“Luther: The Fallen Sun” is a New Dawn for the BBC Crime Drama (Review)

Here’s a tip for watching a film continuation of a popular television series, that is probably even better left unsaid: watch the show first.

I watched Luther: The Fallen Sun, which picks up the story of the critically-acclaimed BBC crime drama Luther directly after its fifth season finale (which aired four years ago, in 2019), without having seen any of the show, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much it worked for me despite my unfamiliarity with the world and its characters.

Image courtesy of Netflix

To be entirely honest, it’s not that hard to understand — not to mention that some basic research told me everything I needed to know — but what’s missing is that connection that was built up in five seasons’ worth of story for the show’s fans. There are very likely some vital references and character moments that I either missed or did not fully appreciate, but from what I knew, this is a solid continuation of a well-thought-out continuing story.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Director

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Director!

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh has made some spectacular, and simultaneously polarizing films since he made his feature film debut with 2008’s In Bruges. Now, he’s reunited with both stars (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) for The Banshees of Inisherin, a dour tragicomedy, which is precisely where McDonagh’s skills lie. McDonagh, whose background is in playwriting, is highly skilled in threading the needle between darkness and humor, and it’s more evident here than it is anywhere else. Once you get past the Irish accents — trust me, it will take a moment to adjust — you’ll get hit with the genius of McDonagh’s stellar screenplay, chock-full of quotable idioms and engaging character moments that will have you contemplating for days to come, and marked direction, which immerses you beautifully in the quasi-fictional world of 1920s Ireland. I wrote in my review that “no one is better at communicating that sorrow, coupled with the funny little quirks of existence than Martin McDonagh, and Banshees is certainly him at his best.” This is one of six nominations McDonagh has received throughout his career, along with one win (in 2006, for his short film Six Shooter).

Read my review of The Banshees of Inisherin here.

The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once

This directing duo is nothing short of astonishing, and some of the most interesting creative minds whose work I’ve had the pleasure of seeing come to life on-screen. Nothing makes me happier, sadder and silly like Everything Everywhere All At Once, and I truly believe that the Daniels have captured lightning in a bottle. Their recognition at the awards this year is much deserved.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Adapted Screenplay

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay!

All Quiet on the Western Front

Lighter on the dialogue than most of these other nominees, the screenplay for All Quiet on the Western Front (co-written by director Edward Berger, writer Ian Stokell and professional athlete Lesley Paterson, and adapted from the 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque) is violent, upsetting, and never pulls its punches in the brutal depiction of war at its worst. The characters are flawed, but personable, and we care about them despite their allegiances to the “wrong side” of the First World War — after all, it wasn’t the fault of the soldiers, but the people in command, some of whom are spotlighted in the occasional cutaway, which transforms the film into a political drama for incremental periods of twenty-odd minutes.

Glass Onion

With Glass Onion, Rian Johnson has once again proven he is a master of the whodunnit and knows how to cast an incredibly engaging murder mystery. I’m curious to know whether he writes for particular actors, because not only is everyone perfectly suited to their roles, but the dialogue sounds absolutely spot-on coming out of everybody’s mouth. Johnson’s whip-smart quips and zany twists are becoming the new norm of modern detective stories, and Glass Onion is an excellent addition to neo-mystery canon. This is its only nomination, but that is expected — unlike its predecessor, it’s only eligible for “Best Adapted Screenplay” because it’s technically ‘based’ on pre-existing characters, as are apparently the eligibility rules for sequels in this category.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Costume Design

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Costume Design!

Babylon

After such a big awards presence with La La Land, it’s jarring to see a Damien Chazelle having such a small number of nominations — but every single one of them is well-deserved. This is the first appearance of his Golden Age Hollywood epic Babylon in my breakdown of the awards, and while my personal feelings about Babylon are pretty mixed, it’s an undeniable fact that the costume design is absolutely stellar. The outfits and styles of every single main character are instantly iconic, and it would seem that each and every side character, however long they appear, is decked out as lavishly or simply as their role requires.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Ruth Carter’s win for costuming the first Black Panther was a major victory and a big surprise when it comes to superhero films at awards shows, so it’s only sensible to see her nominated once again for Wakanda Forever — a film with less opportunities to show off lavish costumes, but with a whole batch of new characters to clothe in a vast manner of fascinating regalia. The introduction of underwater nation Talokan, led by villain Namor, offered ripe opportunities with whole new worlds to create. Other new characters like Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) are either costumed “normally” or dressed up entirely in a CGI creation — an issue which plagues many parts of this film (see my Visual Effects breakdown for more on that front).

