breadandhammers Reviews

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Wonderful

[12 May 2024]

Directed by: Joe Wright Written by: Deborah Moggach

SUMMARY

A romance set in the Regency era of the 1700s. A proud young woman, Elizabeth Bennet, who believes she can deduce and judge the character of anyone meets a proud young man, Mr. Darcy, who is snobbish and socially awkward. The man falls in love with the young woman because of her wit. She ultimately realizes she has misjudged the character of Mr. Darcy and falls for him herself.

RATING

A

Pride and Prejudice is a wonderful novel, one of my favorites, and this film captures the novel spectacularly, if not in every twist and turn (though most!) but in its emotional character. It's surprisingly funny at points. It was a delight to watch.

High Life (2018)

Experimental

[7 May 2024]

Directed by: Claire Denis Written by: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau

SUMMARY

Sci-fi drama. Non-linear narrative. A crew of condemned prisoners is put on a space ship to go and explore a black hole. While this makes it sound like the focus is on the crew and the black hole, this is more an experimental piece about a man living among an isolated group of people slowly going mad. The prisoners are forbidden from having sex with each other, but the doctor is trying to create a human life fit for space travel. Ultimately, the man goes into the black hole with his daughter.

RATING

B+

A weird, sci-fi bordering on experimental film. While it feels like there is not much here to hold onto narratively - a lot of weird stuff happens - ultimately, the film is still very interesting and visually captivating. Beyond any literal truth, I did feel the emotional truth of the piece.

Cyrano (2021)

Ultimately, a little empty

[20 April 2024]

Directed by: Joe Wright Written by: Erica Schmidt

SUMMARY

The skilled soldier, but ugly dwarf Cyrano, is in love with Roxanne. Roxanne falls for a handsome soldier, Christian. Cyrano, a skilled poet, writes Christian letters of love to give to Roxanne and Roxanne falls in love with Christian. The two even marry. But then the soldiers are sent off to war where Christian dies. Cyrano comes back from the war and confesses to Roxanne, and then dies.

RATING

B

Cyrano is a romantic drama based on the idea of a love triangle, where the love interest Roxanne, is actually in love with the words of the main character, Cyrano. It is filmed in a very romantic and lush kind of way, which I enjoyed. I know that the original play was a downer ending - with Cyrano dying - but I really feel like the ending leaves the movie feeling pretty empty.

Civil War (2024)

A critique of journalism

[19 April 2024]

Directed by: Alex Garland Written by: Alex Garland

SUMMARY

In a dystopian America waging a civil war, a jaded photo-journalist, Lee, wants to get to Washington DC to interview the president. She takes along a young, naïve girl who also wants to be a photo-journalist. At the end, after a harrowing journey where several of her friends die, she becomes disillusioned with photo-journalism. She sacrifices her life to save the young girl, but the young girl is just concerned with taking photos. This is a film about the sick voyueristic adrenaline fueled motivation behind some journalists.

RATING

B+

In many ways, Civil War is much smaller of a film than the word implies, as it follows the story for a group of photo-journalists as they try to make their way to DC to interview the president of a collapsing America, torn apart by - as the name suggests - civil war. The film isn't really politcal, but rather, focusing on how journalism and bearing witness can bring out a dark side, a hunger for sensationalism and addiction to the adrenaline rush of chasing the next headline, sacrificing your humanity in the process. The last action sequence - where soldiers storm the White House to kill the President - is gripping and thrilling, but it also itself is both falling into and expressing the same sensationalism that the film derides. Is it meta-commentary? I don't know. Ultimately, I didn't quite enjoy a film that portrays journalism in a bad light in modern day America. I don't really care if there is a dark motivation behind some journalists. Journalism is important!

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)

Inconsequential

[11 April 2024]

Directed by: Mike Mitchell Written by: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Darren Lemke

SUMMARY

Po, the Dragon Warrior, has to take down the shapeshifting Chameleon. He befriends a thief, Zhen, who betrays him, but then has a change of heart. In the end, Po selects Zhen as the new Dragon Warrior.

