La Guerra Civil (2022) - Sundance

Full Review: spoti.fi/3rBtV4g
2022 Ranked: boxd.it/eWCVi

LA GUERRA CIVIL is a solid sports documentary that manages to both introduce a lesser sport-savant like myself to the history of a sport that discusses the nature of heritage, belonging, and collective identity through two guys punching each other. What a knockout. 

For Mexican and Mexican American communities, boxing is more than a sport. From ring walk-ins to trunks, opponents take full advantage of the theatrical spectacle, narrating their histories and the stories of their individual fanbases. In 1996, Oscar De La Hoya, the charismatic golden boy from East L.A, challenged Mexican-born boxing legend Julio César Chávez in what was billed as the “ultimate glory” fight. Mexicans on both sides of the border were forced to choose their favorite champ: the record-holding immigrant from humble beginnings, or the younger and more marketable Olympian born in the U.S. These rivals felt the pressure to prove their athletic superiority, while the fans’ choice of champion revealed the type of Mexican they aspired to be.

Eva Longoria starts her feature film debut with a boxing documentary that is more about the Mexican identity than the sport itself. With traditional interjected sit-down interviews with both the fighters and other ‘witnesses’ of the time, LA GUERRA CIVIL doesn’t change the paradigm of documentary filmmaking. Nonetheless, the story is engaging with a closer look at how one can be rejected by their own heritage and people as the parasitic US identity poisons the sense of belonging and self-identity.
This inner conflict within Oscar De La Hoya doesn’t really get explored much though and we practically get a quite basic retelling of events in a mostly linear timeline. Now, this was great for someone like me - a Swiss guy in his 20s with no real interest in boxing - this was all news to me, but in saying that I realize that this documentary lacks a bit of depth in its processing of the dichotomous ideal Mexican identity in Mexico and the US.
When addressed, all we get is: Chàvez was idealized as he represents all the good Mexican values and De La Hoya does not. And both of them just kinda go: It is what it is. 

As a quick, bit-sized historic catch-up, LA GUERRA CIVIL does its job well but I doubt that it will do much for those already familiar with Chavez and De La Hoya.
The elements of the time-old story of a new challenger De La Hoya arriving and challenging the champion Chavez are framed in an exciting way and make for an entertaining watch.

6/10

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man No Way Home is like a thrilling theme park ride filled with references, action, and the one or other heartfelt moment that will resonate with not just MCU but just overall Marvel fans alike and sees Tom Holland fully come into his role in this third installment that somehow feels like an origin story.

Audio Review: spoti.fi/3sbEhdo
2021 Ranked

Welcome to this non-spoiler review of Spider-Man No Way Home. No worries, I will try my best to refrain from spoiling anything specific that happens in this film. However, everything that was shown in trailers already is fair game, so warning for those who really don’t wanna know anything before going in. But what are you doing listening to this review? Go see it! It’s literally out now. 

Anyways, this third or in some ways 8th installment in the Spider-Man saga comes from director Jon Watts who previously directed the first and second installment with Tom Holland as Peter Parker.

Taking place right after the end of Spider-Man Far From Home, which saw Peter being unmasked as Spider-Man by J. Jonah Jamerson, No Way Home wastes no time to get into its jam package adventure story. 
With an abundance of characters - new and old - to focus on, No Way Home can feel quite full at times, but it never runs into the issues that other overcrowded Spider-Man films like Spider-Man 3 or the Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

At its core, No Way Home is a huge fan service that packs an endless amount of references into 2 and a half-hour-long runtime, which makes for a very entertaining watch overall.
How you value and maybe appreciate these references and the all-too-familiar quippy comedic style of these MCU films is - as always - in the eye of the beholder. 
To me, although this is probably the first real Tom Holland, Peper Parker as Spider-Man centered story we get, when previously Tony Stark was quite a big preference in the first two - as an actual presence or in his legacy - it still felt like to me that we were slowly going down the list of things that needed to happen to this character.

This might be my own mistake for hoping to be presented with a movie that throws me for a few more loops and surprises than it actually did or maybe I’m just burned out from all the MCU and Marvel superhero content that I don’t care as much when Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin are standing in the same room.

Willem Dafoe - as always in whatever movie he’s in - steals the show with his performance and I was quite glad about his overall presence in the film. Apart from Tom Holland, he’s probably the person who manages to get the most depth out of their character, and with this story getting into the weeds of what it means to stand on your own two feet for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, there are numerous moments where Tom Holland gets to shine as well. 

MJ and Ned are also firmly implemented into the story overall and feel very involved in the over-arching story at large. The decision to focus so much on the high school lives of those characters and the attempt to ground them with their relatable and - in this world - smaller aspirations sometimes comes off a bit forced and unimaginative and lacks the scope of what I believe people would behave like in a world like this. Regardless, the dynamic of this trio is on point and even though I’m not a big fan of that quippy humor, they stick the landing more than not.

