Rocketman

If there’s one thing the movie industry is good at it is noticing a slight trend and then trying to capitalise on it. Even though an Elton John biopic has been in the works for years, the success of A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody made for promising signs of it being a hit. Bohemian Rhapsody, despite its success, certainly has its very vocal detractors who despised the director and hated how the film depicted Freddie’s sexuality by either straightwashing him or depicting it in a way people found grossly offensive. It seems unlikely similar criticism would be aimed at Rocketman because it is one of the very few mainstream Hollywood productions to feature gay sex. Rocketman’s higher rating allow it to be more explicit allowing it to provide at least some of the action that alluded the Queen biopic.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

There’s a morbid and macabre aspect of humanity that enjoys true crime, particularly that of serial killers. You can probably name quite a few from John Dillinger to Harold Shipman, but almost everyone in America, and most parts of the Western world, can name Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy’s name has found itself back into the public consciousness following two highly publicised films/documentaries on Netflix about the notorious serial killer.

End Game (Spoilers)

 

SPOILERS

How do you review a film that is so dependent on one having seen (at least most of) the previous films of the MCU? How do you review a film that is so dependent upon you loving and caring for characters for you to get the most from it? All films are like this, but with Endgame, the most highly anticipated movie this century, this is so much more pronounced. There’s no point going into Endgame as a newbie. We have spent ten years (more for comic book fans) getting to know these characters and they mean a great deal to a lot of people. Stifled sobs were heard frequently throughout the screening, but none were coming from me. Despite seeing all but one of the MCU I still never felt love for the universe.

Thursday Movie Picks #251: True Crime

 

People love true crime, particularly women. Maybe it’s because they empathise with the victim (which are mostly women) or they prepare themselves for the worst (considering woman are most likely to be victims of serial killers). Maybe some women do empathise with the victim, but I still feel there is that element of excitement that draws women to the genre. Like so:

These types of films have been subjected to criticism for glorifying the killer and neglecting the victims. This leads me on to the next two films.

The Shining

You can draw so many theories from The Shining that you can write a book about them. You can certainly make a documentary even if some the theories are so crackpot that even Alex Jones would be sceptical about them. The tiniest detail from the carpet patterns to the Apollo 11 jumper Danny wears is dissected to an inch of its life and provided as evidence for their own personal and overreaching theory.

Shazam

Between DC and Marvel the latter has always come out on top as DC’s darker more brooding tone was successful with a great filmmaker like Christopher Nolan behind the camera, but the other films like Suicide Squad, Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman were not successful in trading off humour for a more darker tone. It worked well with Wonder Woman because of Patty Jenkins deft touch but with Aquaman and Shazam there has been a much more apparent slide towards humour than a dark atmosphere and Shazam is DC’s most light-hearted film of recent times.

White Crow

 

Ralph Fiennes foray into direction started with a modernized adaption of a lesser known Shakespeare play, Coriolanus. In between this and his latest effort (White Crow) was a rather unextraordinary effort about Charles Dickens, but his latest effort is notable for Fiennes working in another language, albeit one he speaks fairly well. Still I can’t think of many British directors that make films in a different language.