Sound of Metal is one of those movies, that has everything going for them. Oscar winning performance (this review was written before 2021’s Oscar ceremony, but I’d be genuinely shocked if somebody else snatched that Oscar from Riz Ahmed, as he’s the one everyone keeps talking about), great story about something, that we haven’t seen a lot of prior, something unique (the best sound Oscars should be a formality) and most importantly, it’s an inspirational story. So how come, there was something that just didn’t click with me…?

Look, I am not going to say this film is a bad one, no. Quite the opposite, it’s a really great piece of cinema, that pulls you in, gives you a tour de soul of this young drummer, who only wants to do one thing and one thing only – be a drummer. That’s something I appreciated, we get how much this means to Riz’s character without having to see some sort of montage of how he used to drum ever since he was a little boy. The reason we don’t need that is because of his performance. The movie definitely is one man show, where he doesn’t have to say a lot for you to understand how much he’s freaking out, how much he hates, what’s happening to him, how much he’s hurt by it… On this front, the movie succeeded 100%.

I also loved all the sound choices, that might seem obvious, but they were not. For example, I think (and this is just my theory) that the way we hear the movie totally depends on Riz’s mind. What I mean by that – I’ve noticed that in scenes where he’s “getting better”, he’s trying to face his condition, the sound is clear, even though he still can’t hear anything. But when he “slips out”, when he makes some questionable decisions, that’s where we go back to the sound of the movie being distorted. Maybe the movie is telling us that deep down, he knows what he’s doing is wrong? Or maybe I am reading too much into this…? Who knows, but the second half of the movie (especially the scenes on the farm) seemed like that was definitely a purposeful choice. And I can only applaud to that.

But unfortunately the movie also starts to drag on a bit, towards the end. I think my main issue with it was (and this might sound really bizarre, but hear me out here) Riz’s performance was so great, you knew where this guy was going, before he made his move. You knew, how he thinks, what he will do. And once you understand him, that is when the movie needs to either give you something really entertaining (read different), as the “mystery” is gone, maybe for something unexpected to happen, but no. Everything that happens to him you could tell from about halfway through the movie, which speaks to his level of great performance, but also that means that the second hour of this film drags on, as nothing surprises you anymore, so the movie doesn’t feel as fresh, but slightly more like a chore to finish.

Also, I will say this – I understand this movie was supposed to be mainly about Riz’s character and his journey and I get that, but I still thought we could have used more scenes with him and Olivia Cooke. Their interactions felt real, raw, sincere and especially towards the end (which again, you see what will happen with him, so there is no surprise) that moment those two characters shared, felt earned. I feel like movie kind of undercut itself by having such a great actress and somebody, who could go toe-to-toe with Riz, only for her to be gone for most of it. Again, I understood why they did it, I just wish they would have given them more scenes together, as that couple dynamic really worked for me.

This is one of those movies I (already) can’t wait to re-visit couple of years from now, to see whether my perspective changes, as sometimes it happens. You watch a movie everybody seems to love and you “only like it”, and then, once you see it again, with a clear head couple of years from your first viewing, you find things you haven’t found the first time around. Because I need to say this again, Sound of Metal is not a bad movie. I was just waiting for something, that would punch me in the stomach, something that would deliver the final blow and it hasn’t… Ok, let me put it this way – before COVID-19, remember those magical places called restaurants? The establishments, that you would go into, you’d sit down, had some nice food…? Yeah, so now imagine, you go to one of those, you’ve heard a lot of great stuff about it, you order a starter, a main and a dessert. The starter is great, but you could’ve used a little bit more of it (in this metaphor, that would be his relationship with Olivia’s character), the main is excellent piece of food, where you have no complaints whatsoever (Riz and what the movie is trying to do, the story it’s telling) and then the dessert arrives. And you are looking for that fine looking dessert to give you that great, sweet finish, but instead of that, it leaves you kind of… indifferent. Sure, the starter and the main was still great, so the overall experience isn’t ruined by any means, but you can’t help but feeling like there was something missing from the perfect experience. And also, now I am hungry.

Overall, Sound of Metal is definitely a movie, you need to see. It’s different, it’s told from a unique point of view, it has great performances all around. Personally, there was just something that was missing for me to call this movie excellent. It’s still really, really great piece of film though, so do give it a chance.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Let’s get one thing straight – Missing Link is definitely one of the “lesser” Laika movies (the studio behind such gems like Corpse Bride (2005), or my personal favourite Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)) but it’s almost like saying “Pixar’s lesser movie”. Because as with them, even their “lesser” movie is still really, really well made, told and executed. And Missing Link has a few things going for it, that worked for me.

