Director: Taylor Sheridan
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Finn Little, Nicholas Hoult, Aidan Gillen, Jake Weber, Medina Senghore, Jon Bernthal 
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 100 mins

Those Who Wish Me Dead is the latest from writer-director Taylor Sheridan and in keeping with his back catalogue, is another film that explores the modern American frontier. Sheridan has had an impressive career to date. He wrote Sicario, its underrated sequel and Hell Or High Water, all of which were excellent and were amongst my favourite films of their respective years. He also wrote and directed Wind River, which was another exemplary effort. More recently, he has turned to television with Yellowstone, which is now heading into its fourth season and he co-wrote Without Remorse earlier this year, which whilst enjoyable, wasn’t up to par with his other work. Here, he adapts a 2014 novel by Michael Koryta of the same name, Koryta also credited as a screenwriter for the film, along with Charles Leavitt.

Those Who Wish Me Dead centres on Angelina Jolie’s Hannah Faber, a smokejumper, who is mentally struggling after feeling as if she failed to prevent the deaths of three individuals in a forest fire and is now stationed in a lookout tower. Her path crosses with a young 12 year old boy, Connor (Finn Little) whose father, Owen (Jake Weber) has been murdered for his knowledge by two relentless assassins (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult), who are now after Connor to silence him.  

Those Who Wish Me Dead is another original and captivating effort from Taylor Sheridan. It is frequently thrilling and as is customary for the writer-director, there are some interesting twists narratively and in its portrayal of gender. The way in which Sheridan introduces the characters allow the audience to be two steps ahead of them, which is thrilling as we can predict how they will likely act when all the pieces fall together later in the film. Sheridan is again able to extract some excellent performances from the cast. Angelina Jolie makes for a commanding screen presence, haunted by what she feels is her mistake, and this is a solid project for her to pick in her acting comeback. Gillen and Hoult make for an unstoppable reckoning as the assassins. 

Visually, the film is interesting in its portrayal of the beauty of the Montana landscape and it captures the ferocity of the forest fires the area can suffer with grandeur. There is even a memorable Brian Tyler score, whose work I have not been impressed with in the past. 

That said, on a first viewing, the film feels more slight than Sheridan’s other work and it lacks an elegiac quality. The film is quite breakneck in its pacing and some further quieter moments to develop its characters further would have been beneficial. This is what propelled Hell Or High Water from a lean and mean modern Western with moments such as an altercation at a petrol station or two characters enjoying lunch in a typically Texan bar. 

On reflection, the more slight nature of the film is perhaps intentional as we don’t know what the Macguffin is. Gillen and Hoult’s assassins are underdeveloped and we don’t know what knowledge Owen had that he has passed onto his son before his assassination. It’s powerful that Jolie is distrusting of Connor originally and then suddenly puts all of her trust in achieving the mission of evading his captors once she reads his note of his father’s findings, elevating the stakes. 

Overall, Those Who Wish Me Dead is another original concept from Sheridan and the film is a thoughtful thrill ride from start to finish with some satisfying twists, even if on a first viewing, it doesn’t appear to have as much staying power as his other work. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)

⭐ (Terrible)

Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore 
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 100 mins

It’s staggering just how horrifically bad The Woman In The Window is. Adapted by Tracy Letts (who also features in the film) from A.J. Finn’s hit novel, this murder mystery follows agaraphobic child psychologist Anna Fox (Amy Adams) who is separated from her husband (Anthony Mackie) and daughter. Her housebound state leads her to observe her neighbours from her window, one of which is the Russell family who have recently moved in. When Anna witnesses the mother of the family, Jane (Julianne Moore) stabbed to her death, she tries to investigate the murder with the help of the police. However, Anna is also on a cocktail of medication and drinks alcohol daily, so is what he saw accurate and she’s telling the truth or does she not have a firm grip on reality?

Tracy Letts is a gifted playwright and screenwriter, behind works such as Killer Joe and August: Osage County. Joe Wright is in the director’s chair for this, who had an initially very promising career, for example with Atonement and Hanna. More recently though, he has been on rocky ground with Pan, which is one of the worst films of recent years that once seen can’t be unseen. He also directed and received acclaim for Darkest Hour, with Gary Oldman earning an Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the film. I had some strong reservations with the film and felt that it didn’t have much to offer other than Oldman’s performance and some beautiful cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel, who is also behind the camera here. Wright assembles a terrific cast and crew here, which should have been full of promise.

The film has faced delays in making it to the big screen, with the pandemic and has finally been brought by Netflix. If anything, this was promising because the notion of an agaraphobic main character confined to her home for a long period of time should resonate with viewers who have experienced recent lockdowns, essentially a Rear Window for the coronavirus age. But alas, Rear Window, this isn’t. How on earth did it go so wrong?

I lost my patience with the film pretty early in and was hoping that it would pick up once the inciting incident of the murder happened but the film only got worse. I haven’t read the book and it looks like the film makes some minor changes but the story is more or less the same. Joe Wright’s direction is incoherently frenetic, allowing audiences to watch events unfold from the perspective of Anna. As a character, Anna is insufferable and Amy Adams tones up the camp in her peformance. How can audiences sympathise with a character that is genuinely unlikeable and consistently disrespectful of her neighbours?

The rest of the performances in the film are also terrible, with actors talking dramatically and then deciding it’s a good idea to shout, Gary Oldman a prime example. Oldman plays the patriarch of the Russell family, whose wonky American accent constantly slips into English. Wyatt Russell plays Anna’s household tenant, who lives in the basement, who Anna thinks it’s a good idea to go and snoop around his possessions and does so repeatedly after he instructs her not to. Russell’s performance is equally schizophrenic and cannot convey the darker side of his character whatsoever. Brian Tyree Henry, who is normally excellent, is also terrible as a totally unprofessional police detective. A scene at the film’s close is particularly laughable in what actions his character instructs Anna to carry out. Perhaps Jennifer Jason Leigh and Anthony Mackie come out of this experience the best as they are underutilised in the film and fail to make an impression. In fact, it’s generally surprising how little screen time most of the actors have other than Amy Adams and when the mystery is in full swing, there are just no stakes and no care to have for these characters.

After getting through 80 minutes or so, the film reaches its climax where there is a twist ending. The twist is shockingly bad and there are some unintentional laugh-out loud moments in the depiction of a fight sequence at the end of the film. Although I haven’t read the novel, whilst it’s still a poor twist, it probably works better there as the characters are better established.

Tracy Lett’s screenplay is surprisingly terrible and is chiefly to blame for this disaster. Letts may have had a strong career to date but the dialogue here is ear-scrapingly bad in places and lacks character development. His screenplay isn’t particularly cinematic which isn’t in itself a problem, as there are many effective films set in one location. Joe Wright makes a pigs ear of directing the film as he offsets the stage-play quality of the script with flashbacks and cuts from other characters perspectives, as well as riding an uneasy line between a camp and serious tone.

Even visually, the film is lacking. Bruno Delbonnel has crafted some mesmerising images in his career, behind a lot of Coen Brothers films and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Delbonnel fails to establish Anna’s house setting. As it plays such a crucial part to the film’s story, audiences should know the intracacies of it and the layout as the mystery unfolds. It is also lit in an ugly manner. The film has a camp visual aesthetic and its brief moments of gore and violence are laughable and toothless rather than alarming.

The Woman In The Window is an unmitigated failure for all involved and will surely act as a stain in the cast and crew’s career. If you choose to stick with this irritating and annoyingly disorienting film rather than end your suffering early, your curiosity will not be rewarded in the film’s climax. The only saving grace is perhaps it is a good thing this film won’t be shown in cinemas for a paying audience and will stay hidden away in the vaults of Netflix for eternity. The Woman In The Window staggered me in its unrelenting ability to punish its audience throughout and is one of the worst experiences I have had in quite some time.

⭐ (Terrible)

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Alexandre Aja 
Starring: Mélanie Laurent, Mathieu Amalric, Malik Zidi 
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 101 mins

Oxygen is a survival horror film where a woman wakes up in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there, who she is and she cannot escape whilst she is running out of air. This is a strong concept that has been done before to near-perfection with Ryan Reynolds’ Buried. Buried was excellent in how it developed Reynolds’ character, the ordeal he had to go through and it didn’t outstay its welcome. The ever-versatile Mélanie Laurent is in the lead role here, most famous for her role in Inglourious Basterds. The film is directed by Alexandre Aja, who is a seasoned hand with horror, with works such as The Hills Have Eyes, the underrated Horns and the alligator invasion disaster film Crawl.

Oxygen makes the most out of its single location and there is a committed performance from Mélanie Laurent. It is handsomely shot by Maxime Alexandre, who conveys the panic-inducing claustrophobia of the suffocating space and the film is well-directed with Aja making the most of the film’s budget. Some of the film’s technical, more showy moments are impressive for a film of this stature.

Unfortunately, Oxygen runs into trouble in the second half. It is a good 20-30 mins overlong for its story and the antics Laurent has to go through begin to wear thin and are repetitive. Its final act is also very disappointing and the narrative choices felt like a cop-out. Buried wildly succeeded in its simplicity but Aja overcomplicates matters here and delves down a rabbit hole. It is understandable that Aja wanted to lean more heavily into sci-fi but it costs the film its promising build up.

Oxygen is ultimately one of the better efforts of a survival horror in one location but the good work of its first act fails to pay off with its poor narrative choices later in the film and it outstays its welcome. It’s a valiant effort and a back-to-basics approach for Aja but the second half disappoints in its failure to pay off the promising first half.

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Charlene Swankie
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 109 mins

Nomadland is an original and unassuming exploration into the nomadic lifestyle that a proportion of Americans take where they cannot afford to live by conventional means in a bricks and mortar dwelling. In what is director Chloe Zhao’s third feature, Nomadland paints a desperate situation where hard-working Americans cannot afford to live in a normal society. We follow Frances McDormand’s widowed and unemployed Fern. She describes herself as ‘houseless’ and chooses to travel the US, partaking in various job opportunities, living from her van. These jobs range from a stint in Amazon to working in hot and sweaty kitchens to running a spa. We meet some real-life nomads that her character crosses paths with along the way, as well as a blossoming relationship with another nomad played by David Strathairn.

The performances are first-rate in the film, with Frances McDormand winning her third Best Actress Oscar for this role. McDormand is brilliant here but she could play this type of role in her sleep – it doesn’t rate with the quality of her other two wins in Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Of the other characters, it is Charlene Swankie (as Swankie!) who makes the biggest impression in the film’s best sequence where she recounts her life choices and philosophies. Technically, Nomadland is excellent as well with Joshua James Richard’s Terence Malick-esque cinematography beautifully capturing the vast open landscapes and offering a magical quality. Ludovico Einaudi’s piano-based score is sparsely used but packs a punch when it is featured.

With the Awards success Nomadland has received, not least a Best Picture Oscar win, it’s easy to go into the film with lofty expectations. Nomadland is not perfect, by any means. Save for Swankie’s affecting monologue, the film never really packs enough of an emotional wallop and there are sequences in the film that are languorously paced. Nomadland is a strong and original film that blends fact and fiction seamlessly with some amiable performances, even if it is somewhat overrated.

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Luke Mitchell, Jack Kesy, Brett Gelman, Lauren London, Colman Domingo, Guy Pearce 
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 109 mins

Without Remorse is the long-awaited adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel and refreshingly follows the character of John Clark, a US Navy SEAL rather than Jack Ryan in previous films, but Clark is also very much a shadow recruit. This adaptation has been through a raft of various cast and crew throughout the years such as Keanu Reeves and Tom Hardy. Ultimately, what has arrived on screens settles on the ever-versatile Michael B. Jordan as John Clark. In the director’s chair is Stefano Sollima who created a near-masterpiece with Sicario 2: Soldado in its grim and unrelenting atmosphere. Sollima reunites with screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, who co-writes the film with Will Staples. Sheridan has gone from strength to strength, responsible for both Sicario films, the heavily Oscar-nominated Hell Or High Water and Wind River and is yet to stumble. Can this promising talent deliver?

Without Remorse excels in its action sequences and dour first half but it suffers with its obvious story and narrative choices in the second half. Sollima and Sheridan do a commendable job of establishing Clark and his blossoming relationship with his pregnant wife but circumstances unfortunately do not allow Clark to spend time with his family. The film does a really good job in getting into the psyche of Clark’s character and Jordan convinces with his dispassionate and vengeful attitude. By the mid-point of the film, there isn’t much hope to hold for the future of Clark. Sollima also succeeded with the tone of the narrative in Sicario 2: Soldado which felt like going into a dark abyss. The action sequences are intelligently crafted and are majestic in spectacle for the budget this film has.

Michael B. Jordan is excellent in the lead role, his character fuelled by rage and grief. There are strong performances across the board, Jamie Bell successful as a shady CIA operative and Jodie Turner-Smith has good chemistry with Jordan. Lauren London also makes a strong impression in her brief role. It’s always good to see Guy Pearce in a film and he chews the scenery here.

The film runs into problems in its second half where it takes some questionable yet obvious narrative choices, which are typical for the genre. The intelligent development of the first half isn’t sustained. What we get is still entertaining but one has to suspend disbelief in the events being portrayed on-screen. Sheridan and Staples’ script isn’t quite as fresh as previous work, as it lacks some of the nuanced character development, opting instead for a faster action pace.

Without Remorse is ultimately above average for this type of action thriller and Sollima succeeds in creating a dark atmosphere for the first half and achieves some assured performances from the cast. I’d be more than on board for any future instalments (the film hints at a Rainbow Six adaptation) as some good groundwork is built here. It doesn’t live up to the lofty standards both Sollima and Sheridan have established in their careers thus far but this is still a solid piece of work and certainly worth a watch.

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Darius Marder
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Mathieu Amalric 
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 120 mins

Sound of Metal is a poignant and original drama about a drummer, Ruben (Riz Ahmed) who loses his hearing and the impact that has on him and his relationship with his partner, Lou (Olivia Cooke). Directed by Darius Marder in his debut after writing The Place Beyond The Pines, this is a touching and at times, fascinating delve into the world of the deaf and how they integrate into society, or in this film’s case, how some form their own isolated community. Riz Ahmed is terrific in the lead role, a desperate and thoroughly down-on-his-luck individual who isn’t taken seriously by society after a stint with drugs.

The film is particularly impressive on a technical level with how it uses sound, from sequences of pure silence to the sounds of what Ruben can hear, a muffled, tinny aura of society. This film more than deserved its Oscar win for its sound and editing.

Unfortunately, Sound of Metal falters in its pacing. The film is languorous in its 130 minute run time and doesn’t delve deep enough into the inner psyche of Ruben’s personality. He is forced into his desperate situation but the film would have really benefitted if we had learnt more about Ruben’s context and character first and it would have had more pathos.

Sound of Metal is an assured first film from director Darius Marder that succeeds more on a technical level and with its central performance rather than substance. The fact that the film received the extent of Awards attention that it did heightened my expectations perhaps too much, as the film underdelivered for me.

