There are many dark dramas out there that depict trauma without proper upbringing. Plagued by anti-black stereotypes, these big-budget narratives are often celebrated by the film elite, while independent films (which are usually ten times better) are discarded and forgotten. Based on the novel by David Chariandi and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, Clement Virgo's latest project, Brother , has a delicate balance of story, drama and violence that sends the message that while the struggle is real, compassion for each other will win.
Francis (Aaron Pierre) and Michael (Lamar Johnson) are brothers who immigrated to Canada in the 1990s and are fighting hard for themselves. In particular, Francois stands on his feet in different worlds: in one – violence and danger, and in the other – his family. The film follows Michael as he travels through the suburban landscape and his own temptations with the dark side. One brother follows a certain path, the other tries to catch up with him, but he is like a stranger in a familiar community. What sets Bhai apart from other films of this type is its focus on the family and how, in a changing environment, boys are forced to become men before they are ready.
Brother has three parallel storylines and Virgo keeps all three at a constant pace and it never gets confusing. He knows how to visually communicate with the audience. The story is filtered through a familiar look that speaks to people in certain communities and conveys a universal message about what it means to be an outsider. Its clarity must be attributed to the playing of Pierre and Johnson.
The cast couldn't be more perfect. There is a vulnerability that the actors project onto the audience, which hits hard. The macho stigmatization of black men has left many feeling oppressed and isolated because vulnerability is being repressed. Pierre and Johnson did not hold back and did not fall into the trap of one-dimensional stereotypes. Your characters can freely express their inner thoughts. None of this would have worked if these young people hadn't set out and understood the path of grief Frances and Michael face, and it showcases two talented actors who are fearless and confident in their abilities. You are wonderful.
Bhai is a film that confirms why I love films. The narrative asks many important questions about black life and masculinity, but most importantly: when black boys grow up, who do they turn to for support? This is the main dilemma that Francis and Michael face. " Brother " is not just another "black" film. It's an integral part of the film that doesn't generate the excitement it deserves. I don't want this to go unnoticed and I hope others are open enough to recognize the talent of Clement Kumari and these young actors.
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"A bad plan is better than no plan." It's an in-joke that pops up at various points during Black Man , and while it's meant to be a pointless commentary on the assignment, on its second iteration it starts to sound like an apology to the film itself and its story. A mixture.
The problem is the capture of an all-powerful ancient metahuman known as the Tet Man (Dwayne Johnson), who, despite the film's best efforts to revive the increasingly predictable superhero genre, doesn't care that he's killing a man, the Black Man. there seems to be too much and too little, and no story movement is helped by the fantastical visual style, which is either artificial or very boring.
Flashback takes us to 2600 BC. when the Kandak people were enslaved by a sorcerer king who forced his people to mine a stone called Eternium so they could make crowns that would grant them demonic power. A young teenager like Musa rises up and is summoned to be punished by the same magical court (from Djimon Hounsou) that gave Billy Batson his powers in Shazam! The savior and rebel hero of Kandak was Tet Adam, who, according to legend, disappeared after the overthrow of the king.
Read also: The Justice Society hunts the Stones in the latest Man in Black trailer (video)
Cut to present-day Kahndaq, which has been taken over by an international criminal organization known as Intergang. Widowed professor Adriana (Sarah Shahi, "Sex/Life") wants to find the crown to keep it out of Intergang's hands, and is helped by her beloved skateboarder son Amon (Bodhi Sabongi, "A Million Little Things") and his comedy; savior brother Karim (Mohammed Amer, "Rami"). Adriano finds the crown in the old throne room, and as the Intergang prepares to shoot him, he reads the notes and calls Tet Man, who takes out the bad guys.
His return naturally attracts the attention of Suicide Squad leader Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who urges the Justice League to subdue him. If you don't read comics, what do you think the Justice League is? In print, the team has a long and legendary history (even more so than the history of the Justice League), but in Man in Black we don't know if they are legendary or just thieves to Waller. The film doesn't even have a cast list, veteran Hawkman (Aldis Hodge, One Night in Miami) and Dr. In addition to Faith (Pierce Brosnan), they bring Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell, "Voyagers") and Atomic Destroyer. (Noah Centineo) to go ahead.