The first one is the voice casting – Hugh Jackman, Stephen Fry, Zach Galifianakis, Zoe Saldana or Timothy Olyphant are great and pleasant to listen to. They also give this stop-motion animation that extra level of charm, personality and that is definitely THE main thing this film has going for it, big time. It’s really charming. I can’t really explain it, because overall, the story isn’t anything new we wouldn’t seen before, it’s your typical “explorer finds a new species, but he’s trying to get him to his own people, rather than profit from it”, but there are evil people after them. So they go from one location to another, escaping one escapade after another.

But there is something about the stop-motion of this movie and that voice cast, full of really talented people, that even though you know exactly where the story is going (Missing Link is definitely more of kids movie, rather than “adults can get something out of this too”) you will still be glued to the TV screen. It’s funny at the times, cute most of the time and most importantly, the moment the movie starts to drag on a bit, it’s only about 10 minutes from being finished.

I know this might sound weird, complimenting the fact this movie is short (the runtime is 93 minutes) or making it sound like it’s a benefit, but it really is, as to me that is an underrated art, knowing when your movie should end. There are movies that definitely overstay their welcome, so for this film to be fully aware of what it is and knowing when to end, it’s definitely a benefit.

Also, I need to talk about the end credits, where you can see how painstakingly slow the process of stop-motion animation actually is and how much work goes into every shot. Those have always fascinated me, and I know it’s almost “standard” at this point for stop-motion animated movies to have a scene or two during the credits to show the fans how the movie gets made, and I will always respect people behind these movies, because you can tell they really care and it shows, as this movie is stunning to look at.

Who I really want to talk about in this movie, is Zach’s voice performance as Mr. Link/Susan. I used to think he’s not a great comedian, but the older I get, the more I appreciate his comedy chops. And in this movie, his performance was perfect. What pleasantly surprised me was that plenty of A list celebrities, who would do voices for animated movies, especially in some sort of creature/animal role, they would usually do a “shouty” performance, slightly over the top. Zach took it in totally different way, making his character really sweet, tender and quiet. Only thing that did get old, especially towards the end, was his character taking everything so literally. It was funny the first couple of instances, but repetition only works so many times before it doesn’t.

Overall, even though Missing Link won’t be attacking any TOP rankings/lists when comes to “best animated movie” or even “best stop-motion animated movie”, but it’s still a really good movie, that targets kids exclusively. Parents might have a good time too, but they will have much better time with some other stop-motion movies. For example the prior mentioned Kubo and the Two Strings is to me on the same level as the best Pixar movies, because that film is stunning, with great performances, brilliant story and really big chunk of heart in it. I am not going to say you will get the same experience with Missing Link, probably not. But it still has its charm and I don’t think there is any danger of you dying from boredom.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Ever since I’ve seen the first trailer for Jojo Rabbit, I knew that this will be a film like no other. I had faith, as Taika Waititi has proven himself several times now (from What We Do in the Shadows (2014), Thor: Ragnarok (2017) to somewhat underseen and underappreciated Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) which if you haven’t seen it, please do yourself a favour and do see it) and plus the topic was more than intriguing (young kid, who during World War II adores Hitler so much he sees him as his imaginary friend, what’s not to love there, right?) and the cast! From Scarlett Johansson to Sam Rockwell, Alfie Allen and surprisingly great Rebel Wilson, everybody fits perfectly and put their 100% into every scene. No wonder this movie is just pure perfection and I don’t say this lightly.

There are times, where I don’t know how to rate a movie and I need to think about it, how I felt about it, etc. And then, there are times where you are just so into a movie, you are enjoying it and no matter what’s happening on the screen, I know easily what my rating will be. And from around 20 minutes in, I knew Jojo Rabbit will be that case. But it’s not purely because of that great casting, or that wacky aspect of this movie, even though that part contributes to my main point. And that is this movie does something, that plenty of films try to do, but only a few succeed – mix comedy with some heavy themes. Balance crazy, wacky scenes with some dramatic ones. Plenty of times, one feels distracting and you as the viewer, get annoyed easily. Especially if one part of the movie is much better than the other (for example the comedy part is better than the dramatic part). And that is the main reason I have enjoyed this film so much – it’s perfectly balanced.

