philipdustson Reviews

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Furiosa is way, way cool

[10/10 · 25 May 2024]

Epic AF! - it's a sort of side-quest film that takes place over years & years.

It's world building without calling attention to itself (because we're so honed in on Furiosa and her journey).

It's director George Miller taking a bit of a 'post-Fury-Road' victory lap...

... retracing his steps and shading in his canvas; adding more shadows, and allowing himself to embellish & letting his yarn gradually unfurl (in contrast to the franchise's leaner, hyper-edited previous installments).

Consequently (and, for myself, gratefully) we get even more of his endless rogues gallery of absurd/ grotesque/ tragic (etc.) Post-Apocalyptic characters.

It's sprawling, yet at the story's core is an elementally-simple dark-heart beat: a universal mythic tale of terrible loss and possible redemption (hopefully?).

A minor complaint might be that the film's CGI may have been a smidge too much on the 'uncanny' side of the valley; a minor quibble really when the craft is this impeccable.

Hemsworth is great as a sort of smarmy-anti-Thor.

& Anya Taylor-Joy kills it. She's brooding & silently-mesmerizing. She is the Road Warrior.

Napoleon (2023)

Cold. Magnetic. Fierce. Funny. Napoleon.

[9/10 · 23 November 2023]

A feast of a film. A glorious antidote to superhero fatigue. This might be Scott's grand exclamation mark in the twilight of his career. It's astonishing that he got this made in 2023.

In some ways this film feels like it might be to Kubrick's never-was 'Napoleon' project, what Spielberg's 'A. I.' was to its own Kubrickian roots.

Phoenix is definitely playing it in the spirit of 'Barry Lyndon' - he's doing the comedy-of-manners thing, and even letting his Joaquin-Phreak-Phlag fly high- I gotta imagine the three-stooges noises to instigate sex were strictly his improve.

Yet the battle scenes here, these are next level. These effects, these stagings - it's simply the best that practical & CGI have to offer in 2023 (or any year). This movie is a true marvel.

Ridley definitely deserves a place in the Oscar-best-director convo; I'd be as bold to say give Scott his long belated best director win this year. Keep Nolan hungry.

The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

It's about as good as the tv show (which is pretty d*mn good).

[5/10 · 11 October 2023]

'Exorcist: Believer' Mini-review (very minor SPOILERS)

Solid 3 stars out of 4 (*** out of ****)

NOT the disaster the 'movie-critic-dog-pile' would have one believe(r).

It's about as good as the tv show (which is pretty d*mn good).

That's what it really reminded me of:

A solid episode of the tv show.

It's a lot more contemplative than I'd thought it'd be.

Crafted in a near work-man-like fashion (with cinematic flourishes worthy of an auteur like David Gordon Green).

Pic's lacking the shear terror of the first film, as well as 'bug-nuts-factor' of parts two & three.

Somber & tragic is the pic's vibe.

It has some 'BOO!' moments that felt maybe added by studio notes.

Of note for the franchise's fanbase (of which I include myself):

Towards the end, we get flashes of a demon (similar to the Pazuzu face of the original), that are genuinely unsettling.

I gotta wonder if that is the demon of this new trilogy.

For those not invested in the 'Exorcist' franchise as-a-whole, it's probably a 'wait-to-stream' sorta thing.

REVIEW UPDATE!! (10/16/2023):

After reflection, I must augment my 'Exorcist: Believer' opinion

It's officially depreciated to '2 stars, maybe 1&1/2 (out of 4 or 5)' in my view

It's definitely the worst in the series

Not because it makes insane choices (like 'Hallow-Green', which imo worked to rejuvenate that series)

But because it makes safe choices, and is just kinda tepid and inert

There's definitely flashes of greatness, but not near enough

It will probably fluctuate upon rewatching

But i just didn't want hatemail in the future lol.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Nolan's Liminal Biopic (minor-spoilers)

[9/10 · 22 July 2023]

Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker of the liminal space. Uninterested in direct character study, or direct methods of filmmaking.

He allows muffled film dialogue to remain Un-ADR'd. He often resists using CGI to directly enhance his film's practical effects. His intense films often still fit the parameters of a PG-13 (instead of R-Rating), because neither grotesque minutia, nor explicit viscera, seem to interest Nolan.

Like the brutalist architecture of the 1950s, Nolan's films are stripped of the adornment & ornament that audiences have grown so accustomed to with modern blockbusters.

