The Paperboy (2012)

Despite my aversion for Matthew McConaughey —the less I see of this guy, the better I feel— I watched The Paperboy anyway because it has Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman peeing on his face and genitals and I wanted to see what he did to deserve that. 

The story follows an idealistic reporter, Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey), who returns to his hometown when Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) asks him to prove that Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack), the man she met via letters and whom she is in love with, on death row for the murder of a sheriff, is innocent, and drags his college-drop-out younger brother, Jack (Zac Efron), into the investigation.

It's not the first time I see a "let's prove this man is innocent before he's executed" story on screen, but The Paperboy sure knows how to stand out from the crowd as it's very different from anything I've seen before. Unfortunately, the story is rather confused, it feels dragged and, as it progresses, it becomes less and less interesting. Also, there are many pointless subplots that kind of get in the way and distract from the main storyline.

The characters aren't much better. They are quite contrived and bizarre, they lack characterization and development —the film is filled with one-dimensional caricatures—, and they are unlikeable and difficult if not impossible to sympathize with. I didn't even care about any of them, except for Efron's Jack, who sadly isn't much more than a horny young man, and yet you care about him because he's about the only innocent person in here. 

Despite this, the actors, at least some of them, still manage to do a very good job and make The Paperboy a little more bearable. Nicole Kidman is great as Charlotte Bless, an ageing bimbo/nymphomaniac/slut who has formed a relationship with a convicted man via letters, John Cusack is pretty creepy in the role of Hillary Van Wetten, the man on death row, and Zac Efron does a pretty good job as the innocent, inexperienced Jack. As for McConaughey, he is completely wooden. 

Millennium Films

The acting, however, is not enough to conceal how trashy The Paperboy is. It just deals with racial and sexual contents in a stupid, soap-opera-like way, and there are some scenes that are beyond uncomfortable to watch, and I'm not talking about Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron, but Kidman tearing the crotch from her tights so that John Cusack could masturbate in front of everyone else.

The Stepford Wives (2004)

I don't know if you've noticed but I've been watching a lot of crappy movies lately because I'm too lazy to pick movies so I watch whatever trash Netflix suggests me. The Stepford Wives is one of those movies and I gave it a chance because of Nicole Kidman. 

Based on Ira Levin's novel of the same name, the story follows Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman), a successful TV executive. When she is fired and has a nervous breakdown, her husband, Walter (Matthew Broderick), decides to move the whole family from Manhattan to a community in Stepford, Connecticut. There's something weird going on though as their female neighbours are a bit too perfect and the men just seem to sit around in the men's club all day. 

The problem with The Stepford Wives is that the writer had no idea what he was doing. As a result, the plot doesn't make a lot of sense —if the chip is implanted in the original, what's the point of a body double?—, the twist is given away almost immediately, and the ending which was changed to please the audience couldn't be any more unsatisfying —that final twist is quite surprising though because of the direction the story was going up to that point. It's also rather confusing as one moment it says men are evil and the next one it says that women are just as evil, if not even worse. That being said, I still found the story enjoyable enough to keep watching. 

Just like the plot, the characters too are flawed. Actually, they are quite the mess as they lack characterization, backstories, and development. They don't even have a reason to act the way the act. And some characters you cannot help but hate, like Joanna's husband —and I'm still trying to figure out whether he's beyond dumb or just a man. Others, you don't know whether to laugh about or feel sorry for. 

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Surprisingly, considering the lacklustre script, the cast does a pretty good job. Nicole Kidman is very good as Joanna and really makes you root for her. Glenn Close is brilliant as Claire Wellington, the head matron. Bette Midler is fine as Bobbie Markowitz, a writer who befriends Joanna. And Christopher Walken makes up for the horrible performance by Matthew Broderick. 

Ultimately, The Stepford Wives is not a great film as the tone is often too light for the material and the message changes throughout the film. However, it's an enjoyable flick that will make you have a few good laughs. 

Destroyer (2018)

One of the last few remaining 2018 films on my watchlist —some of those are nowhere to be found so expect my list soon—, Destroyer ended up on my radar because of Nicole Kidman's highly praised performance which got her a Golden Globe nomination.

