Zendaya, Josh O’ Connor and Mike Faist are caught in a psychosexual tennis trifecta of desire in Challengers, a film that plays out as an erotic thriller set to the framework of high-stakes professional tennis. It’s a strange mix of genre and style, but Challengers is an excellently crafted film that explores the complex relationships of its three central characters.
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In Alex Garland’s dystopian action-thriller Civil War, a group of photojournalists are pinned down in a game of cat and mouse between two sniper shooters. One of the journalists asks “What side are you fighting for?” to which the laser-focused soldier replies, “Someone is trying to kill us. We are trying to kill them”. This is nearly all the context we are given in this war-torn vision of modern day America. Civil War isn’t concerned with politics and ideologies, instead the focus is on the conflict itself and those involved, specifically the journalists risking their lives to tell the truth.
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By now, most of us are familiar with the spicy sand that covers the desert planet Arrakis, its gargantuan worm inhabitants and the Fremen that live alongside them, but for a long time the 1965 Sci-fi novel was deemed “unadaptable” by Hollywood. Filmmakers like David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky have attempted to bring the psychedelic space fantasy to the big screen.
At the same time, a couple of mini-series have managed to tell portions of the expansive story on a smaller budget, with ultimately mixed results. Dune had proved to be too huge in scale to do justice, not until technology had evolved and more inspired filmmakers had emerged, did Dune finally find its place in cinema.
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Set against the backdrop of 1989, Road House emerged as a cinematic anomaly, capturing audiences with the inimitable charm of Patrick Swayze alongside director Rowdy Herrington. The film, initially met with lukewarm reception, has since transcended its era to cultivate a robust cult following, even clinching the title of the most-watched at-home movie in 2020.
Such a unique piece of cinematic history seemed impervious to the waves of remakes, reboots, and sequels that have become the industry’s staple. Nevertheless, Doug Liman, whose film credits include hits like The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow and Jumper, took on the task of reimagining this iconic tale for modern audiences.
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It was three years ago, during that second phase of enforced lockdown, that director Adam Wingard unleashed Godzilla vs Kong onto the unsuspecting public. At the time, watching it on the small screen, I lamented how these two Titans deserved so much better than a film that struggled to know what to do with them most of the time.
In stark contrast to both Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla vs Kong lacked the immense sense of scale that directors Gareth Edwards and Jordan Voigt-Roberts successfully brought to these characters.
To 2024 then, and the release of another Wingard picture, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. In spite of its ridiculous title, does this behemoth of a film manage to capture the essence of its two leading Titans?
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The world of cinema has always been fascinating, where imagination meets reality on a grand scale. Special effects (abbreviated often as SFX) have been an integral part of this world, pushing the boundaries of storytelling and visual spectacle for decades. From the rudimentary tricks of the early 20th century to the sophisticated CGI of today, the evolution of special effects in movies is a testament to human creativity and technological advancement.
This blog post delves into the captivating history of special effects, exploring the transformation of practical effects to the CGI evolution, and highlighting the role of VFX in film.
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Imagination is one of the foundations for establishing horror. Watch almost any horror film, and at some point, they’ll be a moment when it forces the audience’s imagination do the work.
In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho, it’s when Norman Bates looks into the camera with a menacing smile on his face, letting the audience only imagine what else he’s capable of. In John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980), it’s whenever the fog engulfs parts of the town and the audience is left to imagine what lurks within. Even indie horror film Skinamarink (2022) thrives from forcing its audience to imagine what the entity is stalking the children in the house by never showing and only implying. But what about a horror film literally called; Imaginary?
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What do you hear from your house? What noises can you identify from the outside? A dog barking? A lawn mower? Probably nothing beyond mundaneness of everyday life. Now imagine instead of those noises, you hear sounds from the Auschwitz concentration camp from 1943. That is the overall tone of director Jonathan Glazer’s new film, The Zone of Interest.
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As the glitter of the Oscars approaches on March 10th, there’s an intriguing conversation stirring among cinema buffs. It turns out that this year’s crop of films contending for the prestigious Best Picture award might just be testing the limits of moviegoers’ patience with their extended runtimes. With a majority of the nominees clocking in over two hours, including the highly favoured Oppenheimer, recent research brings to light some thought-provoking insights into our film-watching habits.
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As the great John Carpenter once said, horror is a universal language. We are all born afraid. Fear can be attributed to a lot of every day actions. We get to work on time in fear of being late. We attend social events in fear of missing out. Even those who have supposedly mastered fear still feel afraid. Batman fights criminals in fear of letting down the memory of his parents and his city. But what is it that people generally fear the most? What is it that keeps us up at night looking at that dark corner of our bedrooms? The unknown.
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