Lost River (2014)

I added Lost River on my list years ago because of Saoirse Ronan but, I don't know why, I never cared to watch it. Probably because it sent me a negative vibe. 

Anyways, the film centers on Billy (Christina Hendricks), a single mother of two who has fallen behind on her house payments and may lose her home because of it. As a desperate attempt to save her childhood home, she takes a disturbing job into a macabre underworld. In the meantime, her older, teenage son, Bones (Iain De Caestecker), steels chopper from old houses to make some money and gets into trouble with a vicious local criminal named Bully (Matt Smith). 

Writing the synopsis doesn't feel like the most appropriate thing when it comes to Lost River because it would be assuming that the film has a narrative structure, which it doesn't. This is not the issue with the film though, the fact that the plot is dreadfully developed, that it feels dragged even though it's quite short and rushed, and that there are many elements that aren't explored as they should have, and it has quite an abrupt ending, these are the major issues with the film. And it's quite angering because it feels the story had so much potential but ended up being a dull, predictable tale with no compelling twist. 

As for the characters, the film does a nice job at setting them up and, despite their oddness, they never feel like caricatures. Unfortunately, they don't have a background, they have very little development, and they are not very memorable —they are pretty forgettable, actually. Also, I didn't care about any of them and felt absolutely no sympathy towards them.

Despite the lacklustre screenplay, the cast does a pretty good job. Christina Hendricks is quite impressive as the single mother, although she never gets the chance to shine as she barely has something to do; Saoirse Ronan gives yet another of her compelling performances in the role of De Caestecker's love interest; Ben Mendelsohn is clearly having a lot of fun in the role of a sinister bank manager and club owner who abuses his power and position; and Matt Smith gives a menacing performance as (the) Bully, a violent, creepy man with an unpredictable behaviour. 

Warner Bros. Pictures

The visuals are easily the best aspect of Lost River. At his directorial debut, Ryan Gosling proves he has quite an eye as the film is filled with stunning, artistic shots, vibrant colours, neon lights, and successful attempts of symmetry, all clearly influenced by Nicolas Winding Refn. The melancholic score is also quite mesmerizing and fits the visuals incredibly well.

Ultimately though, Lost River still remains a pretty shallow, empty film that prefers style over substance. It doesn't have much of shock value, it's just a Refn wannabe that never reaches its potential.

Captain Marvel (2019)

Although it took Marvel more than a decade to make a movie about a heroine —and they probably made it only because they needed her in End Game— and the web filled with negative reviews earlier this week, I'm a Marvel ho and I love Brie Larson and I'm also a woman so of course I went seeing Captain Marvel. And I had pretty high expectations about it, even though I was said to lower them. 

Set in 1995, the story begins on the planet Hala with Vers (Brie Larson) training with her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). They soon go on a mission to rescue an undercover Kree operative who infiltrated a group of Skrulls, shapeshifting aliens who have been fighting with Krees for centuries, but it turns out it was an ambush, Skrulls leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) captures Vers and tries to extract information. Instead, he revives some of her memories, she manages to escape and crashlands on planet Earth, where she joins forces with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to discover who she really is and to stop the Skrulls from getting an experimental engine designed by Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning).

After a pretty bad start —I don't know if it was just me, but the beginning was so tedious and uninteresting—, and despite the many plot holes and the fact that there's simply too much going on to fit in a two-hour film and because of it, it often feels clumsy and rushed, the story eventually becomes interesting and engaging and the major twist, while slightly predictable, is nicely pulled off.

As for the main character, there's something about Vers/Carol Danvers that didn't work for me. While I liked the way the filmmakers introduced her past —and I loved that she is just as clueless about it as us, the audience— and I adored Brie Larson's sassy and charming performance, I just didn't feel an emotional attachment to her. I rooted for her because I liked her, despite the character's striking arrogance, but when the film finished it felt like I still didn't know her. Also, her relationship with some of the supporting characters just didn't feel right —the friendship between Carol and Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) doesn't feel real; the relationship between Carol and Maria's daughter, Monica (Akira Akbar), on the other hand, feels way more genuine and warm.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The supporting characters, on the other hand, are quite interesting, specifically the twist they put on Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. He is not the serious man we saw in the previous MCU movies, he is more relaxed, trusting, and has this sarcastic attitude that fits Jackson like a glove. The Skrulls, despite their lack of everything really as they have no character, they are fun and Ben Mendelsohn is terrific as Talos and manages to give the character that complexity the script denied him.

While I wasn't a fan of the editing which at times reminded me of a Best Editing winner I do not want to mention, the special effects are great, for the most —the de-aging is really impressive and you would never notice it if you didn't know the cast—, the soundtrack is great, and the action scenes are quite good —I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but I liked that 90s spy movie vibe they have. Not to mention how hilarious the film is —there wasn't a lot of people at my 2:45pm screening, but it sounded like everyone was having a really nice time, adults and kids alike.

Animal Kingdom (2010)

Genre

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Director

David Michôd

Country

Australia

Cast

James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver, Joel Edgerton, Sullivan Stapleton, Luke Ford, Dan Wyllie, Anthony Hayes, Laura Wheelwright, Mirrah Foulkes, Justin Rosniak, Susan Prior, Clayton Jacobson, Anna Lise Phillips

Storyline

After his mother dies, seventeen year-old J Cody (James Frecheville) has no choice but to contact his maternal grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody (Jacki Weaver), who rules her criminal family with a borderline incestuos love over her three sons. Among blood brothers and blood, manipulated trial sand revenge served cold, J will soon lose his innocence.

Opinion

The extremely impressive debut from Australian director David Michôd, Animal Kingdom is a tense, gloomy, innovative and mesmerizing crime family drama.

In this bitter and dramatic film, Michôd tells the gangster life as if it was an animal kingdom, where the strongest, the one that eats the weakest wins, and also makes a criticism to those men - and women - who are neither men nor animals. He shows all this with a cynical eye, with no compassion, and wonderfully manages to convey violence without aestheticizing it. 

However, the moral condemnation aforementioned soon stops to make room for a world where no one is really good or bad. In fact, whether criminals or cops there is no difference: they all use others for their own ends. Only detective Leckie makes exception. 

Also, don't expect long shooting scenes, or robberies or car chases because there are none in Animal Kingdom, as the action is reduced to a minimum.

The films makes use of the minimalist synthesiser music from Antony Partos to create an air of dread and tension.

The cast is uniformly excellent. In his debut James Frecheville is basically a piece of wood as J (in a good way), he is in a constant catatonic state, seemingly frail and confused, Ben Mendelsohn delivers a convincing performance as terrifying psychopath Pope, Guy Pearce gives a wonderful and intense performance as detective Leckie, and Jacki Weaver gives a strong performance as Smurf, the matriarch of the family with the psychotic smiles.