Estimated reading time: 7m 10s.
Movies are always better when you watch them in the cinema.
Jokes are funnier, action scenes are louder, sex scenes are a bit sexier.
We’re all kind of just in it together, like a team? Like a funny, sexy team!
Here are some more things that are better with a crowd:
Live music
Stand-up comedy
Defending a castle
Throwing up an item of food and catching it in your mouth
Storming a castle
Someone saying to you: “Yeah, you and what army?” and then a crowd appears behind you
Here are things that are not better with a crowd:
Doing laundry
Reading
Anything that happens in a bathroom
Trying to memorise the original members of the Jedi Council
Going down the stairs on a moving bus
Simple mental arithmetic
(In a work meeting very recently I said that 1.2 divided by three was 2.1.)
Anyway, were you Oppy Hoppy or Barbie Barmy?
Time for some reviews!
This week: What is my purpose? Who am I? Is this all there is? And guns.
🕴️ Come on Oppie, let’s go party.
Oppenheimer (2023), film, directed by Christopher Nolan.
I once sold Cillian Murphy a pair of jeans!
He is now the star of one of the two biggest films in the world!
I’m not saying those things are related, but they are both true and also they are definitely related (you’re welcome bro).
In the feverishly anticipated latest feature from director Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy plays enigmatic and troubled physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer, the so-called “father” of the atomic bomb. He is outstanding; a Best Actor win is not unlikely.
What of the film as a whole?
Well, it contains many classic Nolan tropes:
Time-jumping narrative ✅
Men in suits ✅
Jaw-dropping practical visual effects ✅
Clear failure of the Bechdel Test ✅
It’s a commanding, epic piece of cinema that looks and sounds truly amazing. It manages to pull off a remarkable feat: telling a coherent story, with multiple timeframes, over the course of three hours, without being boring or confusing.
Like many Nolan films, it falls down when it comes to dialogue and character. Aside from Oppie, the many, many characters are one-dimensional, and nobody talks or interacts in a way that actual people do: it’s constant quips and cutesy one-liners.
A great watch, but not the best film to come out on this date…
Look out for:
Cameos of big time actors playing even bigger time historical figures is a thrill — keep an eye out for President Truman.
If you liked this:
With its central deposition scenes and time-flitting flashbacks, Oppenheimer is more than a little similar to (but not nearly as good as) The Social Network. David Fincher’s Facebook fable will be looked back on in years to come as one of the greatest films ever made, if it isn’t already.
Ratings: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
💗 I am become pink.
Barbie (2023), film, directed by Greta Gerwig.
If you’d told me in January that the most subversive film of the year would also be one about my sister’s favourite childhood toy, I would have said: “They’re making a movie about snails from our front garden?”
(My sister used to play with snails.)
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Barbie was made by toy company Mattel to sell more Barbies. For all its feminist ideas, meta-humour and satire, this is a film designed by a corporation to make money, and a lot of money it has made.
Let’s get the even more obvious out of the way: Barbie absolutely slaps.
Margot Robbie plays the titular toy, living a charmed life with countless other Barbies and Kens in “Barbieland”, a beach party paradise that makes Bali look like the cold vacuum of space. Margot’s Barbie has an existential crisis and ventures into the real world, with her long-suffering friend Ken (played by scene-stealer Ryan Gosling).
Director and co-writer Greta Gerwig has created a modern, representative take on what’s often viewed as a reductive and even harmful doll. It’s hilarious, colourful, and irreverent, all while dealing with some heady themes.
Its message does get muddled, and it doesn’t quite stick the landing. But a film about a toy to be sparking so much conversation around feminism, gender roles and The Patriarchy™ is surely a win for society, no matter your thoughts on its execution.
Anyway where’s the bloody Max Steele movie??
Look out for:
“Barbiecore” was trending long before the film was released — expect a lot of Barbie and Ken dress-ups this Halloween. The drip in this film is on fleek AF! 😝
(Do people still say those words)
If you liked this:
Before Barbie, there was The Lego Movie. Also surprisingly meta, also a visual delight, also featuring Will Ferrell in a supporting role — maybe films about legacy toy franchises are the way to go?
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
👊 Guns & Grunting: Episode XI.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), film, directed by Chad Stahelski.
Extraction 2 (2023), film, directed by Sam Hargrave.
I man.
Man like gun.
I like man and gun in film.
I like film with more man and many gun.
It is for these reasons that I posit John Wick to be the greatest film tetralogy* of all time.
Chapter 4 doubles down on the “gun-fu” action scenes that have become the franchise’s hallmark, and further builds on the unique lore of its peculiar world. The conclusion to the franchise is probably its weakest (and longest 😑) entry, but it’s still an adrenaline-pumping affair, and it satisfyingly ends one of the freshest, most memorable action series of all time.
But what’s this?
Does another iconic hero emerge from the shadows?
Look out behind you, John Wick, it’s TYLER RAKE!!!
OK, it’s probably unlikely that Chris Hemsworth’s beefy Aussie hero from the Extraction series will ever become as recognisable as Mr. Wick, but he gives him a run on the entertainment front (even with his own brutal version of gun-fu combat).
Do we have to decide who’s better?
John Wick or Tyler Rake!
Messi or Ronaldo!
Ant or Dec!
Can’t we just be happy that we live at the same time as all of these superhuman killing machines?
Look out for:
The John Wick series loves a set piece, and the fourth one is no different — the “long stairs” and “top-down” scenes are both standouts. However, the prison escape in Extraction 2 pips them both. No mortal prison can hold TYLER RAKE!!!
If you liked this:
This won’t be the first time The Reel has recommended Indonesian modern classic The Raid (and The Raid 2). The best hand-to-hand combat scenes in any movie, ever. Also, check out Christian Bale in Equilibrium for some gun-fu straight from 2002.
Rating: John Wick: Chapter 4 ⭐⭐⭐, Extraction 2 ⭐⭐⭐
⏩ Quickies
Short and snappy reviews for a short and snappy time:
Black Mirror: Season 6 (2023, series, cre. Charlie Brooker): ⭐⭐
It’s frankly absurd just how many uniquely insane plot ideas this man Charlie Brooker can come up with. This is unfortunately the weakest season yet, but it doesn’t detract from Black Mirror’s legacy as the most completely batshit TV series ever to come out of the UK.
Withnail and I (1987, film, dir. Bruce Robinson): ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was very hyped but how it lived up to the hype, my dear boy! Very hilarious while also at the same time being very depressing? Kind of like those songs that make you want to dance but also cry? Sign me up for more of this, old chap!
Top Boy: Season 5 (2023, series, cre. Ronan Bennett): ⭐⭐⭐
Speaking of TV series coming out of the UK, is Top Boy the best British series ever? This last season feels rushed (for some reason it’s two episodes shorter than season four) but it’s gripping, grim and superbly acted — just what we’ve come to expect from London’s answer to The Wire.
📃 Quote of the Week(s)
“We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!”
How have I never heard this before? An iconic Withnail quote in Withnail & I.
✅ Th-th-that’s all, folks.
Thank you very much for reading! ❤️
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Thank you v much again, and see you next time!
Gogzibear
xxx