Jojo Rabbit feels like the most perfect blend of wacky comedy about a kid, who wants to be Hitlerjugend really badly, but for variety of reasons, he never succeeds as much as he’d want to. But deep down, it’s about plenty of other stuff and that is the thing – every time the movie feels like it might get skewed too much into the wacky stuff, there is always something, that reminds you that yeah, even though you are laughing, because let’s face it, Hitler as portrayed by Taika himself is funny. But the things that are happening (like, you know, the war) have real life consequences for everybody and especially our main protagonist. And to me, that is something extraordinary. This could have gone wrong so easily, or could overstayed its welcome, but it never does. And that goes for the dramatic scenes too – when some scenes happen, they hit you and they hit your hard (especially one scene that I unfortunately had spoiled for me because of Twitter, quite pivotal scene, so imagine my frustration) but they never take you out of the movie, they are there to work as almost a contrast for the comedic part of the movie.

This might sounds really cheesy, but I don’t care – I think the reason this movie works so well is because it reflects life itself – plenty of things around us can be really wacky, sometimes can feel almost surreal, and then something major happens, where even though we were fine and laughing just a few minutes/hours/days ago, we are not laughing now. And to balance it out like this… my hat is off to you, Taika. The Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay is definitely in good hands.

Also, let’s talk about the cast. As I’ve mentioned prior, it’s not only star-studded, but everyone is great, no matter how small their role might be. For example, Stephen Merchant is in this movie and I don’t think this is a major spoiler to say, he’s not there a lot, practically he’s in just one (quite long) scene, but I guarantee you, you will remember his presence. Same goes for Sam Rockwell, who it seems like said to himself “I’ve been acting since 90’s, but nobody’s noticed me, so let’s turn it up a bit” and he continues in this impressive streak of great roles and brilliant performances, where we need to start having a conversations about him being one of the best actors of our generation. I don’t think Scarlett had a better role in years, as again (with plenty of people in this movie) her role is not that big (the film mainly focuses on Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie and I will talk about them soon) but she does her absolute best with her role. Her scene at the dinner table, where she plays both herself and Jojo’s dad, is simply amazing. Well deserved nomination for her.

The main star is obviously Jojo, aka Roman Griffin Davis and… wow. When he made this film, he was around 11 years old and Jesus… to act like a kid and at the same time actually act, talk about talent. You know it’s always risky to have a kid be the protagonist of your movie, but did he deliver. And the same goes for Thomasin McKenzie. She was a great counterpart to Jojo, more then equal partner to him and in their scenes, they really complemented each other so well, they both felt really natural. Really hope both of them have long careers ahead of them.

The same way I said we need to involve Sam Rockwell in the conversation for one of our best actors of today, I honestly believe Taika has earned his place to be in the same conversation for one of our best current writers/directors. He’s got his unique voice, but he’s not banking on just that. He’s managed to give us a superhero/comedy, horror/comedy, adventure/comedy, and now almost historical drama/comedy, but here’s thing – he can mix any genre with comedy so well, it doesn’t get repetitive or annoying. He doesn’t feel like one trick pony, because everything he does has his handwriting all over, but at the same time it feels really unique. I don’t think it would be too big of a reach to call him “Stanley Kubrick of comedy” as no matter what he does next, I will be there, patiently waiting and there is a good chance I will enjoy whatever he does next. So far, he’s yet to have a miss and I don’t think that is coming anytime soon.

Overall, if you’ve seen the trailer and you think you don’t want to see Jojo Rabbit because it’s “just a silly movie with Hitler in it”, please do yourself a favour and see it. Because it is much, much more. From the casting, to the musical choices (where else would you hear The Beatles or David Bowie in German?) everything fits together to create a really unique, funny, sad, yet somehow hopeful piece of a film. I will definitely re-visit this movie and gladly.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

I was not ready for this. I have seen trailers, I have seen the reviews, I have heard movie people rejecting this movie in unison, telling you (and me) not to watch it, even out of sheer curiosity. Have I listened? No. I just needed to see it for myself to believe… it. To believe, that even in 2019, with budget of almost 100 million dollars, with a studio behind this movie, with great talent both in front of the camera and behind it, something like this is still possible to make. Cats is truly once in a lifetime experience, where you are terrified, confused, slightly excited (why do some of them look sexy?!) and just stare at the screen for its entire length with your jaw open, wondering how the fuck movie like this went through the studio system, without somebody, someplace trying to stop this from ever being released.