RATING

B

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun sequel that supplies action. This time around Po has to fight a bad guy named The Chameleon, while teaming up with a shifty fox named Zhen. The issue with KFP4 is that it is a little hollow in its story. The substance of the story tries to deal with Po's journey to "move beyond" being a Dragon Warrior - he has to bestow the title onto a disciple, which ends up being Zhen, however this seemed completely tangential to the movie. Sadly, this makes the movie feel inconsequential. Still, the action scenes were fun.

The Theory of Everything (2014)

Would have liked more science and/or love story

[29 March 2024]

Directed by: James Marsh Written by: Anthony McCarten

SUMMARY

A biopic about Stephen Hawking, focusing on the relationship between him and his wife Jane, and the obstacles of his neuro-degenerative disorder (ALS). It ends with Stephen and Jane separating, with Jane going towards a choir director and Stephen going with his nurse.

REVIEW

B

I like the concept of "The Theory of Everything", where we blend the mathematics and physics of Stephen Hawking with a love story, but there's a lot to do here because the main obstacle is Hawking's illness. The fact that the love story, so sweet and grand at the beginning, doesn't really last to the end, kinda takes aways the sweetness. I would have liked delving more into the science. Was there a way to echo the relationship with the science? Ultimately, it comes off as a disability film (e.g. The King's Speech) with a focus on the physical disability rather than the love story.

Past Lives (2023)

Not for me

[20 March 2024]

Directed by: Celine Song Written by: Celine Song

SUMMARY

A slow, slice-of-life observational piece about a Korean boy and girl who are separated after the girl moves to the United States. Years later, as adults the boy comes to visit the girl, but she's married. It ends anti-climatically with them just parting.

RATING

B

These types of films are just not for my taste. While I love the theme - of love and time being cyclical - I feel the style is just not something for me. It is overly talky and "lifey" with characters just talking about deep, heavy emotional topics out of nowhere, in a way that isn't really true to life. While I appreciate the film's anti-climatic ending, to me it didn't accomplish what it wanted to do.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Surprisingly despicable

[9 March 2024]

Directed by: Martin Scorsese Written by: Eric Roth

SUMMARY The brutal story of how White people killed wealthy Native American tribespeople, the Osage, who controlled lands with oil. Ernest, working with his conniving uncle King, work to deceive and kill the Osage people to gain control of money, land, and oil.

RATING

C+

While this is a competently made film, and the filmmaking itself is good, jam-packed with gorgeous visuals and performances, the underlying content of this film is surprisingly despicable. This entire story is from the perspective of White people, and though they are supposedly the focus, the Osage people are thin, minor, shallow characters - essentially and always, a victim. At the end of the film - which bizarrely ends with a "radio show" being done "years from now" that dramatize the events (is this some self-critical denouncement of the film itself?) - the White people don't even get their comeuppance. It's a White savior story without a savior.

Madame Web (2024)

Lifeless acting

[25 February 2024]

Directed by: S. J. Clarkson Written by: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker, S. J. Clarkson

SUMMARY

A young woman begins to receive visions of someone trying to hunt down and kill three girls. She warns and protects the girls. In the end, she protects the girls with the visions, is blinded, and becomes their mother figure.

RATING

C

Despite everyone's damnation of this film - and it is indeed not a great film - I actually think there were some great moments here. Under the trappings of a superhero film is a cool thriller about a woman who receives visions and tries to prevent them, and this could have been a cool thriller like Source Code. However, the central pillar - besides clunky writing - that makes the film completely collapse is Dakota Johnson's lifeless acting. None of the actors care, and it shows.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

Haunting

[19 February 2024]

SUMMARY

A surreal drama. A grief-stricken, middle-aged gay man is able to visit the ghost of his dead parents in his old house and hometown. He begins a relationship with a young man in his empty building, who at the end of the film, we also learn is dead. The man ends up staying with the ghost. It's a sweet ending, in the sense that the man has learned to let go of his parents, but he ends up staying with the ghost of his lover.

RATING

A

All of Us Strangers is a surreal drama about a grief-stricken, lonely, gay man who visits the ghosts of his parents, and eventually, develops a relationship with a ghost man. It's ambiguous, haunting, and if it weren't a quiet drama, could very easily be a horror film. The film ends ambiguously. Although Adam connects with someone, the ghost Harry, the ghost is revealed to be dead. It might be that Adam dies too.

American Fiction (2023)

Dry comedy

[7 February 2024]

Directed by: Cord Jefferson Written by: Cord Jefferson

SUMMARY

A frustrated, unsuccessful Black author decides to write and submit a stereotypical Black novel as a joke. He ends up finding success. In the end, he is exposed, but ends with a kind of peace with the author who wrote the stereotypical novel.

RATING

B+

American Fiction is a slice-of-life comedy film with a dry sense of humor. It tackles the way Black people are portrayed in American media - always in ghettos and gunfights or violence - and how it feels to be a Black man in this kind of environment, and how it almost feels like he is not Black enough. I liked this film. I wonder if there would have been a broader version of this film with a stronger ending.

Mean Girls (2024)

An abbreviated version of the original

[25 January 2024]

Directed by: Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez Jr.

Written by: Tina Fey

SUMMARY

An innocent homeschooled girl learns the ins-and-outs of being a popular "mean girl", sabotaging and becoming the queen bee of the school, and ultimately learning the true meaning of self-confidence.

RATING

B

The original Mean Girls is a landmark classic teen movie film that captures the catty, back-biting world of being a high school girl. This musical ultimately ends up as an abbreviated version of the film - with a lot of the nuance and social commentary cut out. I didn't feel like the songs contributed much to the story or the movie, and for me, none of them were particularly memorable.

A Confucian Confusion (1994)

Dry comedy

[24 January 2024]

Directed by: Edward Yang Written by: Edward Yang, Hung Hung

SUMMARY

A dry comedy that follows the an ensemble of young people that are all dealing with finding meaning and fakeness in an a quickly modernizing Taiwan that is moving all too fast. The film centers on a misunderstanding between the most grounded characters Qiqi and Ming, and they are torn apart by a fight but come together at the end.

RATING

B+

This story is a dry, slice-of-life kind of story that moves at a slow pace and is a comedy that comes more from observation than outright slapstick. We are presented with many young yuppie characters in a speedy, modern Taiwan that are all dealing with fakeness in their own way. I thought the cinematography was so informative as Yang really stays in the wide with, usually, one shot - not in a showy "oner" way, but almost have events transpire like a play. This gives the film a very observational kind of feel. "These silly humans in a glass box experiment" kind of feel, which to me, teaches me the power of close-ups.

Poor Things (2023)

Not my taste

[15 January 2024]

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos Screenplay by: Tony McNamara

SUMMARY

A woman with the mind of a child, controlled by the men in her life - her husband, his assistant, a perverted stranger - sets off to see the world with a perverted stranger. She bucks society ("polite society") by being carefree and sexually free. Ultimately, she returns home when her father is ailing, finds out she was previously married (because her body is that of a grown woman with an infant's brain). The film ends with her in control, married to the assistant, and the evil husband punished.

C

I appreciated Lanthimos' previous work, The Favourite, and even remember liking The Lobster, but this just wasn't my film. I couldn't get beyond the idea that Bella is constantly - basically - raped throughout the movie, and she "enjoys" it. I'm not going to moralize. I'm not going to make this about it being "wrong" or anything, but for me, it was just too distasteful, like a film that was too violent or gory. Just not my taste.

Napoleon (2023)

Good performance

[8 January 2024]

Director: Ridley Scott Writer: David Scarpa Production companies: Apple Studios, Scott Free Productions

SUMMARY

An epic biopic about Napoleon, focusing on his ambition and relationship with his wife Josephine. The film ends with his failure at Waterloo and him dying in exile.