Another bigger character appearing in the film, Doc Ock, was heavily CGI-ed, not just in his physicality facially but also with his arms now being fully CGI instead of puppeteers like in Spider-Man 2. No Way Home has overall a bit of a gloss problem, where - I assume partly due to COVID restrictions but also just cause it’s easier now - practically every set feels very CGI. Even moments that are not action-heavy - which arguably aren’t that many, this movie is jam-packed with action - background feel weirdly fake and even some of the motion of characters in action scenes felt quite off. 

Another complaint I had was the frequent Deus Ex Machina way of solving hard problems, which are nit-picky in a sci-fi superhero universe, but still, a bit distracting from a narrative standpoint and are quite apparent ever since Tony Stark figured out time travel REAL FAST in Endgame.

I would love to get more into detail of moments that happen after the inciting incident, but those would definitely be spoilers but they are rather impactful for what’s to come in the near future of the MCU. If you want to hear my spoiler thoughts on No Way Home check out next week's episode on the Quiet On Set Podcast, where Lachlan and I will talk full of spoilers about the friendly neighborhood spiderman. 

Spider-Man No Way Home is like a thrilling theme park ride filled with references, action, and the one or other heartfelt moment that will resonate with not just MCU but just overall Marvel fans alike and sees Tom Holland fully come into his role in this third installment that somehow feels like an origin story.

7/10

The Unforgivable (2021)

The Unforgivable is a quite blatant attempt at using existing IP and notable, respected actors to push for the little golden boy. In that process, it fails to say or portray anything of substance.

Full Review: spoti.fi/3DGFVWd

2021 Ranked

The Unforgivable is a Netflix production from Nora Fingscheidt starring Sandra Bullock as Ruth Slater, who is released from prison into a society that won't forgive her past and she seeks redemption by searching for the sister she left behind. 
Also among that cast is Jon Bernthal and Viola Davis, in unfortunately underused roles within this rather dysfunctionally thrown-together mess of a film. 

The Unforgivable is clearly and quite transparently one of those productions that seek a nomination for its lead and maybe even some supporting players. Recently, Hillbilly Elegy comes to mind that puts amazing actors like Amy Adams and Glenn Close in a bad movie and gives them some ´acting´ moments to shine.
Bullock is no different in this, and I personally wouldn't consider her on the same level as Adams or Close, but more someone who I see chasing the little golden man ever since THE BLIND SIDE. 

Another factor is the story itself, a half-hearted attempt at telling a story of someone who is alienated by society because she murdered a sheriff. Now, this might be personal but I don't enjoy consuming media where policing is portrayed as this daily life and death job of high risk. Because that simply plays into the stereotypes of glorying police that we often get in movies. 
But even putting my own bias to the side, what we get is a melodramatic - but still - bland look at a person alienated by society.

At first, this film screams to be a ´based on true events´ type of film (which also plays nicely for the Academy - see Hillbilly Elegy) but it is rather an adaptation of a British 3 episode mini-series called Unforgiven from 2009. I have not seen that series, so I can't comment on how it compares to this 2021 film version.

What I can say though - and I´ve seen many other critics say the same thing - is that this clearly has the thematic depth of a mini-series that was now stuffed into a 2hr long film. 
Here, the issue of underused characters like Viola Davis´ Liz Ingram and Jon Bernthal´s Blake. 
Davis is probably hit the hardest from this, as she really hasn't got anything to do at all in the film apart from one scene where she gets loud. that's it. I won't be going into any spoilers in this review but even if I were - apart from her driving someone around - she really doesn't get anything to do.
Now Bernthal as Blake does get a bit more. He's introduced as a character whose intentions - apart from a romantic interest in Ruth - are somewhat unclear. Once we finally get around to getting something that could be potentially interesting through his backstory, he is completely shut out of the rest of the movie.

Instead, we focus on an idiotic, overdramatized, and a straight-up horrible third act that was set up - so incredibly obviously and without any sort of depth - by the two sons left behind from the dead cop. Their lines are just comical and feel like they were written by a kid doing a bit of quote-on-quote foreshadowing. It was laughably bad. 

But what do we actually get in The Unforgivable?
Although an attempt and showcasing the struggle to adjust to life after 20 years of imprisonment are tried, there´s close to no focus on Ruth´s struggle to find work - she actually finds two quite quickly - but instead, the narrative focuses more on her as this tragic character that has a lot of talents, like carpentry, which enables her to score a job. This sets up a theme of undercutting Ruth as a broken and flawed person and instead almost tries to redeem her and make her appear noble. 

