The Tender Bar: An Earnest An Emotional Performance From Ben Affleck Saves The Day

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young boy, played by Daniel Ranieri as a boy and Tye Sheridan as a young man, turns to his surly uncle, played by Ben Affleck, for life advise in place of his absentee father, played by Max Martini.

Not too long ago in a review I was saying about how actors who then become directors don’t usually end up becoming good at it, I even gave George Clooney, the director of this film, as an example and whilst this film doesn’t prove me wrong it does show a nice upswing for Clooney’s filmography and suggests that maybe there is hope for the actor turned director.

That is not to say this film is perfect, it really isn’t. From a structural point of view there aren’t any stakes, things just happen and then it is on to the next thing. I understand it is supposed to be autobiographical to some extent and life isn’t like a film there often aren’t great stakes and battles to be won, but this film’s narrative needed that. As it stands it’s just one thing then the next, happening one after another without any real consequence.

Furthermore, Sheridan was probably the wrong actor to cast for this role as he seems incapable of emoting. Mud was a good film, but Sheridan wasn’t the main focus there, however in everything that has followed wherein he is the lead he seems incredibly one note and like he is pulling the same face throughout regardless of what is happening on screen- this is true here, painfully so.

However, rather surprisingly this film is saved by an incredibly emotional and earnest performance from Ben Affleck. There are several moments in this film where I would say Affleck’s performance is worthy of awards consideration, one that springs to mind is the emotion on his face during his final scene in the film as he watches his nephew, who is basically a son to him, drive away into the sunset: his face is so full of emotion, happiness and sadness, pride and loss it is quite moving. Sadly, it also points out just how poor of a job Sheridan is doing.

Overall, there might be hope for Clooney yet if he keeps working with Affleck.

Pros.

The emotion

Affleck

It was well paced

Cons.

No stakes, things just sort of happen and then are moved on from

Sheridan

If you enjoyed this review, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Minamata: All You Need To Fight Injustice Is A Camera

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Johnny Depp stars as W. Eugene Smith a photo journalist who was pivotal in exposing the Japanese Minamata scandal.

There will be some out there put off by the fact that this film stars Johnny Depp, to them I will say he has not been charged with anything, though he is already cancelled and the masses online will form a pitch fork wielding mob if he stars in anything. If he is formally charged with something then of course my opinion will change, but for now the situation is murky and people are quick to cast the stone and ride the high horse.

Personally, I thought Depp was surprisingly solid here, his last few performances had begun to suggest he was losing his way and was maybe even starting to phone it in, however he is on strong form here and delivers a stirring performance.

I thought the film as a whole was haunting and brought light to a scandal many of us may not be aware of. It handles the drama and the emotion well and you become so wrapped up in the goings on that you want to go out and fight the injustice as well. I thought Ryo Kase was the scene stealer of the film and had many powerful scenes.

Overall, I think it is a shame that many will let their feelings towards Depp put them off watching this as it is a very powerful and needed film.

Pros.

Depp

The emotion

Kase

Cons.

Pacing issues

Bill Nighy seems miscast

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Red Rocket: Sleaze In The America South

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A retired porn star, played by Simon Rex, must move back in with his wife’s family as he dreams of ways to get rich quickly.

I applaud this film for giving us a complex lead, in many ways Rex’s Mikey is a deeply flawed individual as he is a predator and a user of people however he also has moments of warmth and the film kind of wants you to root for him whilst also criticising him. However, unlike in film’s of the past where the dirtbag protagonist seems to get away or even be rewarded for their actions here Mikey does face the consequences. It is nice to see a protagonist that is not cut and dry morally, it will upset some online for sure.

I thought for the most part the film was very engaging and kept a good pace, though I will say the start is a little slow, however by the time it hits the start of the second act the pacing is much better. Additionally, I liked the open endedness of the ending, in some ways it can be seen as a defeat for Mikey but in other ways it is more of an easy to overcome setback. I would like to see a sequel to see where the character goes from here.

Overall, a morally complex film which examines the underbelly of society.

Pros.

The morality

Rex

The ending

The supporting cast are all doing a good job

Cons.

A few minor pacing issues

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Dickinson: Overview

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Hailee Steinfeld stars as famed poet Emily Dickinson. However this is not wholly a period piece.