The film tells the story of now-alcoholic LAPD detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) who, seventeen years ago, was placed undercover with a veteran partner (Sebastian Stan) and infiltrated a vicious gang of bank robbers led by Silas (Toby Kebbell), a master of manipulation. When Silas reemerges, she is forced to reopen old wounds and face her demons. 

Destroyer's is a story that develops very slowly, convoluted when it doesn't have to be, less intriguing and interesting than watching raindrops race on a car window despite its twists and turns, and whose use of flashbacks to help unfold the mystery only makes the whole thing more disconcerting and confusing.

The characters are another disappointment as they lack characterization and development, especially Toby Kebbell's Silas who comes off as one of the less interesting, blandest villains ever as he is just a creepy weirdo with an intense stare. The biggest disappointment though is the leading character, Erin Bell as she isn't anything we haven't already seen before, a self-destructive —more like already destructed— wreck —emotionally and physically— who only cares for booze and revenge and doesn't seem to have any positive feelings, not even toward her teenager daughter who is becoming the woman she already is. It's not the already-seen that bothered me about Erin though, but the fact that a detective with such erratic behaviour is still on duty and still trusted with a gun.

Despite the not so good writing, Nicole Kidman finds a way to shine nevertheless. After a strong performance as a protective mother in Boy Erased, and a sweet and emotional one in Aquaman, she gives what's easily her best performance of the year as well as one of the best performances of her career. Almost unrecognizable under the makeup, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her intense and emotional performance really grabs your attention and she delivers the character's pain and bleakness wonderfully. How she lost to Close at the Globes or was snubbed at the Oscars is the greater mystery.

Annapurna Pictures

The supporting cast is obviously overshadowed by her, but a few actors still manage to leave their mark, them being Sebastian Stan as Erin's partner Chris, Toby Kebbell as Silas and Tatiana Maslany as Petra, one of Silas's gang.

Ultimately, Destroyer delivers compelling performances, a moody and quite stylish cinematography from Julie Kirkwood, and good makeup. Unfortunately, the story isn't interesting, the pacing is often too slow, and the relationship between Erin and her daughter isn't given the attention it needed and feels like a distraction.

Boy Erased (2018)

I was very looking forward to seeing Boy Erased as it deals with a very difficult and important subject and has many good actors —Nicole Kidman, Lucas Hedges, Joel Edgerton, who is also directing, and Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment.

Based on Garrard Conley's memoir of the same name, the story follows Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist preacher (Russell Crowe) and a religious woman (Nicole Kidman) in Arkansas. When he comes out as gay, his parents send him to a church-supported gay conversion camp to cure him of his homosexuality.

This is arguably an important story that needed to be told as people need to be aware of the existence of these camps and what people had to go through because of them —sadly, some people still firmly believe you can cure homosexuality with therapy. The problem with Boy Erased is that the storytelling, although non-linear which should make things more interesting, is dull and not so compelling. In addition, Edgerton doesn't do an excellent job at capturing the horrors of those places —they don't look that bad at times— and the over-dramatization gives you the impression of an Oscar-bait movie.

The characters are a hit and miss too. While Lucas Hedges gives a nice performance as Jared, capturing to perfection the young man's bewilderment but struggling a lot when it comes to delivering the sexual conflict within him —the performance falls a bit flat because of this—, the character of Jared isn't particularly interesting. Actually, he couldn't be any more uninteresting. The father, although he doesn't have a lot of depth nor development and Crowe's performance is forgettable to say the least, is by far a more interesting character. The mother, on the other hand, is compelling as she is the only character that shows some growth —while at the beginning, she hardly does anything to protect her son from her husband, at the end she finally fights for her son and shows how much she loves him, no matter what— and Nicole Kidman's performance is quite extraordinary, especially when it comes to delivering the inner struggle of a woman torn between her husband and her son.

Focus Features

As I mentioned above, Joel Edgerton's direction fails to deliver the horrors of conversion camps, but at least he handles the heavy topic with sensitivity, in a respectful manner. And yet, he failed at making me feel anything, which left me speechless considering the subject. The cinematography is also quite dull and mute, and the score often feels inappropriate and manipulative.

Dogville (2003)

As I've said the other day, my resolution for 2019 is to watch all those movies I've been meaning to watch since always but kept putting off for a reason or another. Dogville I put off because of the length and because, being honest, you have to be in the right mood to handle Lars von Trier. 