Read my review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Original Screenplay

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Original Screenplay!

The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh began his entertainment career as a playwright, so it stands to reason that his darkly hilarious script for Banshees would snag a nod at this year’s awards. Tragedy and comedy are a tricky combination, but McDonagh’s empathetic character work and excellent scene building are key to striking that balance.

Read my review of The Banshees of Inisherin here.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

One of the kookiest and zaniest scripts of the year (and perhaps one of the most ambitious of all time) is the one that made me cry, gasp and laugh the hardest I ever have at a first watch. Everything Everywhere All At Once is a visual treat, but everything starts with the script — and the Daniels know how to elicit emotion better than most. Its shocks are its strengths, but the real value lies in the passion, clearly present all over this movie.

Cult Hit “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” Ruins Childhoods with Murderous Glee (Review)

“Oh, bother.”

Unfortunately, Winnie the Pooh does not speak in this horror-themed reimagining of the classic Disney character, but if he did, I imagine he’d say his iconic catchphrase more than once — because this is a film which certainly deserves it.

Masterminded by English director Rhys Frake-Waterfield, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was announced in May 2022 and instantly gained notoriety and garnered significant controversy, but also stamped a permanent place in the minds of hardcore movie-goers such as myself. I wouldn’t say I was particularly excited, but I was intrigued, and sometimes, that’s enough.

In the world of Blood and Honey, Pooh Bear is no longer the cuddly teddy of Christopher Robin’s childhood — after the boy left Pooh and his pals in the Hundred-Acre Wood to go off to college, the friendly animals were left to their own devices and, naturally, descended into cannibalistic insanity. Now, Pooh (played in Blood and Honey by Craig David Dowsett) and Piglet (Chris Cordell) have become silent slasher killers — akin to Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers — a transformation I desperately do not wish for most iconic characters of my youth. While I didn’t necessarily grow up with Winnie-the-Pooh (that’s true, I had no childhood), his cultural impact is impossible to deny, and it’s infinitely jarring to see him depicted as a masked murderer.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Editing

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Editing!

The Banshees of Inisherin

The calm, tranquil cutting of Banshees is a neat contrast to the film’s dark subject matter, and especially interesting once McDonagh realized that quiet establishing shots of the Irish countryside with beautiful score over it could be beneficial to the story instead of detracting. I will say that the editing of Banshees never stood out to me both times I’ve seen it, so it is a surprise nomination…but a welcome one.

Read my review of The Banshees of Inisherin here.

Elvis

Frantic editing is a staple of Baz Luhrmann’s films, and probably my least favorite mainstay of his. Elvis is done no less frantically, with more cuts-per-minute than I could keep up with. Still, it’s unique, and some might consider it great, so its presence in the category is not entirely surprising.

Read my review of Elvis here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Visual Effects

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Visual Effects!

All Quiet on the Western Front

Not since (ironically) 1917 has a film immersed me to the extent that it is nigh-impossible to tell what is a visual effect and what isn’t. Sure, it may be obvious that a tank rolling over numerous people through the trenches (among other war atrocities) is CGI, but it’s so well-assimilated into the world that All Quiet creates that it’s easy to believe the verity of everything you’re seeing…as awful as it is.

Avatar: The Way of Water

Avatar revolutionized digital filmmaking in 2009, and nothing less was expected from its blockbuster sequel. I wrote in my review that “it would be hearsay to claim that Avatar: The Way of Water is not incredibly beautiful to look at. Every frame is rendered meticulously, and because most of what we’re seeing on-screen is composed entirely of visual effects, it’s unequivocally awe-inspiring. I also had the opportunity to see it in 3D, a medium I’m not always the biggest fan of — in fact, I was worried about subjecting myself to it for the three and a half hours this movie runs — but it seemed effortless more than anything else, like the 3D is a natural part of the world that Cameron has created.”