Read also: 'Man in Black' was cut to avoid an R rating. 'This movie was absolutely brutal'
The screenplay, written by a trio of screenwriters, doesn't know what to do with all these superpowers, except for more boring clichés, including Amon, the obsessed superhero who tries to raise Theta Man with capes and catchphrases. At first, the idea of introducing new heroes with power and a past sounds appealing on paper, but the fact that we don't know anything about the Justice Society and its members doesn't make them very attractive opponents for our anti-heroes. (Gas works on Atom Smasher because he's there to be an idiot out of his element, but when Cyclone talks about how he got his powers when he was kidnapped as a teenager, the conversation doesn't stay in the movie until the audience asks, " Sorry, what?")
The black man briefly addressed the elephant in the room with Adriana's short speech. He wondered why the Justice League lasted so many years while the Skull Crossers took over the country, but couldn't get there fast enough when the Tet Man launched. they are title, but here he explores the potentially subversive themes of a critique of American imperialism. He decided to tell a different story to find the monster that would destroy the world and stop the madman who wanted to take advantage of it.
Read also: Man in Black star Dwayne Johnson teases an on-screen fight with Superman. "We're doing everything we can to give the fans what they want."
Director Jaume Calle-Serra made a name for himself by directing some of Liam Neeson's best action movies, but his collaboration with Johnson was less successful. As a leading man, Johnson works best in films where he balances his chiseled physique with a touch of self-awareness, but Cera lets him go too far in one direction or another; "Jungle Cruise" offers a good performance from Johnson, who likes to joke around, while "Man in Black"'s efforts at dark charm are stiff and stilted. (By the time he has a sense of humor at the end of the movie, it's too late.)
The ensembles did their best with the material, but none of them made it to the final rotation of the realization. There is an unsettling sense of connecting the four squares here; Brosnan for parents. Centineo for boys. A boy with a skateboard for teenagers. – which clearly reads like a marketing strategy rather than a character to interact with in this setting.
Most disappointingly, Black Man is one of the most visually confusing major studio epic superhero films, between lackluster CG and fast-paced editing that undermines the euphoria of every fight scene. (And there are so many fight scenes.) The idea of the conflict as a superhero throwing his opponents as far as he can gets some provocative laughs the first two or three times, but like everything else, it gets old quickly. . What has the black man done to his audience? Sometimes there may not be a better plan than a bad plan.
Black Adam opens October 21 at Warner Bros. and opened in US theaters through New Line Cinema.
"The Tragedy That Made Black Adam" trailer released.
Pinocchio Guillermo del Toro resurrects the classic fairy tale in one of the most beautiful animated films to come out in recent years, a powerful and life-affirming father and son story of acceptance and love in the face of pain, suffering and fascism. The director's love for monsters is one of his best films of the decade.
The film takes place in Italy in the 1930s, when the country was engulfed by fascism. We see how dangerous ideologies spread quickly and undetected at first, and what begins with ordinary urban blacksmiths obsessed with uniformity and order, gives way to groups of fanatics who scream about the Duchy, send children to boot camps, and all the rest. From an exception – or worse.
In the midst of all this, we meet Geppetto, a humble woodcutter, loved by all and with a happy outlook on life. Everything changes when he loses his son during a senseless air raid on the city at the end of the Great War, which turns Geppetto into a miserable drunk who curses God and the laws of nature and decides to bring his son back to life. For cutting baby size dolls. David Bradley is badass as Geppetto, but it's the Shadowmachine animation team that pushes the boundaries of stop-motion animation to create the best puppetry in cinema.
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When Geppetto falls over his son's grave and weeps, you not only feel the pain in the vocal performance, but also see the puppet's tired breathing, his trembling legs and trembling of his hands; Even the clothes move and flow naturally with the doll's body, something we rarely see when she's standing still. As Pinocchio's wooden body magically appeared in the film, Del Toro, who starred alongside Mark Gustafson, and their army of more than 40 animators brought in wooden puppets (technically made of plastic and silicone) to create a pair. who are they This year's great movie introduction – animated or not.
Each character moves and behaves like a completely different person, and the show's animation takes two seconds to bring their imperfect movements to life (meaning half a frame to animate in a regular movie). They have quirks and itches, make mistakes and weigh when they sit. Meanwhile, cinematographer Frank Bassingham brought bright lighting and blocking techniques to the film, making it seem like Hayao Miyazaki shot in natural light and using negative space.
In his grief, Geppetto creates a wooden boy. Like Victor Frankenstein, he is held back by the powers that be and his creativity is unnatural, so this version of Pinocchio has more in common with Frankenstein's stony appearance than the singular good looks of the Disney version. Geppetto's work is already left unfinished when it comes to life, and he is very ugly and moves like a monstrous monster.