The film focuses on Grace Margaret Mulligan (Nicole Kidman), a beautiful young woman on the run from the mob who seeks refuge in Dogville, a small mountain town with a tight community of people who look after each other. The residents are reluctant at first, but, persuaded by the town’s philosopher, Tom Edison Jr. (Paul Bettany), they agree to hide her. In return, Grace agrees to work for them but nothing comes without a price and soon the people of Dogville begin to abuse her.

It’s a very simple story that appears calm, harmless, almost boring at the beginning, but, little by little, if you have the patience to stick around, the plot begins to develop and it slowly turns into a cruel, often unbearable story —I should have seen it coming as to shock the audience is typical of von Trier but the dramatic turn the story took really caught me by surprise— with a brilliant, astonishing twist at the end that will take your breath away.

It is a story rich with themes of arrogance, indifference, hypocrisy, greed, desire, mistrust, punishment, death and love. It is a story about power, corruption and corruptibility —power corrupts and the more the power the greater the corruption, is the film’s statement—; it is about human nature and morality, a portrait of America, but also of the entire world. In other words, Dogville contains misanthropy towards all humans.

The characters aren’t particularly three-dimensional people and don’t have much personality as they all are symbols that represent the dark side of humanity, but the time von Trier takes to set them up allows them to be entirely credible. The town of Dogville can also be considered a character as it is its small area that really helps to convey the hostility between the human characters.

The cast does a wonderful job —Nicole Kidman is magnificent as Grace; she brings so much vulnerability and fragility to her young, naïve character. Great support is provided by the supporting cast, Paul Bettany and Patricia Clarkson delivering the most powerful performances of the bunch. John Hurt does a marvellous job narrating as the narration is amusing and very moving.

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What stuck with me the most about Dogville is the style. The film is void of any visual constituents of a film; it is indeed set on a theatre stage with almost no props. There are no buildings, no plants, no animals, only drawings on the floor. It has no backgrounds —it’s black or white depending on the time of the day. The characters open and close invisible doors, they talk about non-existent objects. This is what truly made Dogville work for me. The very minimalistic stage magnifies the town’s residents’ interactions with Grace, they make their emotions more palpable as it allows the camera to linger on the actors’ faces without any distraction whatsoever. It’s the style that allowed me to fully immerse into the story, to experience everything event as if I was part of the story.

Ultimately, Dogville is a very long film —a nearly three hours—, and it’s often difficult to watch but it’s worth the effort/time as it is one of the most brilliant and unique films I’ve seen. 

Aquaman (2018)

I love superhero flicks but usually, I'm more excited about MCU than DCEU as the latter often turn out to be not so good while the first, while pretty much all identical, are entertaining. It's different with Aquaman. I was over-the-top excited about it —entirely because of Jason Momoa at first; also because of James Wan after watching some of his horror flicks. 

The story follows Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the son of a lighthouse keeper, Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison), and the princess of Atlantis, Atlanna (Nicole Kidman). When he learns that his half-brother, Orm Marius (Patrick Wilson), seeks to unite the seven underwater kingdoms to declare war to the surface world, Arthur must step forward and fulfil his destiny of becoming king.

The plot is rather thin and predictable —aren’t most of superhero origin stories, though?—, it doesn’t always make sense —actually, it’s straight stupid at times, like when Arthur lifts a church’s wall to free a man and then the guy runs away like nothing had happened—, it isn’t always consistent with the events of the other DCEU movies and some things are left unexplained —what’s the story behind Arthur’s tattoos?— and yet it manages to be an engaging and compelling story that, unlike most if not all superhero flicks, addresses, even if in a shallow way —it’s still a superhero movie—, a real-life issue, ocean pollution.

Unlike the story, which is very easy to follow, the characters can be a little confusing at times as they are poorly introduced and it isn't always easy to understand what's the connection between them, especially if you are not familiar with the Aquaman comic books. Also, they feel rushed and because of it, I didn't care much about the romance between Arthur and Mera as there isn't much of an emotional connection between them. The main villain, however, Arthur's half-brother, is such a good one as he is moved by actual motives—he blames Arthur for their death of their mother and wants to declare war to humans because they are destroying his home, the oceans.

