Magic on the Screen

{Non-spoiler Review} Every little girl has dreamt of unlimited dresses, dining with royalty, and a spacious bedroom fit for a queen. However in Spencer, these are all part of Princess Diana’s tortured existence. Director Pablo Larraín brings a take on another culturally prominent woman whose powerful spouse was unfaithful to her after his critical success with Jackie (2016). He sets the tone in an eerie fashion with an unnerving score and a color pallet that makes the viewer as clouded as Diana’s head. The story takes the princess from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, each day passing coming to a boiling point as she deals with being the odd one out in the Royal Family as rumors of her husband’s infidelity spread across the media. This movie would fall apart completely if it were not for the tremendous performance by Kristen Stewart in the lead role. From the start of the movie, one may see Diana as a complainer. It is just three days after all, suck it up! It is not until the scene at the...

  {Non-spoiler Review} A story once thought unfilmable has just found its way towards ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Dune is based off the book of the same name written by Frank Herbert in 1965 featuring the story of a young royal Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet) coming to age alongside multiple destinies. Paul must struggle to find himself on the planet Arrakis, whose spice production makes it the most important world in their system. Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Issac of Star Wars, Ex Machina and now Moon Knight fame) has been given control of the planet by the Emperor of the Known Universe to help harvest the spice. There are plenty of side characters to go around in Dune, as expected with its ensemble cast. Paul’s supporting cast is what makes up for Chalamet’s stoic yet sometimes dull performance. His mother, Lady Jessica played by Rebecca Ferguson steals the spotlight amongst them. Her guidance as a member of the religious Bene Gesseri...

The Big Lebowski (1998) The Dude’s life is ripe for exploration. What was the dude like in high school?   How did he come to meet Walter and Donny? Do the Dude and Walter get into any more zany adventures after the movie? With today’s obsession with prequels and spin off’s studios must be itching to cash in on that Lebowski nostalgia. The fact that The Big Lebowski is a standalone film is what makes it so great. One does not need to know the background of the characters in the movie because they fill in the blanks themselves. The comedy falls into place with the script and how well Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and others play their parts. The Dude is an enigma, lets keep it that way. The Truman Show (1998) Arguably Jim Carrey’s best role to date saw him portray Truman Burbank, a man who has lived his entire life in a television studio. Truman’s whole world has been fabricated to be a TV show where everyone but him is in on the act. His best friend, his co-workers, and even his wi...

 Ranking All Four Current MCU Trilogies 4. Thor (Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017)) Even Taika Waititi’s amazing outing of Thor: Ragnarok cannot help to move Thor amongst the other MCU trilogies. The first two Thor movies feel like one is watching an almost entirely different character who lacks the charm involved with Thor’s sense of humor. The original and sequel feature a criminal misuse of Christopher Eccleston as a watered-down version of the dark elf Malekith, Natalie Portman’s bland portrayal of Jane Foster and a crowded mortal cast. It’s almost as if the only redeeming factors here are Loki and Thor’s misunderstanding of Earth’s culture compared to his own. Thankfully, the third installment in the series flips the script and gives us the Thor that gets movie goers hyped for this year’s Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). Ragnarok earns its place amongst the Marvel greats with its focus on the brotherhood of Thor and Loki as well as the better sen...

{This review contains spoilers]   In the debut film directed by Icelandic director Valdimar Jóhannsson shows a farmer couple cope with the loss of their child by taking in a half lamb/half human baby that one of their sheep give birth to. It is just as bizarre as it sounds, but it does not take long for one to find the strange hybrid quite adorable. We watch the baby (known as Ada) grow, fit into human clothes and dance around a television set seemingly more man than animal. However, there is always a dark presence felt in the background by main character María played by Noomi Rapace (who may be familiar to sci-fi horror enthusiasts as the lead in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (2012)). She did take away Ada from her birth mother after all. A chilling tale about the lack of nature and its role in the couple’s lack of acceptance unfolds. With only three speaking characters, the movie does wonders with letting one learn each person inside and out. Alongside María is her husband Ingvar (H...