Read my review of Avatar: The Way of Water here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Animated Feature

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Animated Feature!

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

There are lots of things present here I never thought I would see depicted in an adaptation of Pinocchio, primarily among them the blatant atrocities of war and an unfiltered look at the brutality of early 20th-century fascism. Even though this is a family film, it’s about what I expected from a del Toro-led adaptation of this story — the man has a penchant for telling dark tales, and this is about as restrained as he can be. The film incorporates elements of the classic story that Disney-fied versions never would, like religion and war, and it only further elucidates the metaphors on display here. The story of Pinocchio has never been more cogent and captivating than it is here.

Read my review of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio here.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

On the way home from the theater, my friend pointed out that there’s plenty of stuff in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On that present-day children will look back on, and their expanded minds will connect more with a film they loved as a child because of its color, comedy and accessibility. Despite this, I firmly believe there can never be an A24 film “made for kids.” Sure, Marcel the Shell is suitable for a younger audience, but there’s still a remarkable amount of philosophy, emotion and incredibly seamless stop-motion animation present to entertain those of any age.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Supporting Actress

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Actress in a Supporting Role!

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Angela Bassett had a challenging task in Wakanda Forever. She has to communicate the grief of losing her character Ramonda’s son, T’Challa, all while balancing her own real-life grief of losing actor Chadwick Boseman and channeling it into her performance. Plus, it’s also a superhero movie, and she has to ground that performance in the fantastical reality that she’s immersed in. This not only marks the first time a Marvel film has been nominated in an acting category at the Oscars, but Bassett’s second nomination (her first was thirty years ago, for What’s Love Got to Do with It). The first Black Panther is the only Marvel film to actually win at the Academy Awards, so who knows, there’s a chance Bassett walks away with it — her performance is certainly the most outwardly emotional of the category this year.

Read my review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever here.

Hong Chau, The Whale

Hong Chau turned in two fantastic mainstream performances this year, and I honestly wish she had been recognized more for her role in The Menu but, as we well know, horror (and, by extension, thrillers) are not very well-noticed by industry voting bodies. She’s still fantastic in The Whale — there’s no doubt about that — but it’s a very standard “awards bait” type of role that acts as both a foil and support system for the (typically overwrought) main character. I don’t expect her to win, but she absolutely has a future, and like many of these younger nominees, I can’t wait to see what she does next.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Supporting Actor

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role!

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

One of Ireland’s greatest actors, Brendan Gleeson stars as Colm in the film that reunited him with his In Bruges co-star Colin Farrell (also nominated this year, for Best Actor), in which Gleeson is asked to balance out Farrell’s hilarious foolishness and naiveté with a cool-headed rationale that you’re forced to accept, lest your suspension of belief completely shatter. Gleeson joins the actors that I was shocked to learn have not previously been nominated for an Academy Award, though he did star in Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-winning short film Six Shooter in 2004.

Read my review of The Banshees of Inisherin here.

Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Brian Tyree Henry is one of the best actors working today. In the underseen Apple TV+ release Causeway, he stars alongside Jennifer Lawrence as a pool cleaner that Lynsey (played by Lawrence) befriends upon her return to normalcy after military service. Henry turns in an incredible performance alongside Lawrence, and his character is a perfect representation of the fact that not all trauma is the same, and everyone deals with it in different ways. Everyone’s got baggage, and it’s not necessarily comparable; everyone should be able to deal with it in their own way. This is his first (well-deserved) Oscar nomination.

Read my review of Causeway here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Actress

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Actress in a Leading Role!