In many ways, Pinocchio is a giant finger at the heart of Disney, both for Carlo Collodi's original story and for fairy tales in general. While this is a movie the whole family can watch and learn from, it doesn't talk to or talk to children. The bones of the original story remain, such as Pinocchio's time at the circus, the lessons he learns about being nice, and the dangerous mauling of sharks (there's a nice homage to Ray Harryhausen), but here the story is reimagined as a rebellion. The flight to the circus of expectations was not originally a misguided choice of laziness, but a desperate plea to conform and be content with the fascist city school.
If you're expecting "film action in Mussolini's Italy" to be just window dressing, think again, as the threat of fascism surrounds every aspect of the film, Pinocchio's circus act, which is ultimately a promotional offering in support. The army script del Toro has been developing for more than a decade, first with Matthew Robbins and now with Beyond the Garden Wall creator Patrick McHale, revolves around recasting a hideous monster as the story's sole protagonist. One who sees the error of man's way and rejects it.
Similarly, the film makes no mention of Pinocchio's goal of becoming a real boy and does not shy away from real-life horrors. The creature that brings Pinocchio to life is not a traditional fairy, but a frightening and frighteningly beautiful creature that looks like an archetypal gentle angel with big eyes – more like the Angel of Death from Hellboy 2. When Pinocchio first wakes up, he experiences something like a nightmare, a completely curious child thrown into a world he doesn't know, the child hurt, broken and speaking disrespectfully. His world is not a world of simple moral teachings and rewards, but a world full of cruelty, death and violence. Like Vava's Maze and The Devil's Spine, this film is set in a particularly violent period and focuses on how children deal with their suffering. There are some pretty gruesome images out there, and it's not just the bad guys who die gruesome deaths.
However, Pinocchio is still far from being a sad or gloomy film. It's about the beauty of fleeting life, and it's not about a monster who wants to be a real boy, it's about a monster who wants to be loved by his creator and accepted for who he is. It's a film about imperfect fathers and sons, how to not meet expectations and learn to live with them, life ends, loved ones leave us and how to accept the time we waste. . Together with horror, of course, but also warmth, laughter and many songs. Patrick McHale, who gave us the 2014 hit "Potatoes and Molasses," co-wrote with Robin Katz and del Toro a series that's as funny and exciting as it is sad and deep. Meanwhile, Alexandre Desblatt's music is a spiritual continuation of his music in The Shape of Water and perfectly matches the film's romantic tone.
There's plenty of comedy too, thanks to the satirical Ewan McGregor and the philosophical Sebastian Jay Cricket. There are plenty of jokes in the movie about his short stature and tendency to collapse, and they work every time. While many star-studded animated films lack actual acting, here the actors are so engrossed in their unofficial roles that it's not always clear who is playing whom.
Guillermo del Toro has spent more than a decade creating the stop-motion films of his dreams, growing as a director during that time. However, Pinocchio seems to be the best combination of the classic del Toro and the new del Toro, with the wisdom and melancholy that comes with age and experience, but with a strong love of Spanish-language film stories. Perhaps most impressive is how Pinocchio takes an old form of animation to new places and breathes life into inanimate objects like puppets.
Excellent rating
Netflix Pinocchio hits theaters in November and premieres on December 9
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Pinocchio Guillermo del Toro (Netflix Trailer) Popcorn Junkies Answer
Every horror movie is about pain, but only Hellraiser is about sadomachism – electricity and pain, his highest calling. Hellraiser, the 1987 reboot of the franchise that spawned nine sequels (time freezes when you think they're suffering for fun), is a film that captures the outrageous appeal of Clive Barker's 1986 novel. Sacred heart. But it took a long time for the new Hellraiser to find what fans of the series would call a good thing. But when it does, the film doesn't hold back. Flesh is ripped and torn, flesh is peeled and cut, flesh is torn wide open by hideous mysterious mechanical devices. The film's violent ending may cause cinematic mutilation after futuristic horror films such as The Tap, The Cage, Saw, the 2018 remake of Suspiria, and David Cronenberg's recent incarnation. ."
Even before its ending, the new Hellraiser could be considered one of the worst horror movies in recent memory. It's a wildlife horror film produced by Disney, and if you're wondering how Disney owns everything — including Hulu, the platform that distributed Hellraiser — how is the brand now associated with a horror series. Devoted to fantastic outdoor sex advice, here's the answer: Hell Rising feels like a Disney movie for most of its two-hour run… except it's flashy. The spirit of the Marquis de Sade.