I have a proud “tradition” of always finishing every single movie I watch. No matter how bad a movie is/gets, how it infuriates me, I have never not finished a movie I started. And let me tell you something, it’s been a long time since I have been so tempted to do this, but while watching Cats, I honestly wasn’t even curious where this nightmare fuel is going. As everything was so bizarre, so all over the place, I actually tried to imagine doing a live review, as I was watching the movie. It might look like this:

What is Jellicle? Why should I care? Why do the say it all the time? Can somebody stop them?

Is Heaviside Layer cats’ heaven?

Why do those cats look like deep-fakes?

Is that Idris… Oh my god, that is Idris Elba.

Can somebody just end my suffering?

For being the centre of attention (protagonist), Victoria sure doesn’t talk much.

Are some of these fucking cats magicians now? Is Idris Elba Thanos mixed with Nightcrawler?

Rebel Wilson has just been told to spread her legs as many times as possible, wasn’t she?

Wait, do cats wear cat suits and if so, WHY? Did Rebel’s character just undress from a cat suit?

Is this how Christians believe hell looks like?

Oh my god, I didn’t think it’s possible to dislike James Corden even more, but Jesus, he’s not funny in this at all.

Who thought Jason Derulo should have a British accent? Because I don’t trust that person with opening of a pickle jar with no lid.

Why does Jennifer Hudson look LIKE THAT?! They all look fake as fuck, but what’s up with her face?!

Why does Dame Judi Dench look like half cat and half plucked chicken? Why is she in this movie?

Why is Sir Ian McKellen in this? Did they seriously make him lick a milk from a plate?

Will the suffering ever end?

Of course that’s Taylor Swift. Did she seriously been given just one line to read?

Why do these cats still have human hands and feet and not paws?!

Oh, Memories is on again, hopefully that’s the end now. Did Jennifer just ascended? What does that mean? Will she be reborn, or did she just become a cat Jesus?

Oh my god, this is not the end?

Judi Dench is talking to a camera, surely that’s the en… MOTHER FUCKER! End already!

I honestly can’t produce a normal review, as this is beyond any normality. I was trying to wrap my head around what’s happening, why is it happening and most importantly, how could a movie like this be improved? And I think I might figured it out. The entire point of Cats is this no ordinary movie, so Tom Hooper doesn’t make sense to direct this, as he’s as “ordinary” as they come. If this movie needed to exist (and it didn’t) it should have been done properly, with a mad genius at helm – this movie needed David Lynch.

I know what you are thinking, “WTF? Why him? He doesn’t have any experience wit musicals, or Broadway?” and sure, in this instance, it would have been a challenge for him. But in every other aspect, this movie needed somebody to fully embrace every single weird aspect of this mad, mad cat world and if Lynch has proven anything in his rich career spanning 40+ years now, he is not just a friend with weirdness, weirdness is getting some coffee and Christmas cards from him every year. Just before the end of this movie, it finally clicked to me, this doesn’t work because it’s done half way. Couple of examples – they are cats, but don’t have paws. The actors are fully aware of the absurdity, so they are not fully in that world. Lynch would have embraced every single detail, everything. I am not saying he’d have fixed it, but at least it would be something.

Let me put it this way – I would highly recommend you watching one of his newer shorts, called What Did Jack Do? (2017) as it’s amazing. A 10 minute short film, with just Lynch and talking monkey called Jack, where David is trying to figure out what did the monkey do, as of course, the monkey talks. But, in those 10 minutes you get into the story, because Lynch doesn’t do anything halfway and embraces the weirdness, so at the end, you do understand what Jack did. And it’s a great, weird short. And that is my point – if he could make you believe in just 10 minutes that talking monkey is absolutely normal thing, he could even make a movie like Cats work. I don’t know how well, that’s a different debate all together, but he would have given us fascinating, once in a lifetime experience, where it’s entirely possible you might not be thinking about “is this what hell feels like?” while watching it.

See, it’s not possible to write a normal review for Cats. Do you honestly believe that I knew I will advocate for this movie to be remade with David Lynch in charge? No, I didn’t think I will go there, but it happened. Because I didn’t know how to grasp this review, as is the same as watching this movie – an out of body experience like no other, that leaves you terrified, speechless and strangely aroused (don’t even get me started on the butthole cut of this movie, let’s not even open that can of worms).

I can’t recommend you watching this, don’t be like me and trust the people who have been there before you – even out of curiosity, this movie isn’t worth it. I really felt bad for Francesca Hayward as you can tell she’s a talented dancer and singer and I honestly hope that it will only get better from here onwards for her. I mean, I needs to be right…? Right…?

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke