If there are two genres I love, it’s action and sci-fi. By that logic, if you combine them and do them well, I tend to enjoy myself and have a blast with those films. So when I heard of this movie, I was hopeful going into it because I remember seeing it when it landed on Amazon Prime, but I never clicked on it as I’ve always had “better things” to watch. Well, one day, I finally pulled the trigger and pressed play on this movie, and I will say there are some decent ideas here. But it’s packaged, paced and told in such a way that nothing will ever surprise you.

The idea that humanity semi-masters the time travel and must go back in time for people to help them win a war against aliens is fascinating. There were sequences that were also done well (like the first landing in the future and the 20 minutes that followed). And there are some fun cast members this movie wastes. But unfortunately, everything else failed for me.

Let’s start with the idea – it’s solid. Sure, you need to accept a lot of stuff for it to make sense (like how they only semi-mastered the time travel, so they can’t go back as much as they want etc.), but it was intriguing. However, as the movie progresses and takes shape, I wondered what it would look like in the hands of someone more capable. I like Chris McKay, but I am not sure this was the best material for him to tackle because this story is so ambitious, and the ultimate message is pretty important, but if you don’t know how to sell it to us, it will sound cheesy and cheap. And that’s what ultimately happened with The Tomorrow War. Without going into spoilers, everything that happens and gets revealed in the third act is questionable, and with that, this movie found itself in this weird category where you may agree with its themes and message, but you don’t like how everything gets told. Well, at least I found myself there.

The cast is another thing. I don’t know what happened to Chris Pratt, but his charisma no longer works for me, and it’s been like this since about 2016. I used to love him, mainly as a comedian, and now, he is trying to do this almost Ryan Reynolds thing, and the thing is, he isn’t Ryan. And by having him try it, it proves that Ryan isn’t just being himself, but there is more to his performances, and he gets short-shrift by many fans. I hope Chris can turn this around and maybe take a step back, do a comedy or two and maybe try again…? J.K. Simmons is here and plays this absentee dad to Pratt, but for most of the movie, he isn’t there at all. When the movie needs him, he’s got some moments that should make us care about him, but I didn’t, mainly because of how this movie brought him back in the third half when he was in there for about two minutes before that.

Who I thought did an underrated job and might be one of our most underrated actresses (especially comedy-wise) is Mary Lynn Rajskub. In everything I have seen her in throughout the past several years, I thought she was sneakily one of, if not the best thing about that movie, TV show or scene. In The Tomorrow War, her character doesn’t get to do much, but she makes her scenes memorable; she is funny, and it never feels cringey. For example, we have the brilliant Sam Richardson here also playing this comedic relief for the most part, and his character didn’t work for me at all. I love Sam; I have seen him in many other films and shows, so I know it wasn’t him, but there was something about his character that never made him funny to me and, for the majority of this movie, he was supposed to the main comedic relief of this film.

But even that wasn’t my main issue with this movie. My biggest problem was how convenient everything was when the movie needed to move the story along. Again, without going into major spoilers, I will simply say this – Chris Pratt’s character is a teacher before this future war starts. And we get introduced to this one, a very unique student who is passionate about volcanoes. When I tell you this will be important later, I won’t blame you for not believing me. But it is, and I was kinda mad that it was that important and how they based the entire third act on this random piece of knowledge. Sure, many movies have clutches to move forward, but this clutch felt the “clutchiest” I have seen in ages.

What also doesn’t help anything is the runtime of almost 140 minutes. Yes, a lot of stuff happens in this film, but also, there are definitely sequences that could have been cut down a bit, and ultimately, if you manage to get it to around 110 minutes, I think it would have flown much better. The pacing felt very awkward, again, mainly in the third act.

This movie also wants to have a big reveal in the future (technically two reveals), but… The first one is obvious, and the second is a bit less obvious but almost given, accounting for what we have learned from our exposition dump about the future before they go into it. It always makes me laugh how movies try to do these “shocking” reveals only for most of the audience to react like: “…Okay? Wasn’t that given?”

And ultimately, that’s how I would sum up this movie. It’s not bad by any means; I even contemplated giving it a middle-of-the-road, average rating. But then, I started to think about my rating, how much I have actually enjoyed this movie and whether I will remember much about it a couple of weeks or months down the line. I realised I won’t remember much about it because everything is just… okay-ish. And the more movies I watch, the more I forget these movies that don’t stand out in any way, shape or form, mainly if there isn’t at least one excellent or awesome thing to remember. The Tomorrow War has some cool things about it, but they never managed to make those things pay off.

Overall, The Tomorrow War is a great concept, with decent actors and average execution. Unfortunately, the execution becomes below average when the third act happens as there are way too many “Oh come the fuck on now!” situations for me to swallow or ignore. I would, however, love to see it remade by someone who likes to play with big ideas. For example, if you told me that Christopher Nolan or Alex Garland wanted to remake it, I would be the first to say: “Yes, please!” as I would trust both of these directors to take this concept, not changing a thing thematically, and/or narratively and arrive at the destination much smoother than this movie did. And I write this as someone who again agrees with everything this movie says.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Paul Thomas Anderson and I have a very unique relationship. I like/love most of his films (like There Will Be Blood (2007), The Master (2012) or Phantom Thread (2017)), but I can’t say I “get” the love for him. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the guy, and he is obviously a talented filmmaker, but he isn’t on my watch list for every new film he makes. But I have heard many good things about Licorice Pizza, so I got intrigued, and when it became available to stream, I finally got the chance to watch it. And based on the overall rating (currently 7.2/10 on IMDb), I understand I am in the minority who thinks this film is “just ok”.

I will generalize Licorice Pizza; if you grew up in the 70s in America, there is a higher chance you will absolutely adore this movie. Because I believe it captures that period very well. But at times, it feels too much “inside baseball” because to truly appreciate how accurate this film is, I would have to be there. And since I wasn’t there and didn’t grow up in the USA during the 70s, everything this film showed me left me kind of… cold. It’s a fascinating phenomenon, I wasn’t bored per se, but the movie also never sucked me into it enough to care about anything/anybody in it. Does that make sense?

But here’s the thing though with any other director, this would lead to a pretty harsh review, but with Paul Thomas Anderson, he gives me so much to chew on (camera work, aesthetic, interesting enough characters) that I never fully “hated” this film. And this is where I was split on this film being just ok. Technically, it’s a well-made film by a filmmaker who clearly knows his stuff. But despite some “fresh” actors that were outstanding in their roles, I didn’t care about the characters and what they were going through.

Speaking of fresh/new actors, Alana Haim is the beating heart of this film and Cooper Hoffman is this film’s brains. Neither is better than the other they complement each other so well it’s hard to imagine this movie without either one. Cooper is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, and based on his performance, it seems he might follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a great actor. The same goes for Alana; I would love to see her in more films. I know that’s not as likely to happen, given she seems to be a musician first, but I hope that during this movie shoot, she caught the “film bug” and will at least dabble in acting; from time to time.

There are some other big names in this film (mainly Sean Penn, John C. Reilly and Bradley Cooper), but even with those, you have to do your “homework” for you to understand who their characters are/were. As pretty much everybody was based on living people, if you want to go down that rabbit hole, great. But during the film, especially if you don’t have that knowledge, these characters can appear so quirky it can be almost distracting.

And here is where I will compliment Anderson’s genius one more time. Throughout all my criticism, the film itself warned me, you and everybody by its title – Licorice Pizza. That name itself tells you pretty much all you need to know – you will be in for a strange, seemingly one-long ride with a bunch of characters that might or might not be your cup of tea. It’s almost like Anderson understood he made a film only for certain people and mainly for himself. And he had the courtesy to let us know with that title.

Overall, Licorice Pizza is a unique film that I can’t say whether people might or might not enjoy to recommend it; or warn people from watching. Everything in this film is pretty straightforward; the narrative almost doesn’t exist as it’s mostly a series of vignettes centred around two young people and their “will they/won’t they” dynamic. If that sounds like something you might enjoy, then by all means, Licorice Pizza might be your jam. If you prefer more of a narrative, where you follow one story with some resemblance of a structure, you might want to avoid this film. There is a bonus category for all Americans born in the late 60s and early 70s, as I believe that would be the closest to some sort of “target demo” for this unique film.

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

Until next time,

Luke

I remember hearing about this film for the first time, and I thought it should be interesting. Then, I saw some stills from the trailers and immediately got reminded of Roma (2018), a movie I loved. So, and I hate to admit this, I re-dubbed this film in my head to “Roma, but make it Irish”. And then all the Oscar love came pouring in, confirming my pre-existing bias towards this film (because the Academy usually loves these “look how/where I grew up” movies) for no reason other than those two films look and feel really similar. Well, I have finally watched it, and Belfast is many things, but “Roma light” ain’t it. Yet again, I was so glad to be confirmed wrong and reminded myself to be more open-minded.

If there was one thing that got me emotionally watching this film, it was the different relationships. As this film is told from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy, we get to explore all kinds of relationships between him and his parents, classmates, and grandparents. But, and this is imperative to mention, it’s not just about him. Belfast explores the adult relationship very finely too. Whether it’s the marriage that’s hanging by a thread due to everything that’s happening, a very long relationship between the grandparents that might be coming to an end due to an illness, or how the neighbourhood feels like it can blow up at any minute due to ‘The Troubles‘.

I won’t go into this complex historical, political and still relevant discussion, but I would recommend you read the Wiki article linked above. But you don’t have to read or know about it to understand Belfast. Sure, it will help you to understand what is happening, but the movie paints a broad enough picture that gives you the basics without trying to skew you in any direction. That is one thing I liked; given the POV should be from nine years old boy, you never get any feeling of “who is right and who is wrong”. All you will know from watching this film; is there is a conflict that seems religious (but it is more complex), and people can turn on each other quite quickly. That is pretty much it. And as much as some people might expect this movie to make any political statement, it doesn’t. It simply shows you how it used to be, at least from the perspective of young Kenneth Branagh, as it’s based on his growing up in Belfast.

There are many great actors in this film, from the young Jude Hill to Jamie Dornan (who, spoiler alert, can act, so don’t judge him solely on his appearance in the 50 Shades franchise) and Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds, who I would both title, Masters of the Craft. Because these two giants show you it’s not about how much screen time you have; it’s about what you do with it. Both gave magnificent performances, and their relationship felt so genuine that it affected me in ways I didn’t expect. However, there was one actress in this film; who stood above all these fine performers for me – Caitríona Balfe.

Her character might be the most complex one here, constantly fighting for what is right, raising her children pretty much on her own and not losing sight of what’s important. Her character (simply called ‘Ma’, the same way Dornan’s character is ‘Pa’) could have easily gone the other way, the way of “nagging wife” in the hands of a lesser actress or worse script. But it was the script (which we can say now is Oscar-winning) that gave her many things to chew on, and Caitríona absolutely delivered. It is a shame that the ‘Best Leading Actress’ category was packed in 2022 because, in most years, she would have not only scored a nomination, she would have been one of the frontrunners. As we (through her son Buddy) spend the most time with her, she carries most of the movie on her shoulders and boy, does she deliver. I especially loved her performance in the riot scene towards the end and then the short moment of levity; between her and Jamie Dornan towards the end, the two of them dancing. Where you can see why they are still together, despite what we saw throughout the entire film. I hope this will be the role that bumps her name on some producer’s call sheets, and we get to see her more.

And it was in these smaller character moments that Belfast convinced me that it deserves the highest rating. The movie started on a slower note, sure. But once you see the different relationships play out in front of you, and they all feel true; like these could be members of your family (and I swear I might have recognized one or two), that is where you can’t help but feel for everything that happens to them. Sympathize with their struggles and go on that journey with them all.

Overall, Belfast surprised me in many ways. The film is about a political situation, yet, the film wasn’t political, preachy, or anything remotely close to that. It surprised me how many truly great performances we’ve gotten, where most characters don’t have such a significant screen time. It surprised me how well everything clicked together and how emotional it made me feel towards the end. And most importantly, it surprised me by not being “Irish Roma“. Kenneth has made his most personal movie yet, and it shows. If you haven’t seen Belfast yet, I would strongly recommend it.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Mamma mia! Where to even start with this one… I tend to defend Ridley Scott with my every breath. The man reached the “legend” status a long, long time ago, so I give him all the benefit of the doubt regarding what he wants to shoot next. And when I heard he is behind House of Gucci starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino and Jared Leto, I was half excited and half sceptical. I will show my cards early; I love me some Driver and Pacino, I like Lady Gaga (even though I don’t think she is nearly as talented of an actress as others believe), and I still wonder how people take Jared seriously. But I had hoped that Sir Ridley would give us something unforgettable, unique and all-around fascinating. Well, House of Gucci is 100% unforgettable and unique alright, except for all the wrong reasons…

House of Gucci got me in the first half when the story was developing between Gaga and Adam’s characters, when we saw some of Gucci’s history and how even somebody named Gucci was sick and tired of all the pretentiousness around it. But even throughout the first half (and let’s face it, more like the first hour rather than half, because this film is way too long), there was a problem with the tone. The film felt uneven and unbalanced, almost as if you were to play two movies at the same time. At times, it felt like your stereotypical biographical drama and other times, some elements came off like the most bizarre SNL sketch during “Italian week”. And that was before Jared’s character showed up for the first time, as that was the moment; this film started to lose me.

See, there are actors and “actors”. There are great actors that could overcome a truly awful choice of everyone having an Italian accent and somehow give a decent performance. And then, you have “actors” who like to talk about how they studied all these books, methods and everything there was ever written about acting, and it shows on the screen. But not in a good way, because you can almost see the “wheels turning” as they do it. In House of Gucci, we see both groups in an almost equal split. I always said somebody like Driver or Al Pacino belongs in the first group. And somebody like Jared or even Lady Gaga in the second group. I would say I like Lady Gaga much more than Jared, that’s for sure, but even with her, there is always something “behind her eyes” when she is on the screen where she seems so ‘technical’, almost ‘robot-like’ I struggled with her in this film. But at least with her performance, you could kind of see what she was after… But we need to talk about Jared.

Holy shit, choices were made here. And nobody tried (at least it doesn’t seem like) to stop him. It seemed like Jared created this character in his mind. But instead of “possibly slightly eccentric Italian man”, he went with full on: “What if Mario and Luigi fucked, had a son who ate nothing but a pizza day and night, dripped Olive oil and felt like a walking stereotype of what your stereotypical American thinks is a stereotypical Italian?” Look, nobody truly “shined” in this film, mainly due to the accent decision (we will get there shortly) but when Jared arrived, this film took a dive. I think the only thing he could have done even worse would be, had his character been a full-on, CGI character of walking pizza. Yes, everyone would treat him the same, but instead of Jared in the heavy make-up, his character would play a pizza slice. That would have been the only worse decision he could have made, but given this film’s tone, even that wouldn’t feel that out of place.

I already hinted at the two biggest problems with House of Gucci – the length and the accents. I believe the runtime is self-explanatory, but the accents… Why, oh why. Why did nobody on the first day, after the very first take, raise their hand and say: “Look, I know we are supposed to be Italians, but maybe we just bin the accents altogether and focus on the acting?” For all I know, maybe somebody had done that and was executed immediately for not thinking “Italian enough”. Throughout the film, even the most competent actors felt out of place because they seemed too focused on their accents rather than on acting. I can honestly say I have never seen a film where it seemed like every actor in every scene was trying so hard to stay in their ridiculous-sounding accent. I genuinely believe that had the film been the same; same actors and director, they would simply drop the accents, and the film would instantly improve.

And that is the main issue with House of Gucci; you can tell there is some “meat” on these bones. There is an interesting story about what seems to be “an interesting” family, to put it mildly. But don’t do it as an almost three-hour film. This script should have never been too long of a movie; this should have been a five or six-episode miniseries. Yes, I can hear you saying how confused I am – earlier, I complained about this being too long, and now I am arguing it should have been longer. Well, yes and no.

Because traditionally, miniseries don’t have to be watched all at once. Sure, we all have gotten used to “binging” shows, but that does not mean we must do it. And something as intriguing and complex (what should have been much more complex than a bunch of Italian accents and one walking Mario stereotype) as this story should have been given “proper” treatment. The film feels long because it tries to compact a lot at once. But, had this script been given time where we could understand the complex relationships between Gaga’s and Driver’s characters more while focusing more on, you know, the Gucci stuff and less on “Imma Italian-a!” stereotypes, we could have had something here.

The film lost me in the second half, and I could not wait for it to be over; I was so done with the story I could not care less about what happened. I can (kind of) see what Ridley was trying to do, balancing the “Commedia dell’arte” style with drama, and I applaud him for trying. But I can’t in good conscience applaud the result.

Overall, House of Gucci is one of those films that proves that Ridley Scott is now, more than ever, hit or miss director. And even though you could argue this movie was a delightful disaster (and I have seen people who claim they genuinely enjoyed themselves), for me, it was just a disaster with a promising start and more than capable people in front of and behind the camera. Most importantly, this film didn’t understand the assignment because if it had, it would have been an epic miniseries with no accents (or radical idea incoming, Italian actors?!) and no Jared. Please, just no more Italian Jared.

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

Until next time,

Luke