The characters – Riley (Odessa Hatzion), who looks like a rebellious main, along with his funny girlfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey), his overprotective brother Matt (Brandon Flynn) and his girlfriend Colleen (Adam Faison) – are like "Disney characters". ". " . Say body, body, body. – Yes. The Hellraiser was a killer within an hour of everything being set up. The characters really walked and waited. The film could be called "Body, body, body (with hooks in chains)."
Hellraiser, on the other hand, was never worth much in that regard. Pinhead, unequivocally the leader/beautician/mentor of the S&M series (his white bald head with perfectly placed rows, like an art installation), eventually became the iconic megaplex horror figure, Freddy Krueger. But who remembers or cares about the people infected with the recreational sickness virus?
In the new Hellraiser, Pinhead, the so-called priest of Hell, teams up with the Cenobites, a group of demon spirits who give new meaning to the phrase "exposed body part" (someone's spine exposed, as if someone had surgery). One of the cenobites walked like an alien alien geisha, one had the jaws of a robot monastic smile, and another had the image of Francis Bacon frozen in a screaming mouth. As for Pinhead, he transforms into a soft, funny, doll version of himself, with baby starry eyes and a sexually ambiguous, soft voice. The fact that the infernal priest is now played by actress Jamie Clayton robs the film of the spirit of Baker's novel. But when Pinhead and his friends go for a ride, the movie turns them into an expensive collection of creature mascots.
The movies grind to a halt when they're not on screen because the only plot seems to be Riley's desire to get her brother back after he's consumed by a space sickness. Trevor, who knew more than he was letting on, probably said something like, "How did you turn a cube out of that ?" He's talking about the Lemarchamp box, the iconic mechanical puzzle box that has always been an icon of the Hellraiser series – it takes the pain out of pleasure and transports your soul to a new world. In Hellraiser, even the complicated logistics of boxing is a metaphor. It starts as an old cube, if you right click and rotate the right corner, it will show and adjust the hidden parts, then it won't be a square anymore. Just as you feel your fist turning into a forbidden shape, you stop being square.
The new Hellraiser works as a metaphor, like a slaughterhouse. But it doesn't work as a story. And maybe that's because there's something old-fashioned about geeky sensuality on film as a one-way ticket to hell. This movie wants to send you to hell and back, but lately it feels like you're on a dating app.
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Smile is a good old-school horror movie with plenty of hair-raising moments.
This is a throwback to films that offer real thrills and thrills without relying too much on violence or torture. This is a supernatural film, with or without monsters, that psychologically explores the horrors that haunt us all while delivering moments of pure horror.
It's absolutely delightful to watch a horror movie in which the horror comes from a creature other than a maniac with a sword (knife, axe, your choice) seeking to dismember people or slit their throats. Why watch someone else do the latter when the audience can inexplicably watch the person do it themselves?
Psychiatrist Rose Kotter (Sozie Bacon) has to endure this. He is overworked and on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, even in the opening moments of "Smile". Unfortunately, fate has its own plans. While his boss (Kal Penn) tells him to go home and rest, his office phones ring as he walks through the door. An ER patient arrives at her hospital and Rose feels compelled to help her.
A young woman explains what's going on in her life until Rose starts to freak out. Moments later, Rose watches in horror as the young woman's face twists into an awkward smile as she shoves a shard of pottery down her throat.
It's a big day at the office, and yes, Rose is immediately emotionally affected. However, that's not all.
Strange things happen in Smile.
Soon strange things began to happen in his life (of course). she listens to things. She cares less about her personal life, which includes her fiancé Trevor (Jesse T. Usher) and her sister Holly (Jillian Zinser), who take things to heart when Rose refuses to contact her family.
Holly thinks that Rose, for some reason, is still struggling with what happened to her mother when she was 10 years old.
However, it is clear that after meeting this patient, Rose is unwell and feels that her mental health and this meeting are connected in some way. Trevor has little sympathy for her situation, causing her to seek help from her former cop boyfriend, Joel (Kyle Gallner), who tells her story.
Although he solved part of the mystery, thanks to Joel's connections and help, he pieced together the rest and made some incredible discoveries.
Parker Finn of Bath, Ohio directed Smile.
Written and directed by Bath native Parker Finn, who made his feature-length debut, it's a wonder Smile didn't start closer to Halloween. The news that Halloween Ends will be released in October helps clear things up.
However, having withstood the Halloween franchise since 1978, you can't go any further. Based on Finn's short film, "Smile" proves that he knows the conventions of the horror genre and uses them well, enduring those that have become clichés.
He masterfully uses silence to create fear, allowing those moments of pure horror to surprise and using others as real bait. Most importantly, the actual level of violence serves the narrative rather than suppressing it.
This story not only has a lot of horror, but also a mystery that keeps viewers on their toes.
In Bacon (daughter of actor Kevin Bacon), you have an actress who conveys the scary aspects of her story well. At first, viewers watch her transform on screen, and more importantly, it's not clear if Rose is actually under the influence of an unseen force or if she's slowly going insane before our eyes. The main problem is to answer this question at the end of the film, which may cause conflicting feelings for some.
However, there's no denying that "Smile" does exactly what it says it does: body hair stand on end.
George M. Thomas dives into film and TV for The Beacon Journal. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ByGeorgeThomas
Ana de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. Photo courtesy of Netflix
LOS ANGELES, September 17 (UPI) – Ana de Armas's performance as Marilyn Monroe was heartwarming. But Blonde, now in some cinemas, shuns traditional biographies by making them uninformed or emotional.
As a child, Gladys (Julian Nicholson), the mother of Norma Jeans (Lily Fisher), told her that Clark Gable was her father. Gladys was cruel and suicidal, so she was hospitalized while Norma Jeane was sent to an orphanage.
As an adult, calling herself Marilyn Monroe (de Armas), she manages her career in Hollywood and her relationships with famous men. Although chronological, the impressionistic account is more like a dream from Monroe's life than a good or bad account.
Monroe's life was undoubtedly tragic when she died at the age of 36. However, Blonde processed most of the Monroe tragedy in a way she could still use to grab attention and win an Oscar.
Blonde is NC-17 rated and feels like a spirited teenager who thinks he's "grown up" because the film's approach to sex makes him super nervous. So the image is reversed during the sex scenes, but the film still focuses on Monroe's Cass Chaplin (Xavier Samuel) and Eddy G. Robinson, Jr. (Evan Williams) and oral sex with John F. Kennedy (Casper Phillipson ). .
A very graphic, albeit artistic, abortion scene likely pushed the film into R-rated territory.In JFK's scene, the long shot of de Armas's face, while obscure, is actually quite striking.
Some of writer / director Andrew Dominik's artistic achievements provide thematic resonance at the close of the nearly three-hour film. Norma Jeane's childhood footprints are repeated three times, revealing early wounds that may never heal.
Monroe calls all her husbands fathers because she misses seeing her real father.
When the photographer captures a private and isolated scene, the surreality of the moment presents itself, even when the physical photographer appears out of nowhere. When fans' mouths scream menacingly, it makes sense as a subjective representation of the overwhelming pressures of fame.
Other non-linear ideas seem random. Movies alternate in color and black and white with no square or widescreen aspect ratio or smoothness.
At first, it appears that the black and white represents Monroe's real life, while the colors represent her Hollywood imagination. But no, some scenes from the film are also presented in black and white.
First Blonde saw de Armas reenact scenes from the famous Monroe movie on screen in an empty, full room for the first time when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was shown. But then we see him on the set of the next movie. Other scenes from the film are shown in full screen, then the theatrical motifs return.
A very simplistic interpretation is that the black and white scene depicts sadness and, of course, mimics Calvin Klein commercials with absurd and meaningless dialogue. But Monroe's happy moments are also shown in black and white.
Maybe the whole thing didn't make sense because Norma Jeane had it too, but sadly she didn't have to tell the story. This is first described in Joyce Carol Oate's book and later explained again by Dominic.
Blonde's level of conclusion goes beyond dramatic license. It may be irresponsible to present historical characters in this way, even if they clearly call it fiction.
The most interesting part of Blonde is Monroe's focus on Hollywood struggles. Argues gentlemen's salary versus Jane Russell's salary.
After the audition, male producers criticized her performance. But the actors of this scene convey their critique with such art that it is like commenting on the hypocrisy of men's judgments on female talent.
Also included are Monroe's weddings to Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody). Her addiction is happily overcome by the end of the film, even though the abuse she endured in her marriage was inevitable.
The fact that the film itself is so narratively challenging makes de Armas's consistency in his performances all the more remarkable. Capture Monroe's subtle voice without making a caricature and sympathize with the tragedy behind her charming personality.
The world doesn't need another biopic on the same themes as Marilyn or Norma Jean and My Week with Marilyn, but Blonde is so gloomy it just doesn't fit the theme. On the plus side, blondes can be quirky, but never boring.
Blonde will premiere on Netflix on September 28.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a Los Angeles-based UPI entertainment writer. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a critic of Rotten Tomatoes since 2001 and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012. Find out more about his work in entertainment.
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