The cast really elevates the film. Because of Jason Momoa who brings to the character tons of charisma, Arthur is a very compelling and likeable lead. He is not a guy to make fun of which often happens in pop culture; he is strong and brave and he can beautifully pull off a cocky attitude while still remaining very likeable, a character you care about and root for. Nicole Kidman does a wonderful job as Atlanna and her serious approach to the character, along with her chemistry with Momoa, delivers the a sweet, heartwarming and kind of moving moment. Patrick Wilson does a nice job as the entitled King Orm and makes it even harder to root against him. Amber Heard, on the other hand, gives a pretty weak performance as Mera.

Warner Bros. Pictures

It's visually though that Aquaman truly blew me away. The cinematography is gorgeous —some underwater shots are breathtakingly beautiful—, the special effects are solid —the underwater hair looks goddamn awful though— and the editing is top notch. The visuals don't lose a beat not even when it comes to the action, which is always exciting and entertaining. The soundtrack is also pretty beautiful and, fight me, I dare you, Pitbull's Ocean to Ocean is great.

Sure, it's not perfect but it's easily the best, funnier and most entertaining superhero flick of 2018. Again, fight me, I dare you.

The Others (2001)

There's a song by an Italian rapper which spoils the ending of some of the films with the most shocking twists. I love that song but it spoiled several films for me —The Sixth Sense, The Prestige, The Game (which I'm yet to see), and The Others. This is the reason I've been putting off this film, hoping that I would eventually forget about the twist. I realised that, unless I hit my head really hard, I will never forget it so I finally watched it. 

Set around the end of WWII, the film follows Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) and her two children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), who are both allergic to sunlight. They live alone in a mansion on a British isle as the husband and father (Christopher Eccleston) is yet to return from the war and the housekeepers have mysteriously vanished. Suddenly, three friendly caretakers, an old lady, Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), a mute young girl, Lydia (Elaine Cassidy), and a gardener, Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes), arrive, strange events occur and Grace begins to question her sanity.

It's a simple ghost story that manages to build up mystery and suspense and differentiates from most ghost stories because of the twist at the end. However, because of its simplicity, it's a story easy to figure out as it soon becomes obvious that the new housekeepers are ghosts and therefore Grace and her children are too, and it gets boring, almost excruciating to sit through the film waiting for the twist which, by the way, is brilliantly delivered and shocked me even though I knew it was coming. Also, what's up with the subplot about Grace's husband? Am I the only one who didn't get the reason for him appearing and disappearing like that? To me, he felt unnecessary as he has no impact whatsoever on the plot. 

Considering how slowly the plot develops, I was expecting the characters to have more depth. Unfortunately, with the only exception of Grace, I found them to be pretty one dimensional. I didn't feel much for them, I simply didn't care for them. 

The cast, however, does a wonderful job. Nicole Kidman gives a very strong performance as Grace Stewart, a religious, over-protective mother on the edge of sanity. Not only she nails the English accent, but she also conveys an incredible array of emotions and the hint of psychotic hysteria in her eyes is just unbelievable. Fionnula Flanagan is fantastic and creepy as hell as Mrs. Mills and Alakina Mann is terrific as Anne, the stubborn daughter who keeps seeking dead people.

Warner Sogefilms, Dimension Films, Mars Distribution, Lucky Red

While Alejandro Amenábar's script didn't fully convince me, his direction worked much better for me. He was able to deliver the same dark, eerie, haunting atmosphere from start to finish through the dark lighting, the brilliant cinematography and camera angles, the thrilling musical score, and the fantastic settings. In other words, The Others isn't the type of film that needs special effects or gore to give you the creeps, and thankfully it doesn't have either of those. 

Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

Since it's listed as a horror and it has a very interesting cast --Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong--, I picked Before I Go to Sleep as one of the movies to watch this October (I'm doing 31 days of horror).

The film follows Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman), a forty-year-old housewife who wakes up every day with a stranger in her bed, her husband Ben (Colin Firth), who explains to her that she had a car accident ten years earlier which resulted in a brain damage that erases her memory when she goes to sleep. One day, when Ben leaves for work, she receives a phone call from Dr. Mike Nasch (Mark Strong), a neurologist who is apparently treating her, who reminds her to record her thoughts and daily progress on a camera and instructs her to not tell her husband. Soon, she starts discovering the truth.

