Anarchist_Rationale

Alex Garland, writer/director of Ex Machina , delivers another mature sci-fi film, this time about a platoon of scientist-soldiers sent in to investigate an area surrounding some kind of meteorite that is impenetrable to all scans and observations. Natalie Portman leads the all-female cast on a journey into surreal landscapes as they search for whatever lies at the heart of this zone called “the shimmer” and things take weirder and darker turns as the film progresses. I found a lot to like in the writing and the visual design of the film and I would have to say it’s good, but not great. First of all, I really do love the esthetics of the movie, very colourful and pretty but also very creepy and unsettling sometimes. The film has a nicely strange tone, approximating the constant disorientation the characters are subject to while inside the shimmer, with everything taking on a quasi-hallucinogenic prismatic aura. There is a lot of gory violence but I thought it appropriate to the s...

Writer-director Sean Baker weaves an extraordinary tale of childhood adventures amidst the poverty just outside of Disneyworld, Florida. It’s a story about irresponsibility, from the natural misadventures of children to the choices made by adults, but by staying with the kids almost exclusively, all the darkness and misery occurs on the periphery with the plot coming across only by inference. I found it captivating, unique, charming, sad, funny and very, very good. The focus of the film is almost entirely on Moonee, played charmingly by Brooklyn Kimberly Prince, as she runs wild with her friends from other families in semi-transient residence at the Magic Castle motel; these are the kinds of people who don’t own homes but aren’t quite homeless as long as they have the motel’s roof over their heads. The place is managed by Bobby, played with enormous grace by Willem Dafoe who ties the various stories together as some sort of father figure to all of these children, both young and a...

The latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson is a really beautifully shot and staged story about creative genius and masochistic relationships. It’s austere, sharp, and hilarious in places, which contrasts wonderfully against the brittle self-seriousness everyone treats themselves with. Great writing, great directing, great acting, great score – this is a great film. Daniel Day Lewis stars at Reynolds Woodcock, a high-class fashion designer in 1950s London. He’s a man of meticulous precision who must have absolutely everything in perfect order. The artist as obsessive control freak, though only over the creative aspect of his fashion house – his sister Cyril (a magnificently understated Lesley Manville) does all the book-keeping and hiring and firing of various staff and muses. Theirs is a peculiar brother-sister relationship which is discomfited by the arrival of a new muse, Alma (played by Victoria Krieps), who threatens to destabilize the carefully ordered universe in which they ...

First of all, I believe quality is quality, regardless of genre. I love movies of all kinds, but I have a special interest in science-fiction and fantasy. A great drama or musical will move me as well as anything else, but I like my entertainment to be imaginative. Most of all, I love how easily science-fiction and fantasy lend themselves to allegory and symbolism. Everyone has their biases. There are types of movies I cleave to and others that I tend to avoid. Quality always shines through, however, and while I may not generally enjoy westerns, for example, I do love Unforgiven . Similarly, musicals leave me cold most of the time, but I can never get tired of Grease . I like movies that transcend the boundaries of their genre; I admire the ambition to try and do something different. I think it’s the inherent challenges involved in mounting science-fiction and fantasy that make me favourably predisposed to anyone willing to try. I’m still ruthless about the whole, though: creation...