Petulia (1968): George C. Scott led me to this little gem of the late 60s, a movie directed by Richard Lester, better known for A Hard Day’s Night (1964), The Three Musketeers (1973) and Superman II (1981). Petulia is a story about marriage and relationships, but it is really much more than that, a story about a particular time in history that ostentatiously lacks heart. It’s all concept, all status and all brutish, primal feelings, anchored by its excellent leads, Scott and Julie Christie. The movie really looks like the future of the 60s, clean and neat and nasty, with technology taking an ever-more-present place in the day-to-day. It creates a distance between the real and the artificial, which it captures thanks in no small part to Nicholas Roeg’s cinematography. Quite a treat. 8/10
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019): A perfectly workable sequel, ZDP doesn’t stray from the formula one bit and is content to recreate what worked in the original. This means it doesn’t stand out, but thanks to some inspired moments and its top-notch cast, Ruben Fleischer’s sequel is just about good enough for the fans. The plot only sees the gang roaming through the wasteland, after a short intermezzo at the White House, with everyone yearning to be free and independent. Well, everyone except Columbus. It’s a weak driving force behind the story and the movie is content with introducing a couple of cardboard characters, a Barbie played by Zoey Deutch, and an equally ridiculous hipster-type played by Avan Jogia, instead of digging deeper with its characters. So you’ll have to be content with Emma Stone’s grimaces, which are surely deserving of a feature film by themselves, and go a-pondering of how much things have changed since the first movie was released, ten years ago. 6/10
High Life (2018): In a year of fatherly bonding in space (see Prospect), High Life proves the more engrossing story, in spite of its appalling IMDb rating. I had not seen any of Claire Denis’s movies (there’s really a bunch of acclaimed efforts to pick from), but HL quite surprised me. Story: a bunch of criminals are sent into deep space and experimented upon, in an effort to achieve reproduction in the hostile extraterrestrial medium. Juggling a slightly demanding, yet engaging timeline, the movie is led by Robert Pattinson’s performance. Pattinson, just like his former co-star Kristen Stewart, has paid for the ‘sins’ of his vampiric youth with several excellent indie movies, but he still does sexual tension well, with it taking all sorts of shapes and form in HL. Sure, it will test your patience (the number one reason for low ratings of critically acclaimed movies), in the same way that letting good wine breathe tests your patience. 8/10
Arctic (2018): One-man survival movies also take a toll on your patience, with Arctic a mostly engaging and realistic looking attempt at storytelling. Poor, old Mads Mikkelsen is stuck in what appears to be the middle of the arctic, with only vicious polar bears keeping him company while he ice-fishes. It’s a good a way as any to pass the time, but this blissful existence is disturbed when a helicopter crashes amidst the gusts of wind and snow and our adequately named Overgard suddenly has to make some tough choices. Ultimately, it’s these tough choices that speak volumes about the humanity of Arctic, a stoic testament to what mankind can be, in stark contrast with what it currently feels like. This is what confers personality to an otherwise beautiful, but narratively stingy adventure in the snow. 7/10
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018): The days when Harry Potter was truly magical have faded since the book series and the canonical movies have come to their conclusion(s). I haven’t read any of JK Rowling’s additions to the universe, but it’s quite clear that Fantastic Beasts just…doesn’t…work. A tired rehash of themes covered better in Harry Potter, with less interesting characters and a thin plot that resembles the twists and turns of the series it precedes is all we’ve been getting in the first two flicks of the series. With three more supposedly to follow, there’s little hope things will suddenly change pace and become engaging. There’s really little else to say, with the HP-nostalgia the only pleasurable side-effect of this uninspired story. It all feels like a heartless churn. 5/10
tributarystu 