If that sounds familiar to you, it's not because you've already seen Before I Go to Sleep but because you've probably seen the 'main character suffering from short-term memory loss who investigates and can't trust anyone' film by antonomasia, Christopher Nolan's brilliant Memento. Unfortunately, it's not only the familiarity that makes the plot uncompelling but the way it unfolds and develops --I'm not sure who I should blame for this though, the filmmakers or the writer of the novel upon which the film is based. Anyway, it slowly takes you to the twist, a twist you've been waiting for and expecting since the beginning and it's therefore predictable, but, like I said, the story is told in such a way that it doesn't come as a shock or surprise.

The flat, unexciting plot isn't the only flaw in the script as the characters are just as terrible. They have no sort of development and the characterization is poor, to say the least. On the bright side, there are very few characters.

Despite the poor script, the three main actors do a good job. Nicole Kidman, whose botox injections made her perfect for the role as she looks dead inside, gives a convincing performance as Christine. Some facial expressions would have been appreciated though. Colin Firth isn't given much to do but he does a good job as the loving husband. Mark Strong easily steals the show with a very ambiguous performance as the doctor who is treating Christine.

Clarius Entertainment, 20th Century Fox

Unfortunately, getting emotional and believable performances from the actors is the only accomplishment of director and screenwriter Rowan Joffé. He completely failed at setting the right tone and atmosphere --the film indeed lacks tension and mystery. It doesn't work as a psychological thriller and certainly doesn't as a horror. It could work as a drama but, again, the flat, emotionless approach doesn't allow it.

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

There's something I've noticed over the past months as I started watching more musicals and reading what other people think about them; most of the time, people either love them or hate them. Moulin Rouge! too has such a divided audience, and, curious to see where how I'd feel about it, I decided to watch it.

The film is set in 1889 and tells the story of Christian (Ewan McGregor), a young English man who moved to Paris to pursue a penniless career as a writer. Once there, he meets a group of Bohemians, led by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who tells him he should write a musical show for them to be performed at the Moulin Rouge. While in the process of selling the show, Christian meets Satine (Nicole Kidman), the night club's star and courtesan, and falls for her. She eventually falls for him as well but the club's owner, Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), is planning to sell her to a Duke (Richard Roxburgh) who will help him turn the night club into a theatre only if he can have Satine.

It's definitely not very original and pretty clichéd as it's your typical poor poet loves girl but girl belongs to rich man kind of plot, and it's also rather simple and predictable, but frankly, I didn't really care as Moulin Rouge! is not one of those movies who has to rely on twists or a sophisticated plot to engage and entertain its audience.

One of the many aspects the film heavily relies on is the cast. Although the characters lack characterization and development which makes it kind of hard to develop an emotional attachment to them (I didn't think I had any, to be honest, but, as the film was coming to an end, I realised that I really was rooting for Christian and Satine), and most of them don't really have a reason to exist other than for the sake of appearing in the musical numbers, the actors do a wonderful job and give the characters much more dimension and depth.

Ewan McGregor is great as Christian, the romantic and naive man who falls for the Moulin Rouge courtesan; Richard Roxburgh as the evil Duke and John Leguizamo as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec both bring to the film the right amount of comic relief; Jim Broadbent is menacing enough as Harold Zidler; it's Nicole Kidman though that simply steals the show. Her Satine is very sensual and seductive but, at the same time, she is very vulnerable and fragile. Her chemistry with McGregor is beautiful and their voices complement each other.

20th Century Fox

Another of the reasons why Moulin Rouge! works is that it is a musical. The dancing is frenetic and outlandish, and, although I didn't find some of the choreographies to be particularly memorable, it's very entertaining. And the music, oh, the music! Buz Luhrmann made some sort of musical collage with songs from Madonna, Elton John, David Bowie, and more, and it works and makes for a quite an emotional ride even if listening to the soundtrack alone.

At last, Moulin Rouge! is visually stunning. The cinematography, the editing, the production design and sets, the costumes and makeup, they all contribute to making the film a colourful feast for the eyes.