REVIEW

B+

Joaquin Phoenix gives a compelling performance, and the heart of the movie is his relationship with his wife Josephine. It is nice to see a war scene that isn't WWI or WWII (e.g. 1917, Dunkirk) and to see old-fashioned infantry and calvary fighting. The war scenes were very compelling.

Joaquin Phoenix gives a compelling performance, and the heart of the movie is his relationship with his wife Josephine. It is nice to see a war scene that isn't WWI or WWII (e.g. 1917, Dunkirk) and to see old-fashioned infantry and calvary fighting. The war scenes were very compelling.

Ghosted (I) (2023)

Doesn't make sense

[8 January 2024]

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher Written by: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna, Erick Sommers

SUMMARY

A earnest, needy farmer guy meets the girl of his dreams, but she quickly disappears after their first date. Farmer Guy goes after her, only to find out she's a spy. There's shenanigans around a bomb, and we have an ending where Spy Girl saves Farmer Guy in an action set piece.

REVIEW

C

Chris Evans and Ana De Armas are fantastic actors, and I remember them having chemistry in Knives Out, but it's painfully stilted here. They carry the movie, but even with their abilities, they are hampered by the lackluster script, and a story that doesn't make much sense. The characters seem to swing wildly from one emotion to another, and I genuinely don't understand some reactions they give.

Nimona (2023)

Powerful, but with issues

[2 January 2024]

Directed by: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane Screenplay by: Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor Production company: Annapurna Pictures Distributed by: Netflix

SUMMARY

A serious knight is framed for killing the queen. He teams up with a psychopathic teenage girl to figure out what happened. At the end of the film, it's revealed that Nimona is actually the monster and rampages the city believing she's alone, but Bal's friendship saves her. Nimona dies (but she's back in the after credits) but the city is saved.

RATING

B

It was powerful to see a gay relationship depicted in an animated film, and while it's not the central focus of the story, it is one of the major story lines. I felt that the writing could have been a little tighter, with Nimona herself being - honestly - a little too psychopathic to be relatable. We understand her damage, and her brutality is covering it, but for her to constantly be violent almost starts to seem like a schtick.

Egoist (2022)

A quiet Japanese style

[2 January 2024]

Directed by: Daishi Matsunaga Written by: Makoto Takayama, Daishi Matsunaga, Kyoko Inukai

SUMMARY

A gay photographer meets and takes in a struggling sex worker, supporting him financially as his boyfriend. But the sex worker dies. A film about not understanding what love really is, Kosuke then turns his attention to financially helping Ryota's mother.

RATING

B+

This is a film about not understanding what love really is, and we have our main character Kosuke as someone who doesn't really understand love. The film, with its quiet Japanese attitude, doesn't condemn Kosuke, as a Western film might, but rather just studies him quietly. A man who loves and loves deeply, but whose form of love is to support financially, and somehow always returns to being about himself. He's not a villain. I don't even really think he's a narcissist, but just someone who is missing something. This film is shot in a very guarded kind of way, a lot of shots from the back.

Election (2005)

Stylish and pulpy

[29 December 2023]

Directed by: Johnnie To Written by: Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-shing

SUMMARY

Two factions in a triad - the even-tempered Lok and the brash Big D - fight to secure who will be the Triad leader in a Triad election. Lok is elected, but Big D refuses to acknowledge the results. A majority of the film is about the chase for the Baton, the symbol of the chairman. The film ends with Lok winning and making peace with Big D, at least until the end when Lok brutally kills Big D and his wife.

RATING

B+

Stylish. Pulpy. Hinging on a simple plot of who will be the chairman for the Triad. I liked the twists and turns.

First Love (2019)

What a ride!

[29 December 2023]

Directed by: Takashi Miike Written by: Masaru Nakamura

SUMMARY

A boxer with brain cancer and a sex worker kidnapped by the Yakuza get entangled in a gang war between the Yakuza and the Chinese. While the two are the top billed characters, the real plot involves a crooked cop and a young Yakuza underling who betrays his own to try to get a cut of drug money, while blaming the Chinese. All parties have a final battle in a hardware store, with most of them dying. The boxer regains his confidence.

