Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, Rupert Grint
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 100 mins

Knock At The Cabin is the latest by M. Night Shyamalan, whose once tarnished career is happily back on an uphill trajectory. A high-concept apocalyptic horror adapted from a novel by Paul G. Tremblay, the film follows a family of three on holiday in a remote cabin. Seven-year-old Wen (Kristen Cui) is catching grasshoppers in the idyllic woodland surrounding the cabin when she is approached by a stranger Leonard (Dave Bautista) who tries to befriend her. It’s unclear whether Leonard is a trustworthy or unsavoury character until three other people holding makeshift weapons enter the picture. Wen and her fathers, the calm Eric (Jonathan Groff) and fair but short-tempered Andrew (Ben Aldridge) are suddenly held hostage by the group. They demand the family sacrifice one of their own to prevent an apocalypse. 

Knock At The Cabin is another excellent thriller from Shyamalan – it’s a taut, intense ride while also being thought-provoking. This is not the first time the director’s explored the end of the world and this is a significant step-up from both After Earth and The Happening. Although the premise plays to Shyamalan’s strengths, as you’d expect he doesn’t do things by the book. The film does an excellent job of leaving you guessing the fanatical group’s motive – is the world really about to end? Are they telling the truth or are they suffering from some kind of psychosis?

Shyamalan really makes the most of the mostly single location – the film doesn’t feel stagey and it’s beautifully shot by Jarin Blaschke, collaborating with Lowell A. Meyer. Shyamalan has said that Blaschke is responsible for the interior shots, with Meyer shooting the exteriors. The film has an earthy, biblical aesthetic on the outside and Blaschke prioritises natural light in the cabin. Mainstream newcomer Herdis Stefansdottir’s score is also very effective at creating a sense of foreboding and full of moody portent. 

The cast are uniformly excellent. This may well be Dave Bautista’s best work yet, who is fantastic as the hulking yet polite Leonard. Kristen Cui is extraordinary as the seven year old, deftly balancing the line between the sponge-like brain of a child soaking her surroundings while having to face sheer horror. Ben Aldridge also makes quite the impression as Andrew, with a reason behind his seemingly short fuse and Abby Quinn is the highlight of Leonard’s supporting trio. 

I wish Knock At The Cabin had a little more ambiguity though. Films such as 10 Cloverfield Lane, for example, take longer to reveal their hand and better develop the ensemble. A slightly longer run time probably wouldn’t have hurt the breakneck pacing of this film to care for the characters more and Shyamalan shouldn’t have felt the need to answer almost every question with a definitive answer. 

Despite tackling uncomfortable subject matter, the film is surprisingly mostly bloodless. Although showing isn’t always the best par for the course, arguably the film would have been better for it to burn a horrific image into your mind. Perhaps Shyamalan did this to symbolise the camera as being Wen’s point of view, given her eyes are covered during horrific acts.

Knock At The Cabin is ultimately another success story for Shyamalan as he continues to right the wrongs of his previous career slump. This is a chilling and intense ride from start to finish and although it’s not perfect, Shyamalan’s ambition, the committed performances and the visual execution of the film are very admirable. This is a strong film to start 2023 on. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 117 mins

The Whale is the latest by Darren Aronofsky, his first film since mother! which proved divisive. Aronofsky is one of my favourite directors, his films are always ambitious, often exploring themes of religion and the extremity of humanity. The Whale is an adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 play and follows a morbidly obese English teacher, Charlie (Brendan Fraser). He has eaten himself to this state following the suicide of his partner. Charlie is on the brink of congestive heart failure and refuses to go to hospital. He is cared for by his friend, Liz (Hong Chau) and wants to restore his relationship with his prickly teenage daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink). 

The Whale is an emotionally powerful experience with a terrific performance from Brendan Fraser. Aronofsky beautifully explores the relationship between a father and his daughter and there are many touching moments focussing on Charlie’s outlook of life. I walked out of the film grateful and determined to further my relations with others and to always be positive. Yet, the film deftly conveys Charlie’s pain and hopelessness and it becomes inevitable early on that he is on a path of self-destruction. The way in which Aronofsky portrays binge-eating is particularly harrowing – like Requiem For A Dream will make you never want to touch drugs, The Whale is the equivalent for food. It wouldn’t be an Aronofsky film without the exploration of religion and the events on-screen are interwoven with religious parallels and texts, which lend a pathos to Charlie’s situation. 

