lake) and her friends, Wanda (Traci Lords) and Mona (Kim McGuire). There's also Cry-Baby and Pepper's fun grandmother, Ramona Rickettes (Susan Tyrrell) and her fella, Belvedere (Iggy Pop). They're a fun bunch of characters to watch.

Anyways, the love story with Cry-Baby and Allison largely worked, the former had a spell in a boys training school before being set free and we got a game of chicken between Cry-Baby and Baldwin, which in a predictable turn of events the latter ended up losing. On the other hand, at least the drape got the square, so it ended on a rather happy note.

- There's an amusing subplot where one of the female drapes was going to be sent to Sweden as part of a student exchange.

- Mink Stole appeared as Mrs. Malnorowski. She seems to be one of the few constants in John Waters movies.

- Standout music: Women In Cadillacs, A Teenage Prayer, The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane and Please Mr. Jailer.

- Chronology: 1954 Baltimore. Both Cry-Baby and Allison confessed to being orphans.

Cry-Baby (1990) doesn't quite hit the same way as Hairspray (1988) but it's a solid enough outing for everyone involved. Nice enough musical numbers but somewhat let down by a rather rushed ending.

Rating: 6 out of 10