RATING

S

What a ride! First Love, with its innocent title, and two characters with pretty faces, lures you into thinking it's a simple drama, but in reality this is a rolicking, death romp full of twists and turns and a lot of humor. I really enjoyed the movie and it was gripping while being very funny. A wild smash of different tones and genres that actually works really well.

A Better Tomorrow (1986)

Modern Hollywood action films...

[28 December 2023]

Directed by: John Woo Written by: John Woo

SUMMARY

After getting betrayed, an ex-gangster tries leave the criminal world and reconcile with his policeman brother.

RATING

B After getting betrayed, a reforming ex-gangster tries leave the criminal world behind and reconcile with his policeman brother, and try to convince his best friend to leave as well. The movie that birthed the modern Hollywood action film, with the beginnings of "gun-fu". The story is surprisingly sincere given that it's supposed to be a "dumb" action movie. Leslie Cheung does an amazing job in this role, portraying both innocence as the kid brother and a jaded cop after his brother is betrayed.

Minbo (1992)

Signature dry humor

[28 December 2023]

Directed by: Juzo Itami Written by: Juzo Itami

SUMMARY

Comedy. A cunning anti-Yakuza lawyer works together with two naïve hotel employees to expose the Yakuza for their crimes of extortion. The film ends with the lawyer getting stabbed, but the rest of the hotel standing up to the Yakuza.

RATING

A

In a world where the Yakuza takes advantage of businesses - particularly a hotel named Hotel Europa - by extorting them for money (e.g. Complaining about bad food or bad service and threatening to go to the government about it), a cunning lawyer works to expose them of their crimes. Itami's signature dry humor is on display here and the film is quietly hilarious.

The Killer (2023)

Fun

[1 November 2023]

Directed by: David Fincher Screenplay by: Andrew Kevin Walker Distributed by: Netflix

SUMMARY

After his hit goes sideways and he is compromised, a hitman works to extricate himself his agency and take revenge on the people that hurt his wife. This includes his handler living in New Orleans, a brute guy living in Florida, and "the expert", a demure British lady in New York. The hitman goes as far as getting to his original client, but finds out his client didn't put the hit on him, so he lets him live. Finally, the hitman is extricated.

RATING

B

This was a fun action movie about a hitman that tries to extricate himself from his job after a hit goes wrong. There's some great moments of comedy here that I kinda wished were a little more elevated into an actual comedy, but then I realized I just started describing Barry. I actually kinda wished this leaned more heavily into the black-comedy-esque nature of Barry.

Tangerine (2015)

Shockingly good

[25 October 2023]

Directed by: Sean Baker Written by: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures

SUMMARY

A transgender sex worker Sin Dee hunts down her allegedly cheating boyfriend on Christmas Eve with her best friend, Alexandra. We get a view into life as a transgender prostitute on the streets of LA, including an Armenian taxi driver client. The film ends with Sin-Dee abandoning her boyfriend, and even abandoning her best friend after learning that Alexandra slept with Chester too. But the two friends reconcile at the end.

RATING

A+

The film that is known to be shot on iPhones. Shockingly good. I had a wonderful time watching this film, which was, I was only going to watch 5 minutes of it, but ended up watching the whole thing. I love that feeling. I loved glimpsing into their world, and you get used to - and even appreciate - the gritty filmmaking. It really contributes to the world. The story and characters are solid.

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Classic

[20 October 2023]

Directed by: Ridley Scott Written by: Callie Khouri Distributed by: MGM

SUMMARY

Two women, trampled on by the men in their life, find their strength to live freely as criminals. Thelma goes from weak housewife, to robbing a bank. Louise shoots and kills a man, and it is implied that she was raped in the past.

RATING

B+

The classic movie is a classic for a reason. This is a rollercoaster of a movie, carried along by two strong leads and a empowering character arc. I like that both women aren't necessarily completely weak at the beginning of the film - as a maximalist screenwriting technique would have them - but rather not fully realized. There's kinda a subtlety there.