However, The Whale isn’t Aronofsky’s best work. The film is limited by the fact it’s mostly set in one location and that gives the film a stagey quality. In some ways, the material almost seems as if it is beneath Aronofsky but he manages to really elevate what could have been a pedestrian adaptation. 

Fraser is terrific and fully deserving of the Awards attention. He deftly balances the positivity Charlie has to others, such as encouraging characters to fulfil their ambitions, and his dark, depressed and reclusive internal thoughts and outlook on his life. Charlie is an individual at the end of the line, unable to walk unaided and sweats just shifting his mass on the sofa. 

Hong Chau also puts in a barnstorming supporting performance as Liz, who has an honest and stern personality but equally struggles not to feed Charlie’s bad habits. Sadie Sink is suitably spiky as Charlie’s daughter and her performance is devastating the way in which she treats and speaks to her father. Ty Simpkins is also unrecognisable as a missionary and gives an earnest performance, an impressive transformation from some of his childhood roles such as Insidious, Iron Man 3 or Jurassic World.

Matthew Libatique’s cold and claustrophobic cinematography is excellent and he makes the most out of the single location. The film has a suitably frosty colour palette. The Whale represents the second time Aronofsky hasn’t enlisted Clint Mansell’s services for the score, which is instead provided by Rob Simonsen. Simonsen’s score is magnificent and particularly memorable, skilfully balancing happiness, melancholia and pain.   

Although The Whale overall can’t quite break free of its stage-like quality, it’s still an emotionally thrilling rollercoaster with an unforgettable performance from Brendan Fraser. Aronofsky’s fingerprints are all over the film and there’s plenty of meat on the bone to the story. I came out deeply moved and although it would be very easy to label the film as emotionally manipulative, I found The Whale to have a satisfying weight and outside of Fraser’s performance, it stands up on its own as an engaging piece of cinema. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle, Judd Hirsch
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 151 mins

The Fabelmans is a coming-of-age drama directed and co-written by Steven Spielberg, representing a passion project for the revered filmmaker. The film is a semi-autobiographical tale loosely based on Spielberg’s adolescence and burgeoning career. Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle and Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord in his younger years) is taken to see his first film at the cinema, which has a traumatic yet extraordinary effect on his childhood. Sammy, his mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and and three sisters regularly relocate around the United States due to his father, Burt’s (Paul Dano) work. As Sammy grows up, so does his talent and hunger for filmmaking, and not always to his benefit. 

The Fabelmans isn’t quite the masterpiece some have professed it to be but it’s certainly a profound and candid effort. If you’re a film fan, this semi-autobiographical tale will definitely resonate in places. Sammy’s love of the medium sometimes usurp his commitments to his family and relationships, and Spielberg deftly explores how filmmaking can consume an individual and how one needs to be reminded that your close ones are more important. It’s beautifully shot by Spielberg-regular Janusz Kaminski, although the film is a tad overlong. That said, it really nails its last half an hour or so.

Gabriel LaBelle’s is excellent as the older Sammy in what his highest profile role to date, following a small role in The Predator. Michelle Williams also makes quite the impression as Mitzi, who’s stuck between a rock and a hard place in her love life. Paul Dano is the standout, however, a scene late in the film where he calms Sammy after he experiences a panic attack is easily some of the best acting of the year.  

The Fabelmans is a tender reminiscence of Spielberg’s childhood and although it would benefit from tighter pacing, it’s a warm and personal experience with some excellent performances. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li
Certificate: 18
Run Time: 189 mins

Babylon is an epic comedy directed by Damien Chazelle that chronicles Hollywood’s transition from silent to sound films in the late 1920s. I’ve had a mixed experience with Chazelle’s filmography. Whiplash is one of my favourite films of the 2010s, I couldn’t understand the praise for La La Land and I admired but didn’t love First Man. Babylon largely follows three leads. Brad Pitt plays Jack Conrad, a successful silent film star and Margot Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actress desperate to make her mark in Hollywood. Diego Calva plays Manuel ‘Manny’ Torres, a Mexican immigrant who is happy to work on any job in the film industry. Throughout the film, the characters journeys interweave, mere cogs in the Hollywood machine. 