Throughout the entire film, we are presented with flashes of flashbacks, setting this up to be a sort of thriller-like drama building towards a reveal. These scenes are also often realized in the simplest of ways by our characters remembering something in current them and a sort of flashback being provided. This gets stale and unimaginative very fast. It also grew more frustrating with me as Ruth in the current time wasn't really anything at all. She wasn't working on herself and simply had the mission to reunite with her sister. But apart from the shared tragic memory of the murder, there is not much more we get from those two characters as well. 

All in all, as you might have been able to guess, I wasn't big on Fingscheidt´s The Unforgivable. But to disregard the filmmaker entirely. Apparently her film from last year, Systemcrasher - which I have not seen yet but wanted to for quite some time - is quite great. 

The Unforgivable is a quite blatant attempt at using existing IP and notable, respected actors to push for the little golden boy and fails to say or portray anything of substance. 

3/10

The Humans (2021)

The Humans is a wonderfully captivating and devastating story of a Thanksgiving night filled with rich performances from every single actor in it. While not being conventionally shot and told, director Karem brings the best of his play onto the big screen or the slightly smaller screen to you at home.

Full Review: bit.ly/3dFaott

2021 Ranked

Transcript of audio review: 

Set inside a pre-war duplex in downtown Manhattan, The Humans follows the course of an evening in which the Blake family gathers to celebrate Thanksgiving. As darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare. 

THE HUMANS is a 2021 drama and adaptation of the play from Stephen Karam who also brings his play to the silver screen in his directorial debut.

Set among the cast are Richard Jenkins, Steven Yeun, Beanie Feldstein, Amy Schumer, Jayne Houdyshell, and June Squibb. And that's it. With its setting within a single two-story apartment in Manhattan Karam manages to make the blend between stage and screen seamlessly and often stages and shoots his scenes from a distance further away than other dramas would do. This might come off as alienating at first and refuses to make the process of caring for individual characters simple. But ultimately, that is all in service of the overall story, which is about a family gettogether and the underlying little notions of annoyance and disregard to deep feelings of empathy and love. Karam and cinematographer Crawling manage to pull the camera back further and create a captivating experience of constant perspective shift that emphasizes sound in particular.

As someone who doesn't mind the smaller scale that these stage adaptations inherently always have, The Humans doesn't let us escape from the duplex as well. We are stuck there like the characters, questioning ourselves and each other constantly and bringing the full baggage of rich family history. 

Although dramatic beats and resolutions are reached I never felt that it was all to serve a neatly constructed narrative and more to just observe this family gettogether forced upon them by the structure of traditions. 
This brings up another subject frequently brought up in the film, that being how to cope with life. and how unfair, lonely, and disheartening it can be. But instead of condemning any single character to be morally questionable, we get a full set of people all dealing with their own demons.

The Humans is a wonderfully captivating and devastating story of a Thanksgiving night filled with rich performances from every single actor in it. While not being conventionally shot and told, director Karem brings the best of his play onto the big screen or the slightly smaller screen to you at home.

My rating for The Humans is an 8/10 proved to be one of the strongest films of 2021. 

THE HUMANS is currently streaming on Showtime.

Halloween Kills

INT. HALLOWEEN: MICHAEL STRIKES BACK - NIGHT

Michael Myers is back and he’s mad as all hell.  I’ll start off by saying, I’m not a horror guy. The list of my favorite horror films is a small one: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alien, Midsommar. But for me, sequels that ‘bring the heat’ will always be rated higher. Halloween Kills is the Aliens in this rebooted trilogy. Spooky, tense, action-packed and it’s the sequel to a horror movie, after watching this movie you’ll see what I mean. Michael Myers is still the horror icon he has always been, but someone has been watching John Wick.

While Halloween (2018) might be the horror reboot, and the start of this trilogy. Halloween Kills, the ‘second act,’ as I’m calling it, shows us the terror/power Michael has, setting up the final battle between him and Laurie which we’ll hopefully see in Halloween Ends. Speaking of Laurie, she’s become the Sarah Connor of this universe, which we saw in the previous installment, but in this film, she’s the one on the sideline. Laurie is just spilling exposition, we often cut back to her telling another character how ‘Michael is “MORE THAN A MAN”, He’s transcending into something more’ speech. While many hardcore fans might be disappointed that she’s not going head-to-head with Michael again, I’m not, because this film isn’t about their epic battle. We learned what Laurie can do in Halloween (2018) and we learned what Michael can do in Halloween Kills. Setting up a massive conclusion for Halloween Ends. No pressure to the filmmakers.  