Because of this, criticisms of drabness, or too-talky (not enough boom-boom), are sometimes used against his films.

But for the Nolan apologists, these are features-not-bugs.

There's a moment in 'Oppenheimer', the movie, when a ship, felled by an explosive catastrophe, is discussed. We get a Nolan jump cut to the explosion. But instead of seeing a constructed film prop get blown sky high, we are only shown glimpses of immediate orange explosion. Nanoseconds of fiery debris, hurtling at us.

You see, with Nolan It's all about the space-in-between.

Between detonation & the fallout... Between haunted dreams & slippery reality... Between dogmatic allegiance & mere armchair theory... between blind patriot duty & self serving treason... the space between the subatomic particles; it's this liminal space that really fascinates Nolan, and it's the propulsion of, well, most of his filmography really.

'Oppenheimer', the film, is a near-psychedelic-collage-barrage that interrogates, with almost manic gusto, these in-between-spaces.

It's edited in a dizzying fashion, and it manages to maintain its propulsion for nearly its entire 3 hour run time.

It's a film that exists in a liminal space between biopic-prestige & edge-of-seat-popcorn-thriller.

Pic utilizes cinematic language of action films at times, as well as grace notes that remind one of a more impressionistic indie movie story telling.

It turns the historical character of Oppenheimer in to a morally complex sort of tragic super hero (similar to Nolan's Dark Knight films)-

At one point, titular main character, J. Robert Oppenheimer shrouds himself in military regalia, to better project the military might that is funding & building his top-secret, scientist-populated headquarters/village.

When a fellow scientist implores him to take off the silly uniform and be himself, Oppenheimer returns to donning his trademark fedora and a phallic pipe (the way Batman does a cape and mask, in Nolan's Bat-flicks), illustrating he truly is a man who lives in-between worlds... between duty-to-country & oracle-of-science.

So it's surprising-but-not-really that after the detonation-of-bomb/climax-of-the-film, Nolan still has another hour of storytelling for us (!!).

Nolan seems less interested in the bomb, yet utterly absorbed by the philosophical & political fallout that comes after the BOOM!

And so we get another riveting (or-tedious-your-mileage-may-vary) hour of kangaroo courts stuffed in to tiny government rooms; men sweating and cursing and scheming in shadowy offices and hallways; spousal argument that erupt in quaint art deco living rooms; ponderous conversations between scientists, pained by their unique burdens of having turned mind-bending abstraction in to world destroying realities.

And it's in these seemingly un-cinematic spaces, between the lines (read: reams) of dialogue - these spaces in-between explosion and fallout- these are where Nolan seems most turned-on and engaged.

If one can get into that space, one just may be utterly shaken. I sure was.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Pure Joy!! (low 'nutritional value')

[9/10 · 29 April 2023]

'Super Mario Bros.' 2023 is candy! It's pixie-stix, with the sugar going straight to the head. And that's ok! We all need a little candy every now & then.

I will say, on a technical level, this flick is the closest I've ever seen a video game movie come to emulating video game play. So if there is any ground being broken, I'd say SMB '23 excels there.

This would make a great double bill with the beautifully trashy, cult classic 'Super Mario Bros.' from 1993 (with Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, & Dennis Hopper), another delicious, zero-'nutritional-value' flick.

And that's the lovely part. As a 40 year old who grew up playing 8-bit, NES Mario, & who also saw the '93 'Mario' in theaters (and has loved it ever since), I love that I now have two really fun Mario movies to enjoy! What a time to be alive, haha.

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Fanaticism & Reason: a haunting and effective character study

[9/10 · 7 February 2023]

A huge step forward for M. Night as a writer & director. 'Knock at the Cabin' plays out like a REALLY intense stage play.

In his late-career, Night is figuring out surprising & organic ways to employ his never ending film thesis on 'coincidence-vs-providence' IN SERVICE of characters and story telling; INSTEAD OF the other way around (a sin his lesser films can be guilty of).

The performance really sell this flick. Bautista is really tapping in to a pained melancholy here that is award's worthy. Jonathan Groff & Ben Aldridge are really noteworthy as well. I really feel these performances should be remembered come next awards season.

In service to these excellent performances is Night's economical and nimble use of close-ups and tight editing.

It all makes for a haunting and effective character study on themes of fanaticism & reason in the face of the mortifyingly inexplicable.

Copenhagen Cowboy (2022–2023)

Neon Noir. Hypnotic. Harrowing.

[9/10 · 13 January 2023]

Brilliant.

Moody Anime vibes.

I just love Copenhagen Cowboy's (I hesitate to say) world building ...

Yet it is such a darkly rich, visually stunning world

And I don't mean 'world building' in a 'Star Wars/MCU' kind of way (per say), where the screen is overloaded of VFX; because 'CC' is so sparse in so many ways

But it's the camera angles and the depth of frame and the lighting, and the affect of each character and deliberation of the pacing... so glacial & so hypnotic...

Pure VIBES and Pure cinema

I'll also point out, that it is very cool to see the seeds planted specifically by David Lynch with 'Twin Peaks: The Return' (2017) are being watered here by Nicolas Refn. Very much so.

Halloween Ends (2022)

Love it or Hate it: A New Shape of Evil

[8/10 · 15 October 2022]

**MINOR SPOILERS** Many will hate this entry. I'm still processing it. However, one thing 'Ends' can not be accused of is same-ol'-same-ol'. This is possibly the best entry in the 'Hallow-Green' trilogy. This one takes original ideas/themes put forth by John Carpenter in Halloween '78 (as well as the first Part II from 1981, AND {honest-to-goodness} the underrated, Michael Myers-less Part III: Season of the Witch) - i.e. A vacant, human 'Shape', masking the abyss of true evil - and actually synthesizes them in to a NEW thing. A NEW face for evil. And, as I've said, most people will hate this movie because of that. I can't stop thinking about it.

The Munsters (2022)

Electro-Acid Kool-Aid Munsters

[8/10 · 28 September 2022]

Rob Zombie's 'The Munsters' is the kid friendly, Electro-Acid Kool-Aid version I was hoping for. I was grinning ear-to-ear the entire duration.

It should be said, it's never 'laugh-out-loud' funny. Then again, neither was the show when I watched reruns in the 90s as a kid.

Zombie maintains the show's enduring/endearing, lame-kitsch humor, and it actually adds to the movies's Groovy-Retro feel good vibes.

This movie is the early 60s Monster Mash song + the 70s Groovie Goolies cartoon + 80s/90s Misfits (the Punk Band) + A modern day, corny Spirit Halloween store = all mixed together in a nostalgic-psychedelic stew of tasty Halloween Festivity!

I saw a tweet that said the costumes should get an Oscar nod, and that is actually spot on. The sets & costuming are lovingly detailed & hand crafted. Movies don't look this practical any more.

Any harsh critic of this movie has gotta be a Halloween Scrooge with a heart of stone. Real craft & care went in to this movie & it's a real treat (with a few nifty tricks).

The Black Phone (2021)

'The Black Phone' has a delightfully 'SINISTER' ring

[8/10 · 26 June 2022]

*MINOR SPOILERS* 'Black Phone'; I'll say up top, Scott Derrickson is a director that I really admire. He's got the gumption & grit of a real DIY guy. I've been tuned into his career since his B-Movie/VHS days (Hellraiser: Inferno) ... and I'll say, his best work is when he's in the lower-budget, contained 'genre' zone ... This is a guy who just knows how to make really fun & really scary 'haunted houses'...

... and 'Black Phone' is def right in his sweet spot. It's his best flick since 'Sinister' (one of the few horror flicks that genuinely, utterly STILL creeps me out i.e. One of my top 10 'GOAT' horror flicks), and in a way it plays as a sort of spiritual sequel to that flick (much better than the forgettable 'Sinister II', which Derrickson didn't direct btw).

From the trailer I thought the 'Sinister' elements were going to be a tad on the shameless side. But no! Scott D. & (his frequent screenwriting 'partner-in-crime') C. Robert Cargill... these guys really took the essence, the magic of 'Sinister' and parlayed it into a fresh new thing.

They utilize the 'super-8-snuff-film' aesthetic that they perfected once before, and have actually fused it with (grafted it upon?) a honest-to-goodness Spielbergian/Joe Dante-esque plot schematic. And it's quite a riveting fusion.

Some may cry 'Stranger Things' are afoot, but you know what? Derrickson & Cargill pull it off in a more organic way... it's akin to 'Stranger Things', yet with out the constant 'NOSTALGIA-UP-YOUR-A*S' schtick that can sometimes overwhelm these late-70s/80s throwback extravaganzas. This feels much more grounded.

Oh yeah, the performances really make this pic hum. Ethan Hawk is doing a thing here that is very much in the wheel house of, say, Kathy Bates in her Oscar (*ahem*) worthy villainy in 'Misery' (after all, this flick is a chip off the ol' King's block, being an adaption of a Joe Hill story; google Joe). Simply put: Hawk is doing some of his best work ever here, no hyperbole. In a just world, his 'Grabber' character would be remembered come awards season. Fingers crossed!

The main child actors, Mason Thames & Madeleine McGraw, they actually give great grounding in yin-Yang contrast to Hawk's scene stealing Sick-o. Keep an eye out for these kids to be leading MCU movies (or something equivalent) some day soon.

An added bonus: even though 'Black Phone' is a period-piece, let's just say the flick packs a few gratifyingly cathartic, timely punches (like all great horror flicks) ...

Punching up towards a Bogeyman that, if ya squint, isn't far removed from a particular type of patriarchal monster trying to exert its ghastly dominance in our modern day. Timely indeed.

The Power of the Dog (2021)

The intoxicating Power of 'the Power of...'

[10/10 · 16 February 2022]

Damn. Power of the Dog. Funny enough, the most recent, comparable 'Oscar Flick' that comes to my mind is Todd Phillips's 'Joker' (a movie that I love tbh)

I see POTD as Jane Campion's dialogue with the likes of 'Joker', 'Taxi Driver', ''There Will Be Blood' etc. Campion's entry in to the 'Toxic Masculinity' Genre (if you will, haha)...

As well as ... Toxic family ties, toxic repression; toxic Americana... all explored.

Subversive. Dark. Twisty. Witty. I'm enthralled with this damn movie. Least 'Oscar bait', Oscar movie to come in a long time. 10 stars.

Dune (2021)

This is the 'Dune' we've been looking for

[8/10 · 28 October 2021]

Dune 2021:

TL;DR Pros: Awe inspiring! (mostly)

TL;DR Cons: Some curiously languid (almost inert) parts-

Over all: A monumental, singular achievement in popular filmmaking.

Longer Review:

See 'Dune' in a movie theatre (if it's safe to do so); it's a movie that practically demands to be seen on a giant screen.

Reminiscent of Peter Jackson's 'Fellowship of the Ring', in that I remember when I first saw that movie, I was ok with it being slowly paced, at times, because I knew it was setting up HUGE payoffs (and it did: not only in the Orc battle scene etc., but overall, the third LOTR film, 'Return of the King', was the best in that series imo).

Although I am a defender of '84/Lynch-Dune', 'Dune 2021' was made for a post-'Game of Thrones' audience.

For a lot of pic's running time, 'D21' really is the best of both worlds (almost a beat for beat remake of 'Lynch-Dune' at certain points; & at others, it quite stunningly fits as much of the Novel's mythos, as is possible in a mainstream pic of this scope).

However 'Dune 21' is more akin in tone to EPIC fantasy like 'Thrones' or LOTR, than it is 'hard' sci fi; it def has a lot more ponderous, somber moments than, say, Star Wars; yet, punctuated with some jaw dropping action set pieces! This approach - deliberate, ponderous pacing; punctuated with grand payoffs -is the style that the film's director, Denis Villeneuve ('Prisoners', 'Blade Runner 2049') does exceptionally well.

To Villeneuve's credit, he seems to honor all past 'Dune' iterations; including the Sy-Fy miniseries (which I also defend as being better than it's given credit for).

Yet 'D21' is more operatic than any of the previous incarnations; it's trying to sweep you up into the world of Arrakis (more than David Lynch was capable of doing; as interesting and as beautifully weird as his 'Dune 84' is).

The strength of 'Lynch-Dune' was that it got the psychedelic tone more correct ('D21' could stand to be a little bit more weird) -- but Villeneuve, I think, (and I'm just speculating because I've never made it all the way through the novel) seems to better understand the epic scope necessary to convey a Galaxy full of dynastic rivalries, class warfare & political conspiracy.

And BOY! Is this movie EPIC; in fact, 'Dune 21' is more reminiscent of Ridley Scott than even Villeneuve's own 'Blade Runner: 2049' was, ironically. Yet think more 'Gladiator' than 'Alien' etc.

For me, that's what Villeneuve brings to the table and is what totally justifies his take on the material: His approach to 'D21's' scope is just so theatrical and grand!

I really think this is the next 'LOTR' (for Gen-Y) - A populist movie series that will eventually sweep the Oscars and get non-sci-fi fans into the books/novels & the larger Dune-Mythos.

It's the anti-marvel movie btw. And that's a good thing. It's doing something really different than all the pulpy comic book stuff. It is a thinking person's sci-fi approach.

Halloween Kills (2021)

Pretty Good! (Pretty Flawed!!)

[6/10 · 20 October 2021]

'Halloween Kills' is a pretty darn good follow up to David Gordon Green's 2018 take on 'The Shape'. But it's definitely not a perfect film.

Pros: * The performances are top notch! Like the 2018 pic, the three female leads (Curtis, Greer & Matichak) continue to convey a realistic, traumatized tone towards the brutality. Conversely, Anthony Michael Hall chews the scenery in a most hammy fashion; he's great too!

* The Kills!!! Oh man!!!! This entry is BRUTAL in it's depiction of violence!! I'm a gore-hound so I was loving it, but the squeamish have been warned!

Cons: * The dialogue is VERY ham-fisted, on occasion. The script, overall, is pretty incoherent

* Pic does go into 'idiot plot' mode a little too often (characters splitting up when they should be staying together & wandering off alone)

Overall: David Gordon Green directs the hell out of this movie.

I like the 'indie'/mumble-core/character driven dramedy elements he brings to this franchise; a unique fresh, slant DGG brings not only to the 'Halloween' franchise, but to the slasher genre as a whole.

Over all, I was pretty darned satisfied and I look forward to the third & final installment in Green's Trilogy.

Malignant (I) (2021)

James Wan - Master of Horror Hall of Fame

[10/10 · 12 September 2021]

James Wan- my man! What a BOSS move of him. To cash in his blank check from Aquaman on this WONDERFULLY INSANE GROTESQUERIE!!!

Avoid spoilers!! Even though I "figured" out the twist halfway through, this movie still left me beaming ear-to-ear and truly gobsmacked with how FAR it's willing to go to the brink of WTF-ness!!

This is a modern day macabre masterpiece. Insanely violent! Scary! Funny! Wan is this new generation's John Carpenter. With 'Malignant', Wan has truly cemented himself as an all time great Master of Horror Cinema. Full Stop.

Old (2021)

M. Night In His Element

[8/10 · 23 July 2021]

MINOR SPOILERS! I'm an admitted Shyamalan apologist - however, I think this is his most widely accessible flick (for 'normies') since 'The Visit', the 'twist' is really that there isn't a huge 'twist' (I guess it depends on your definition) - it's a great thriller that has a great old school feel (pun unintended I suppose). Shyamalan let's a gaggle of great performances do a lot of the heavy lifting here. It's really pure cinema with a skillful director in his element, having a blast filming great actors, who all show up and lean in to the film's bonkers sci-fi horror elements.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga are Fantastic

[8/10 · 6 June 2021]

Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga once again bring their acting 'A-Game' to this consistently engaging franchise (referring to the 'Conjuring' films proper, not necessarily the endless spin-offs).

This third chapter really puts the Warrens front-&-center, and it's all the better for it.

As usual, the acting duo inject 'awards-caliber' craft into their portrayals of the married couple/ Demonologists. Wilson & Farmiga really deserve the lion's share of the credit for being the heart-&-soul of these movies.

They humanize the Warrens so expertly. They leave all the controversy surrounding the couple in-real-life 'at the door', and they play the Warrens as genuine 3-dimensional characters. If horror films of this nature weren't so looked-down upon by the industry, Oscar nominations would usually be handed out for the type of performance work they are doing here.

This third chapter plays out like a detective-procedural thriller and/or dark actioner (a cool pivot for the series imo) - it shows that these 'Conjuring' movies (similar to, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe) are somewhat mailable in regards to genre.

Hell, I'd be game for a movie that was mostly a Romantic-Drama, centering on Wilson & Farmiga's Warrens (with the paranormal activity toned way down).

Minor criticisms: it's not the scariest entry; and the 'final exorcism' scene in these entries are starting to feel a tad obligatory (as opposed to integral to the story).

However this is a finely crafted 'B-Movie' with A+ budget & performances, made with heart.

Of note: The cinematography & attention to early 1980s period details really add to an immersive, fun film experience.

Also - Even with James Wan stepping down from the camera for this entry, I still found the aesthetic, and the overall 'feel' of the film, very much 'of-apiece' with first two 'Conjurings'.

3 1/2 stars (***1/2) out of 5 (*****)