Babylon is a return to form for Chazelle and is an ambitious, heady study of the history of cinema. It quite literally details the blood, sweat, tears and sheer luck needed to succeed in Hollywood and the strenuous work required to even film a single scene. Chazelle’s approach is unapologetic –  this is a sprawling, loud film that revels in excess be it through drink, drugs or discharging of bodily fluids. But it’s also regularly profound with characters wholly aware their Hollywood career has an expiry date. Although Chazelle’s view of the Hollywood studio system is critical, his passion for film as a medium is evident throughout this three hour plus extravaganza. 

The set pieces are lavish and memorable, Baz Luhrmann-esque in their construction and colour palette. The film is sumptuously shot by Chazelle regular, Linus Sandgren and the operatic, jazz-infused score by Justin Hurwitz is terrific. Chazelle also wrote the script, which is generally smart and sharp, although the humour doesn’t always work. 

Brad Pitt clearly enjoyed his time on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and is reliably excellent in the lead role. He balances humour with melancholia beautifully, although his character is very different from his Oscar-winning film. Margot Robbie, who is also a OUATIH veteran also gives a strong performance, LaRoy desperate for stardom at any cost will do anything to stand out in the crowd, such as publicly fighting a rattlesnake. Babylon is Diego Calva’s highest-profile film to date and he is surely destined for great things. His performance is effortless, from Manny starting the film transporting an elephant to a party to having a sizeable influence on Hollywood productions. 

There’s also some excellent performances from the supporting cast. Overlord’s Jovan Adepo shines as a jazz trumpeter and Li Jun Li as a Chinese-American lesbian cabaret singer. Lukas Haas and Flea are other highlights, as is Tobey Maguire as an eccentric gangster in a jarring but chilling sequence. Even Eric Roberts is decent as LaRoy’s bumbling idiot of a father, his first good role in years. 

Babylon aims high and ultimately succeeds. The mixed reviews are understandable and coming into the film with an appreciation and knowledge of the Hollywood studio system will likely make for more of a profound experience. Chazelle is back at the top of his game – this is a film that only an auteur director would be allowed to make. Babylon is an unapologetic, sugar-rush of an experience and I hope the mixed reception doesn’t discourage Chazelle from taking ambitious risks. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 139 mins

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story is a murder mystery sequel to 2019’s Knives Out and once again stars Daniel Craig as southern-fried detective Benoit Blanc. Knives Out attracted a very positive reception, performing well at the box office and Netflix quickly paid close to $500 million for the rights to churn out two standalone sequels. This is the first of them and sees Craig reunite with Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. I wasn’t as hot on Knives Out as others and found its second half frustrating and its final twist obvious. 

Craig’s detective is the only common denominator between the two films, with Johnson assembling a totally fresh ensemble cast so you don’t need to have seen Knives Out to enjoy Glass Onion. The mystery is set on a lavish, private Greek island this time around, home to tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton). He has invited Blanc, alongside with some of his friends to take part in a murder mystery-themed weekend. This expectedly takes a dark turn to reality and Blanc gets to utilise his sleuthing skills. Johnson sets the film in the height of the coronavirus pandemic and Bron bears many uncomfortable similarities to Elon Musk.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story showcases both Rian Johnson’s best and worst qualities as a director. There’s a lot of fun to be had and Johnson takes some risks, although some aspects of the storytelling are rather clumsy. On a first watch, the first hour seems rather insignificant but Johnson re-contextualises its events in the second half. Its tone is rather boisterous and I didn’t particularly resonate with any of the contemporary quips. Generally, there’s an empty and vapid quality to Glass Onion, despite being lushly shot by Johnson-regular Steve Yedlin.

There’s some fun performances – Daniel Craig is great again as Benoit Blanc and of the rest of the cast, Janelle Monáe and Dave Bautista are the other highlights. Monáe’s given quite a meaty role and Bautista’s men’s rights YouTuber plays to the actor’s physical strengths. There’s a fun cameo too from Ethan Hawke, which I had hoped would amount to more. 