For those not enjoying this film, maybe not every ‘reboot’ should follow the same structure as the original (look at the latest Star Wars movies) Halloween Kills stands on its own two feet, it’s the action-horror it can and wants to be. Michael is terrifying, Laurie is a backbencher, Allyson takes the fight to Michael, legacy characters you’ll have to make your own opinion on, but I liked their inclusion.  If you want horror, it’s there, but go in wanting action and you’ll love it.  

Review on QOS Podcast: HERE
Halloween (1978): 46:42

Halloween (2018) / Halloween Kills

Non-Spoiler Review: 59:36 - Halloween Kills: 64:15

Spoiler Review: 67:38

Ratings: 83:49

The Green Knight (2021) - Quiet On Set Podcast Review

The Green Knight tells the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain, King Arthur's nephew who embarks on a venturesome quest to hold up his side of a bargain he made with The Green Knight.

Lowery takes us on a constantly morphing quest of Sir Gawain's self-actualization. When broken down the film is not much more than a long journey in which our hero has to face challenges to get to his destination. Now, what makes The Green Knight so captivating is that (minor spoilers incoming) at the end of his journey all that is waiting for him is death.

After reading up on the legend I realized that Lowery takes quite a few liberties to adapt this story to make it his own. What initially got me so interested in The Green Knight was the incredible looking cinematography. Especially in the first act of the story, which mainly takes place inside dimly candle-lit chambres in a castle, the screen is actually very dark. I can really appreciate a director's vision that does not shy away from creating a simultaneously authentic and stylized fictional world. Palmero, the cinematographer, manages to draw me in through the numerous still shots that last seemingly forever at times but work very well to support the theme of life as this agonizing force.

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Dev Patel as Sir Gawain

Further, colors are very purposefully used to support recurring motifs and themes. Most prominently green and red. Now with all the praise that I have given the film so far, I also have to mention that I often felt quite lost with what exactly was going on. On one side I am quite content having gone into this without knowing much of anything about the story of Sir Gawain, but at the same time, I felt lost a lot.

There were a lot of details I would love to pay more attention to on the inevitable rewatch, but for now, that is all I have to say about The Green Knight without going into spoiler and a full-on analysis.

I believe that much like The Lighthouse, A24 once again has a very polarizing film in its hands. Some people are going to adore it, others will hate it oh so deeply and passionately.

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Dev Patel as Sir Gawain

Dev Patel plays Gawain with a charming naivete as he tries to fit in and find his place in the world. All of the supporting cast from Vikander to Harris and Edgerton are phenomenal in their roles. I kinda quite put my finger on it but Ralph Ineson as the Green Knight is such an imposing force that cannot go unmentioned.

At the end of the day, The Green Knight was filled with riveting themes that have crept themselves back into my mind for the last two weeks. Nature vs. civilization, responsibility & integrity, and coming-of-age.

8/10

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Ralph Ineson as the Green Knight

Pig (2021)

INT. PORKCHOP – DAY

This film, like many others, has the potential to be a great movie, but it also has the characteristic of a flop. You have, first and foremost, Nicolas Cage. An actor who stereotypically doesn’t play tame, slow roles. You also have a very small budget with a very large-scale idea and, at least according to IMDB trivia, an untrained pig. If I told you these things without showing you a trailer or any screenshot of the film, imagine what that film would be.

That image in your head is from alternative universe because in this reality, it’s a fucking hit.

All the pieces are laid out and putting it all together seemed near impossible, there can be some pieces missing here and there however, the overall picture is clear.

Cage pulls out one of his best performances, one that doesn’t reach the same level as ‘Joe’ but comes very close. The smaller budget required excellent storytelling to be front and centre, and whilst originally having a runtime of two hours, cutting it down to the 90-minute runtime was again another very good move.

Cage is the glue to hang the picture on the wall. He captivates every scene he’s in, drawing me in with what mysteries he’s hiding. There were so many times I thought, this can’t be the same guy from, most recently, ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ (which I watched about 40 minutes of and had to turn off) or even ‘The Wicker Man.’ It is a brave performance, reminding me that we need to give this man another Oscar.

Alex Wolff holds his own too. Not his strongest performance to date, however I can see Alex rising over the next few years, after all every actor needs to have a fun role occasionally and Nic Cage has been doing fun roles for a very long time.

Finally, a word of warning, many of my friends who saw the trailer and read up about the film thought this would be a ‘Nic Cage – John Wick’ movie, and while yes, the trailer gives that vibe, it’s nothing like John Wick. So please, don’t go into this movie wanting that, you’ll come out disappointed. Go in expecting to see a well-crafted film and be surprised with the journey it takes you on.

Because honestly, if Nicolas Cage wanted his pig back, I wouldn't care who he is, I’m giving him his fucking pig back.

FADE OUT.