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Tag: Aaron Taylor-Johnson

QuickView: Nosferatu (2024)

Nosferatu posters

“Does evil come from within us, or from beyond?”

Ellen Hutter

I was surprised that an auteur like Robert Eggers would choose to remake an existing film, but unlike the plethora of creatively bankrupt recent remakes he has gone back 100 years to F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film, blending it with a dash of Tod Browning’s Dracula. The original Nosferatu adapted Bram Stoker’s novel for German audiences, but Eggers was apparently drawn to its story granting greater agency to Ellen, the female lead, in her ending of the vampire curse. His goal in remaking it was for the whole film to be told from her perspective, not merely the final act, and the physicality of Lily Rose Depp’s performance sells this choice. The city of Visburg remains Germanic but its inhabitants all have decidedly London sensibilities. There are some peculiarities in the casting that will amuse fans of vampire cinema — Nicholas Hoult switches sides from his recent outing in Renfield, while Eggers regular Willem Dafoe previously played a fictionalised version of the 1922 film’s star in Shadow of the Vampire. Eggers has always been inspired by older styles of filmmaking which he uses to craft atmospheric worlds, but here the storytelling feels as ponderous as it does ominous. The gothic visuals are sublime, like the black and white castle approach with Hutter a silhouette at a white snowy forest crossroad. Bill Skarsgård may be relegated to the shadows for most of the film but he embodies Count Orlok magnificently, from the asthmatic, rhotic accent to the spidery fingers and smooth movements, behind the most noticeable change to the iconic bald vampire — a bushy, Vlad Tepes moustache. Nosferatu is evocative and frequently absorbing but one is left feeling that Eggers is perhaps stronger without the unnecessary constraints that come with respectfully retreading old ground.

7/10

QuickView: The Fall Guy (2024)

“I’m not the hero of this story; I’m just the stunt guy.”

Colt Seavers

I have a soft spot for David Leitch, the stuntman-turned-director, who has produced some of the most creative and reliably entertaining action films of the last decade, particularly as the once-staple action comedy has fallen out of favour. Loosely based on an 80s TV show of the same name, The Fall Guy is an ode to Leitch’s former profession, with a stuntman reluctantly returning to work only to find himself immersed in real danger as he hunts for a missing movie star. The subject matter becomes increasingly meta as a number of action sequences flit between moviemaking stunts and the finished cinematic product, a further layer added during the credits which provide the film’s actual stunt crew with their moment in the spotlight. The heart of The Fall Guy is a love story, evident from the opening blast of “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”, which is used not only as a recurring needle-drop but woven throughout Dominic Lewis’s bombastic score which combines orchestra, 80s synth and rock. Ryan Gosling shines, by turns charismatic and jaded, with guileless sleuthing reminiscent of his role in The Nice Guys. Emily Blunt’s Jodie is more rounded than a mere love interest, her bitterness selling the romance as much as the pair’s chemistry. Meanwhile the supporting cast provides colourful caricatures of Hollywood archtypes. The acting allows us to buy in, but ultimately The Fall Guy is only as good as its action choreography — fortunately it delivers, from a checklist of classic action shots to fresh variations on familiar stunts with clever flourishes. This is all more than entertaining enough to overlook a few plotholes — expect to laugh and spend a significant portion of the two hour running time grinning inanely.

8/10

QuickView: Bullet Train (2022)

“Right on schedule.”

Prince

Bullet Train is a Tarantino-esque crime story that unfolds within the confines of a single train, populated by an ensemble cast of colourful assasins in the vein of John Wick. The ensemble cast excels in bringing these thinly sketched assassins to life, undermined only by some very dubious accents. Central to this is Brad Pitt’s charmingly hapless hitman-in-therapy, though Bryan Tyree Henry and Joey King are likely to be the most memorable. David Leitch’s action credentials are beyond reproach, having spent several decades as a stunt performer and coordinator (including as Pitt’s stunt double) before turning to direction with John Wick. He was apparently reluctant to direct this project because of the constraints in choreographing action confined in a train, but those restrictions can also breed creativity as we have seen previously in Snowpiercer and Train to Busan ⁠— such is the case with Bullet Train, and there is little sense of repetition in the kinetic hyperviolence until very late in the proceedings. The neon visuals of Leitch’s spy thriller Atomic Blonde also fit more naturally into the Japanese setting. The final element to holding the audience’s attention is the twisting story that gradually links the backstories of these assassins as they hurtle toward an ominous final stop in Kyoto. Along with Everything Everywhere All At Once, 2022 seems to be a welcome return for franchise-free action films and, in a quiet summer less dominated by superhero movies, hopefully Bullet Train will find the audience it deserves.

8/10

QuickView: Nocturnal Animals (2016)

“I guess it’s a way of keeping things alive. You know, saving things that will eventually die. If I write it down, then… it’ll last forever.”

Edward Sheffield

Tom Ford’s sophomore film is a haunting, contemplative concoction that trusts its viewers to keep pace. Although to a lesser extent that A Single Man, Ford’s designer eye remains clear in the way he frames and controls each shot. Amy Adams brings melancholy introspection to an unhappily married woman revisiting the past after her ex-husband sends a manuscript of his novel, dedicated to her. Excising his demons through a strange form of disempowered revenge fantasy, half the film is spent within this fiction, which opens with a harrowing sequence on a lonely highway at night. Although the second half is less visceral, it becomes a more intellectual study of strength and weakness. Through Susan’s memories and Edward’s fiction we see both ex-partners working through the mistakes of a failed relationship, which might finally allow for a reconciliation.

8/10

"A film is a petrified fountain of thought."

(CC) BY-NC 2003-2025 Priyan Meewella

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