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story isn’t as much fun as its predecessor, which I also found to be overrated. That said, it’s a diverting enough escape this Christmas and I admire Johnson’s ambition to attempt to further deconstruct the murder mystery genre, even if the finished product isn’t particularly accomplished. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 192 mins

Avatar: The Way of Water is the long-awaited sequel to Avatar, which set the box office charts alight becoming the highest grossing film of all time. It’s also director James Cameron’s first film since the 2009 original and he plans on releasing three further sequels. Although Avatar opened to a relatively strong critical reception and was technologically impressive for its time, it’s fair to say the film is rather lacking in the story department. Despite finding it overrated, Cameron undeniably directs the film with flair and at least in the first half of the film, his exploration of the human to avatar body experience is interesting. 

Avatar: The Way of Water relocates the action from the forest to the water. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and family come under threat from humanity after living peacefully with and leading the Na’vi. They have no option but to relocate to Pandora’s coast where the Metkayina community give them refuge. There, they must the learn the way of the water (yes, really). 

One of the reasons why the film has taken thirteen years to reach the screen is due to the complex nature of filming the cast underwater in performance capture. With a staggering estimated budget of $350 – 460 million, does Cameron’s sequel right the wrongs of its predecessor when it comes to story while blending impressive visual effects?  

Unfortunately, Avatar: The Way of Water is a severe let-down and sadly builds upon the flaws of its predecessor. Although there’s clearly a lot of visual creativity, surprisingly there isn’t a single memorable shot in the film. This sequel essentially repeats the original’s story but transposes it to a new environment. Whilst a lazy route to take, the crucial aspect of a human piloting an avatar body is missing this time around which is the lynchpin the first film had to its enjoyment. There’s murmurs of Cameron perhaps trying to explore interesting themes, such as the decline of the world’s oceans as a result of global warming and mass farming, but they’re all watered down by the film’s other flaws.

The script is particularly poor, with Cameron regularly resorting to characters using 80’s slang like ‘cuz’ or ‘bro’ to communicate with each other or shouting “Woohoo!” in sequences that are designed to excite. Surely cinema is passed this? The action sequences are on the whole underwhelming, with characters constantly getting captured.

Surprisingly, both Sully and Neytiri have next-to-no character development this time around. In fact, this is symptomatic across the board. There’s barely any meat to the bone on any of the couple’s children and none of the new characters are memorable. Both Cliff Curtis and Kate Winslet have little to do, despite high-profile casting. Sigourney Weaver returns in a new role as Sully and Neytiri’s adopted daughter, mothered by Weaver’s scientist in the first film. It’s a staggeringly poor performance and the character is simply incredibly annoying and unreliable.

Arguably, it is Stephen Lang’s returning villain that (but surely unintentionally) gets the most meaningful arc. On that note, there’s always a problem of bringing back characters believed to be dead as it lessens the stakes (not that there were many to start with).  

The problems of the film are further exacerbated by the fact it’s 192 minutes long. Cameron could have easily told this story in a more watertight 2 hours. It’s unrelentingly long and it goes nowhere. The third act climactic fight takes forever to finish and the film takes an age to end. 

Simon Franglen replaces the late James Horner for the score and it also isn’t particularly memorable, Franglen simply choosing to ape Horner’s work rather than develop it. 

For some, Avatar: The Way Of Water may be visually exciting but it’s a thunderously disappointing sequel that doubles down on the problems of its predecessor. It’s a chore to sit through as the simplistic story doesn’t warrant the extended running time and there’s next to no character development. Audiences may have been tempted back for this sequel to experience what they’d believe would be a visual extravaganza and it will be interesting if the turn-out will be quite as impressive for the third film, given this film’s flaws. 

⭐⭐ (Poor)

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 160 mins

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is an epic Mexican black comedy drama from director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu. This is his first film since taking the Best Director Oscar for The Revenant. The film follows journalist Silverio Gama (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) as he faces an existential crisis, with scenes not appearing to follow logical cohesion. 

Bardo is a rare misstep for Inarritu – a mostly bloated and self-indulgent 160 minute slog. That said, it’s not entirely without merit. The first twenty minutes are thought-provoking, especially an early sequence where a baby decides he doesn’t want to be born and wants to head back into his mother’s womb as he declares the world is a mess. Silverio also envisions a reenactment of the 1847 Battle of Chapultepec, which Iñárritu deftly brings to life. 