Cate Blanchett, TÁR

Though every aspect of TÁR is meticulous and engaging, nothing is more grounding than Cate Blanchett. There is not a moment when she isn’t on-screen, and she carries with her a natural confidence that both befits the character and her status as one of the best and most recognizable working actresses. Best of all, she makes Lydia Tár feel like a real person. The film itself doesn’t tell us how we should feel about her, as new evidence constantly presented about potential wrongdoings is compounded with moments of genuine human warmth and emotion. This isn’t about a perfect woman or a horrible woman — like all things in life, it’s complicated.

Read my review of TÁR here.

Ana de Armas, Blonde

I have gotten ample time to reflect since seeing Blonde (one of my least favorite films of last year), and I have come around to the fact that even though Ana de Armas is the highlight, she is still not as stunning as most believe. I think most of that is due to the writing and presentation of Marilyn’s life, but I hold true to the fact that I wish de Armas (who still has quite a career ahead of her) had something to do in every single scene other than cry about something that happened to Marilyn off-camera. This is not the fault of Ana de Armas, and the film is not indicative of her as an actress; I’ll consider this a general career recognition rather than a specific nomination for Blonde.

Read my review of Blonde here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Actor

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role!

Austin Butler, Elvis

Playing the King would be a tricky role for anybody to tackle, especially for former Nickelodeon star Austin Butler. At age 29, Butler was given the momentous task of playing Elvis Presley through almost a quarter century of the rock star’s life. This performance, combined with Baz Luhrmann’s bombastic filmmaking sensibilities, could have very quickly taken the turn into a straight impression, SNL style. Butler avoids that pitfall nearly every step of the way, playing Elvis with equal parts humility, grace, sex appeal and hostility. Don’t forget, Elvis is told from the perspective of Colonel Parker (played by Tom Hanks, who was thankfully not recognized by the Academy for his role in Luhrmann’s film), so we are seeing Elvis’ life and career from an outside point of view. Butler is by far the highlight of Elvis, and however you might feel about the film as a whole, it’s impossible to deny the strength of Butler’s performance.

Read my review of Elvis here.

Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Of his four big-screen performances in 2022, the role of Pádraic Súilleabháin (try saying that five times fast) is by far Colin Farrell’s best. The empathy oozes through every second he’s on-screen, and although he often strays into pitiful — all intentional, I have no doubt — Farrell makes Pádraic an engaging and sympathetic figure, as well as eliciting the most laughs of anyone in the film’s cast. This is the first Oscar nomination of Farrell’s storied career, and one that I say is very well-deserved.

Read my review of The Banshees of Inisherin here.

The January Movies of 2023: A Review Roundup

January has long been considered one of the “dump months” when it comes to big-time film releases, and even though studios have since been turning this around (Scream was a hit in January 2022, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will undoubtedly be the big winner this February) the stigma still remains. This past month has been synonymous with “bad movies” for the longest time, but the releases of January 2023 are far from terrible. Sure, there are some duds (there always are, even in the summer months), but since Lenient Critic reviews were few and far between this January, I decided the best way to compile my thoughts would be an all-encompassing roundup of the new releases I was able to see.

It will be hard topping last year, but if this is what the January release schedule looks like, 2023 will be a good year for movies. This I promise you.

Taut Horror “Knock at the Cabin” is a Return to Form for Shyamalan (Review)

M. Night Shyamalan seems to be settling into a groove of perfect COVID-era movies. Mostly set in one location with a defined set of characters, this trend kicked off with 2021’s Old, and continues with Knock at the Cabin, his latest psychological thriller that seeks to drive its characters to the very brink of their sanity by presenting them with an impossible situation.

Our leads are Eric and Andrew, a married couple who are vacationing in a remote Pennsylvania cabin with their adopted daughter Wen (Kristen Cui, making her feature film debut). Eric and Andrew are played by Jonathan Groff (he of Hamilton and Mindhunter fame) and Ben Aldridge (who recently starred opposite Jim Parsons in the under-the-radar rom-com Spoiler Alert), and they’re the perfect grounding force for a film that very quickly strays into the psychological extreme.

The hulking Leonard (naturally played by Dave Bautista) leads a foursome of mysterious invaders who intrude on the family’s picturesque vacation. Although they seem to be remorseful when it comes to their mission, the group is unwavering, and resolute in what they came there to do.