Oppenheimer (2023)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
CAST: Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh
REVIEW:
Ambitious director Christopher Nolan has called Oppenheimer—-a biopic of the “father of the atom bomb”, American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, largely working off the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin—-his most challenging project to date, but while its ambition and technical accomplishments are admirable, Oppenheimer like Interstellar and Dunkirk before it also falls victim to some of Nolan’s increasingly self-indulgent less admirable qualities. There are any number of flashes of greatness and strong moments and performances in the mix, and moments that are unsettling, poignant, and thought-provoking, but Oppenheimer is not all that it could have been.
Continue readingInception (2010)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, Lukas Haas, Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite
REVIEW:
Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige) reportedly spent ten years writing his screenplay for Inception. Watching the film, one can see how it might have taken so long. 
Some will no doubt find Inception confusing. It definitely is not a movie where you can take a trip to the restroom, and requires a commitment of close attention and concentration, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. Continue reading
Red Eye (2005)
DIRECTOR: Wes Craven
CAST: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays, Jack Scalia
REVIEW:
Red Eye belongs to that specific subgenre of thriller that takes place (mostly) in one confined setting, and also to that of the “Fridge Movie”, where the filmmakers try to keep the level of tension and engagement high enough to distract from plot holes and the underlying flimsiness of the screenplay. Alfred Hitchcock is perhaps the most iconic filmmaker to color within these lines, and widely-regarded as the most masterful at it; Hitchcock was not above working with scripts riddled with plot holes, but overcame them at least in the moment through sheer directorial prowess. Wes Craven’s Red Eye does a serviceable, if not superlative job at this; running a breezy hour and twenty-five minutes, it’s a brisk, economical battle of wits and wills between two characters, but while there are times when the tension is sufficient to distract us, there’s other times when the seams in the storytelling are too evident. Nonetheless, for those who aren’t too critical, it’s nothing particularly ambitious or original, but a tense little thriller that serves its purpose as a breezy diversion.
Continue reading28 Days Later (2003)
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle
CAST:
Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston, Noah Huntley
REVIEW:
Hailed as one of the most frightening movies ever made, 28 Days Later is one in a long series of films addressing mankind’s fear of and fascination with the end- a catastrophic apocalypse that nearly wipes out the human race, but in a different vein than most. Director Danny Boyle’s and screenwriter Alex Garland’s vision of the end isn’t nuclear war or environmental disaster, but disease, specifically a genetically engineered virus known as rage. One drop of infected blood and the victim is almost instantly driven into a berserk frenzy by uncontrollable rage. This leads to it generally being considered a zombie movie, but this isn’t your daddy’s zombie movie, where the decaying walking dead somehow manage to get the petrified victims despite moving like molasses. The zombies here are fast, vicious predators, the characters are three-dimensional individuals rather than cardboard zombie food, and the filmmakers supply a little depth alongside scaring the living crap out of the audience. The result is that rare breed, a film that is both smart and scary. Continue reading