Beyond the first twenty minutes, the film is packed with symbolism. A scene with Silverio conversing with his father is interesting as Silverio’s body is shrunken to that of a child but maintains his adult face. 

Iñárritu interrogates the notion of national identity as Silverio often travels between Mexico and the United States but doesn’t feel as if either is his true home. An exchange between Silverio and a border security officer is particularly fiery, as is a sequence of historic atrocities in the middle of a Mexican square. 

Daniel Gimenez Cacho gives a committed and personal performance and the film is lushly shot by Darius Khondji, a departure from cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. The score by Bryce Dessner and Iñárritu also has some bright spots. 

Although an explanation is provided in the final twenty minutes regarding the disjointed storytelling and the film coalesces to a profound ending. Although, it’s too little too late. Bardo certainly deals with some inspired material and has some great moments but Iñárritu needed to be reigned in with the runtime and storytelling for this to better work on the screen. 

⭐⭐ (Poor)

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz, Mark Rylance
Certificate: 18
Run Time: 130 mins

Bones And All is the latest by director Luca Guadagnino, a romantic drama infused with cannibal horror. Guadagnino has experienced a solid career thus far – I really enjoyed A Bigger Splash. Call Me By Your Name brought him awards attention, a sunsoaked homosexual coming-of-age drama that propelled Timothée Chalamet into the limelight. Although the film received mixed reviews, Guadagnino showed real ambition with Suspiria, which for my money bettered Dario Argento’s original. Guadagnino reunites with A Bigger Splash and Suspiria writer, David Kajganich, who adapts Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 novel.  

Opening in 1980s Virginia, the film is told from the perspective of Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell), a teenager with a cannibalistic impulse. Her father (André Holland) doesn’t let her out of the house at night and when she sneaks out to attend a sleepover with some school friends, we quickly learn why. He soon abandons her and she is left to fend for herself with her dark secret. 

She quickly learns she is not the only person to have cannibalistic tendencies in the American midwest, meeting others who can ‘smell’ her along the way, including the creepy Sully (Mark Rylance). Guadagnino doesn’t explicitly say they are vampires but they may as well be.  She crosses paths with Lee (Timothée Chalamet), another cannibal who she falls in love with and they begin a nomadic life together out on the road. 

Bones And All is an admirable and original piece from Guadagnino, tonally resembling a cross between Bonnie and Clyde, Badlands and Nomadland. There’s some solid performances and the horror sequences make for expectedly uncomfortable viewing. There isn’t a great deal in terms of a narrative and like the duo of Russell and Chalamet, there are scenes that evoke a feeling of aimlessness. This is as well as the film’s pacing feeling rather languorous at times. 

Taylor Russell carries the film well, playing a character younger than her age in reality with conviction. Chalamet, on the other hand, is rather one-note – he can perform this type of role in his sleep. Of the rest of the cast, Rylance is the standout as a particularly grotesque and unpredictable loner and he does a brilliant job of not alluding to the nature of his character’s convictions. Andre Holland gives a muted performance as Maren’s father and like Call Me By Your Name, Michael Stuhlbarg has a monologue to deliver that is particularly chilling. 

The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is powerful in places, the first time the duo have worked with Guadagnino. There are three or four scenes where their score is particularly chilling, straight out of their David Fincher back catalogue. At other times, the score is surprisingly dream-like and light, uncharacteristic of their typical sound. As well as the score, the sound design also leaves quite the impression, the effects when characters are eating being particularly uncomfortable.

The film is well shot by Arseni Khachaturan, Guadagnino diverting from his usual cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. Unlike Guadagnino’s other films where Mukdeeprom’s cinematography is clinical, Bones And All has a grungy aesthetically, often murky and a dark colour palette. 

Bones And All may not be Guadagnino’s best work, but it represents an ambitious fusion of genres and makes for an often thought-provoking and uncomfortable experience. There’s conviction in the majority of the performances and it’s an atmospheric and technically alluring slice of blood-soaked Americana. I’d have liked to have seen more meat to its bones though. 

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)