POMO

Eighties B-movie bullshit, but it’s entertaining. A crazy electronic soundtrack, bare breasts, jocks and nerds, a fast pace, super-cheesy dialogue and splatter head explosions. Chopping Mall is Wynorski’s punk Short Circuit!

An uninteresting screenplay without a single idea. The logic is silly in placess, the characters are miserable to the point of being annoying and the directing is sexless. Carriers is a bland movie made up of scenes that we have seen elsewhere in secondary plot lines.

Light of My Life is a gentler version of The Road, kept afloat by Affleck’s traditionally effective “emo speech" and an interesting performance by little Anna Pniowsky. It is a very minimalistic film; the only dialogue through nearly the entire runtime is between father and daughter in the woods or in abandoned houses. Plus an examination of their behaviour – survival strategy – consistent with the gradual uncovering of the secret of what happened in their world and how it changed the society that they are avoiding. This is an intimate film for patient and perceptive viewers. Three and a half stars.

As much as I’ve been getting used to praising the casting of films lately, here it is just bad. Forgotten ’90s comedian Rosie Perez as a serious cop? Ewan McGregor as a bad guy holding a knife to a little girl’s throat? And that bland Birds of Prey team, overshadowed by the weaker characterization? Another very bad thing: the combination of deliberately childish “playfulness” that doesn’t elicit laughter, with serious tones that in some cases are almost chilling (the undressing of the girl in the bar). And the constant sloppiness of the creative vision and dumb, insensitive directing.

There aren’t many ways to film this subject without it coming off as bullshit. And this isn’t one of those ways. It is rather a short-sighted concept that works with the motifs of the story in a self-destructively half-baked way.

With its great screenplay and directing, this very well-made comedy turns horror clichés on their head through parody and offers great one-liners, funny and sumptuous killings, and even a likably human dimension.

1917 is a gut-punching cinematographic exhibition with stunning sets, a pulsating rhythm and cinema-loving details (I was most pleased by Mark Strong’s entrance into the scene). All of that is true of the first half. In the second half, less comprehensible things start to happen and the whole thing becomes a forced march towards the story’s conclusion. Nothing else in the plot is surprising, which only confirms the excessive simplicity and transparency of the subject, relying on clichéd symbols (sacrifice for a higher purpose, milk – unboiled?? – given to a child). It is far from the philosophical statement that it pretends to be. But the visuals are truly outstanding, and it was pleasing to see Thomas Newman step out of his comfort zone. It would be wrong to see 1917 anywhere other than at the cinema. Just like Gravity the other day.

Perlman gives Asher flair, Famke Janssen gives it fragility and Brooklyn never loses its appeal, but the story is a cliché. But it’s a cliché that works thanks to the three aforementioned aspects. The lower budget is palpable, but given the film’s low-key nature and focus solely on the characters, that doesn’t matter.

This film’s greatest asset is the excellent casting of young, talented actresses who don’t yet cost as much as Scarlett Johansson, but can achieve at least the same girl-power when they work as a team. And, representing the older generation, Laura Dern and Meryl complement them nicely. It is literally a pleasure to watch all of these young ladies enjoying their characters and the beloved “girlish” material. They are just glad that they can be a part of it. I suppose Greta Gerwig also deserves credit for that, as she loves actors and has a talent for this kind of emotional storytelling. I actually dreaded it, and thus I was touched by it all the more. This is pure cinematic romanticism with an open heart. The chronological jumps in the story were confusing in places, but that didn’t have any effect on the emotional experience. Supporting actor Tracy Letts has had a great year, with his portrayal of a book publisher here to go along with the glowing role of Henry Ford II in Ford v Ferrari.

Uncut Gems is a high-octane, energetic film about the pursuit of money, also with the aim of getting out of a bad situation (debt). It is original primarily thanks to its electronic soundtrack, which sounds like something by Vangelis on ecstasy trying to imitate Atticus Ross. In the longer opening scene, where the music is just as loud as the dialogue, it is literally distracting. It comes across as a flawed soundtrack, to the point that you have the compulsion to grab the remote control and adjust something. It's an unusual way to dynamically engage and draw the viewer in. Used more sensitively later in the film, the soundtrack becomes a significant element of this distinctive cinematic experience. And the same can be said of the setting and characters. The directing duo’s protagonists are no angels and they all have character flaws (cheating on their wives and defrauding their business partners, ruthless greed). Despite that, we keep our fingers crossed for this one, because in the world of loan-sharking and black marketeering in which he operates, it couldn’t be any other way. The unfiltered depiction of this world, and in the Jewish community at that, makes this film unique and its makers courageous.