So as Dickinson draws to a close I am left divided. Torn. There were good elements here and a few episodes where the show really sung however, there was also a myriad of problems some of which only became more apparent and egregious as the series went on. As this is an overview of the show itself and all of its seasons I won’t be talking specifics about any one episode particularly instead I’ll tackle it more broadly.

I think the things Dickinson does right are two fold, firstly it taps into the immense talent of Steinfeld and gives her a lot of room to flex her acting chops and secondly it has a strong visual identity that lends itself quite nicely to the screen and leads to some very memorable moments such as when Emily takes a carriage ride with Death, played by Wiz Khalifa.

However, what Dickinson does wrong is largely down to the writing. Firstly the major issue with the show is that about a third of its episodes could be cut and it would make no real difference to the storyline of the show as there is so much filler that to chop it down would probably make it better, this show had no business being ten episodes a season. Secondly, and this one might be controversial, Dickinson is incredibly preachy, at times it gets to the point where it feels like the show is trying to shove the political agenda of it’s writers down your throat and that can of course be off putting.

Overall, I think this series is watchable but it could have been so much more if the political agenda wasn’t there and if the season were smaller perhaps five or six episodes so the writers don’t have to produce so much filler.

Pros.

Steinfeld

The visual style

It is watchable

Cons.

The preaching

The pacing

The humour never really landed for me

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

The Lost Daughter: Olivia Colman’s Unintelligible Trip To Greece

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Another actor who has achieved moderate success, this time Maggie Gyllenhaal, turns their hand to directing. The film follows a woman, played by Olivia Colman, who is not a natural mother and whilst on holiday becomes fixated on another woman’s life and family.

Being a well respected actor does not make you a good director, I feel this needs to be underlined. The films of George Clooney come to mind as I write this, with his directing fair ranging from passable to incredibly weak and pretentious. Gyllenhaal airs on the latter side.

The main reason this film has such a low score from me is because for the most part you will be hard pressed to understand what is going on without looking up the plot online. The way the film constructs its narrative is deeply flawed using flashbacks scattered in randomly which seem to contradict each other to try and fill in the back story, but again unless you look it up you are still unlikely to understand what is going on.

Colman is as good as ever, even if her character is immensely dislikeable but hey not every lead needs to be a good person or likeable. Colman seems to be having fun and manages to deliver a few funny lines here and there which help you to get through the rest of the film.

Overall, this is one that the Oscars Crowd and certain online critics will love and say is the best thing ever, but for most everyone else you will be left scratching your head and feeling like your time was wasted. I know I was.

Pros.

Colman

I liked Ed Harris but thought his character was not developed anywhere near enough

Cons.

The flashbacks

It is hard to watch at times

It doesn’t make sense

It drags on

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Wolf: Hungry Like The Wolf

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

George MacKay plays a boy who thinks he is a wolf and becomes committed to a cruel mental institution.

Honestly I was quite looking forward to this film, this was furthered by the trailers that made me feel this would be a very different film to the one we got. The one we got was simply depressing. The performances were good I suppose, though people pretending to be animals or in this case people who think they are animals is hardly the height of acting.

The film feels very much like art house horror, not too interested in scaring us or even giving us something to think about rather instead focusing on being pretentious and trying to deliver on a vague message which only the director really understands. It tries to subvert at the expense of any kind of logic.

Furthermore I would describe the film as quite hard to watch, it is about an hour and a half of watching disabled people being abused, I suppose that is the horror.

Overall, this film is depressing and pretentious in equal measure.

Pros.

MacKay

Lily-Rose Depp

Cons.

It is depressing

Paddy Considine has been better

It is pretentious

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Mass: An Uncomfortable Conversation

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two pairs of parents gather together to discuss the events of a school shooting and the impact it has had on their lives.

I thought this film did the impossible, it took a very serious issue, that is ever more in need of discussing, and treated it with respect whilst also not making the film emotionally draining, depressing or hard to watch. There certainly were uncomfortable moments as befitted the subject matter, but these did not dominate the film and the wider narrative was one of understanding, grief and the human experience.

At the centre of the film are four very good character actors delivering four very good performances. I would be very hard picked to say who was the best or who stood out the most, Ann Dowd brought a level of devastation to the role that was hard to look away from whilst Jason Isaacs leads some very powerful monologues and rants, everyone was superb.

The thing that held the film back for me was the pacing of it, for the most part the film flows well, however there are a number of scenes that drag on for too long, furthermore towards the end of the film some of the scenes start feeling like filler to pad out the films runtime. This for me really hurt the film, as if it had been about fifteen to twenty minutes shorter it would have gotten much higher.

Overall, a strong film in many respects but one that could have benefited from a tighter pace.

Pros.

The emotion

The performances

The conversation created, had and left open

Maintaining an optimistic ending

Cons.

Pacing issues

Some of the scenes come off as pretentious or worse yet one the nose

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Don’t Look Up: A Gender Swapped Trump

0.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of scientists and astronomers must convince the world that a giant asteroid is about to wipe them out.

This was a deeply unlikeable film it seems to be just over two hours of Adam McKay being smug. The runtime in and of itself is excessive and indulgent but that could be remedied if the film had something interesting to say, but it does not. The film makes a lot of rather obvious and on the nose political points about how Hollywood saw America during the Trump presidency, honestly all of these points have been made before and though the film gender swaps the president role it is incredibly obvious what it is trying to say. It is several years out of date.

Moreover, this is the big film that Jennifer Lawrence used as her comeback to acting, after to quote her ‘audiences got sick of her’, well that isn’t about to change anytime soon as her character here is incredibly annoying and is written as a one note flat character. Her character is given nothing to do beyond freak out, and that quickly gets tiresome. Furthermore, the film features Jonah Hill being equally as annoying, only the film doesn’t seem to realise this and instead thinks he is being hilarious and quick witted, not only does this film prove to you that Hill should stay in drama roles it also shows you how desperately this film wants to be something like The Wolf Of Wallstreet.

Overall, a smug film that is too busy giving itself a pat on the back to do anything else.

Pros.

Leonardo DiCaprio is trying his best

A few funny moments

Cons.

It is smug

It is incredibly on the nose

It has pacing issues

Lawrence is awful

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

Yes God Yes: Chat Rooms, The Portal To Self Discovery

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A catholic school girl, played by Natalie Dyer, learns the importance of self-love after she gives in to sin.

I thought this film was in many ways genius, I think for a long time the sex comedy genre has been heavily male dominated and in recent years we have seen more sex comedy films told from the female point of view and this is much needed, this is one of those films. I think it is important to do this to demystify ideas around female sex and masturbation and in many ways these have been stigmatised within society.

I would say the film is funny about three quarters of the time, not every joke lands but enough do that it still works as a comedy. In terms of the dramatic elements I think the film does a good job of making us see the repressed world of this catholic school girl just looking to explore her sexuality and shows the adversity she faces.

Dyer does a good job here and does more than enough to distance herself from her other role of Nancy Myers on Stranger Things, I think there is a believable naivety here and a believable innocence that really plays into the performance and makes it seem more genuine.

Overall, an important film for many reasons but one that doesn’t totally stick the landing.

Pros.

The female focus

Demystifying female sexual experiences

The jokes

The ending

Cons.

Not all the jokes land

Pacing issues, it may have worked better as a short

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer

The Last Train To Christmas: Ruining An Interview By Urinating On The Tape Recorder

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Tony Towers, played by Michael Sheen, is a club owner on the verge of bankruptcy, however when he enters a train that allows him to travel to other decades of his life he tries to change things in order to be a success, however, as he does this he realises what really matters to him.

This was a powerful film; I know the above summary might make the plot sound a bit generic but trust me it really isn’t. As Tony begins to learn that his success comes at the cost of his brother’s, played by Cary Elwes, physical and mental health and then tries to save him it hits you like a ton of bricks. The bond between these two characters is incredibly strong and Sheen and Elwes play off each other really well over the course of the film.

I found the morality of the film and the impact of Tony’s choices to be fascinating and not go in a way that I was expecting. I thought the ending of the film felt incredibly well done and earned, the one thing that bothered me about it though was that the two didn’t talk, I felt like this was needed for us to know that Sheen’s Tony had been truly successful.

Overall, potentially a new Christmas classic.

Pros.

Elwes

Sheen

The emotion

The morality

Cons.

The ending

https://www.patreon.com/AnotherMillennialReviewer