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Gerard Bush & Christopher Renz
Starring: Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, Gabourey Sidibe
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 106 mins

Antebellum is the feature debut from directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz. Although marketed as a horror, this is more of a mystery thriller in which a woman who has been renamed Eden (Janelle Monáe) finds herself on a brutal slave plantation run by Confederate soldiers in seemingly Civil War-era America. The slaves are treated particularly despicably and are not allowed to speak. About forty minutes in, Eden wakes up in the present day as Dr. Veronica Henley who has a loving family and is a renowned sociologist. Parallels are drawn between the two storylines and Bush and Renz pose the question of what connects these two stories. 

Positioned as a female-centered nervous mix of The Twilight Zone and 12 Years A Slave with more than a heavy dose of M. Night Shyamalan infused in the mix, Antebellum is a fierce debut and is a brave narrative to tackle. The plantation sequences are particularly uncomfortable to watch and the slave owners are some of the most sadistic to be witnessed in the genre. There is a satisfying twist that reframes earlier scenes in the film, which warrants a rewatch to further unpack. 

Janelle Monáe is admirable in what is her first leading role, after impressing in films such as Moonlight and Hidden Figures in a supporting capacity. She perfectly captures the plight of a slave, predominantly having to communicate with her fellow prisoners via her facial expressions, as he calculatedly plots her next move. Eden has quietly learned her away around the plantation, for example knowing which floorboards creak in her owner’s lodge, so that she may one day plot an escape. 

Technically, Antebellum is impressive with Pedro Luque beautifully capturing the plantation. The film opens up on an uncomfortably long tracking shot introducing the plantation and the cotton-pickers exhaustedly working in the lush fields and the horrifying killing of a worker. The plantation sequences are brightly lit invoking that the slaves have nowhere to hide. The string-based score by Nate Wonder and Roman Gianarthur is terrific, further ratcheting up the tension with its uncomfortable riffs and suitably grand in the spurts of action . 

The film runs into problems in its second act in its present day setting. It isn’t as engaging as the first and third acts and it’s clear that Renz and Bush aren’t in their element. The messages that Veronica conveys are quite Gabourey Sidibe’s character, Dawn, who is a friend of Veronica’s is particularly problematic. It is not clear whether the filmmakers are attempting to portray her as a strong independent force or just plain rude. I found her to be the former and she is a real thorn for the film, despite Sidibe having a strong filmography. It would also be fair to say that some of the characters, even the slave owners are rather one-dimensional. 

Antebellum is a really interesting debut and I’m very glad it exists, particularly in the context of a ‘Make America Great Again’ society. The first and third acts are particularly riveting even if the film sags in the middle. It’s a shame that the reception to this film has been fairly negative, with many finding the film to be exploitative, its twist not justifying the brutal violence and that its violence is torture porn. I would strongly disagree and would argue that the sadistic violence assists in creating a stronger verisimilitude. It also doesn’t help that the film has been marketed as a horror when it is somewhat light on horror elements and films such as It Comes At Night and mother! have been similarly rejected for misleading marketing. I can’t wait to see what Bush and Renz go onto make next and hope that they continue to take risks and are not deterred from the negative critical response.

⭐⭐⭐ (Good)

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Youn Yuh-jung, Will Patton
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 115 mins

Minari is an affecting and amiable portrayal of a hard-working, but down on their luck Korean family who are trying to carve out their own American dream. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari follows immigrant Jacob Yi (Steve Yeun), who is fed up of working in a chicken hatchery in California and moves his young family to a considerable piece of land that he has brought in rural Arkansas with a rickety mobile home. He plans to farm the land with Korean vegetables which he can then sell to Korean vendors, so he can finally make something for himself and his family. His wife, Monica (Han Ye-ri), is unimpressed with the living arrangements and the two of them argue regularly, in front of their two young children, Anne (Noel Kate Cho) and David (Alan Kim). One such argument is beautifully realised when the children create model aeroplanes, writing ‘Don’t fight’ on the wings and they launch them into the lounge to attract the attention of the parents. To complicate family matters more, David has a heart condition which Monica has to frequently monitor and he is not allowed to run to overly exert himself. The set-up is excellent and the characters are all very well developed and have emotional stakes. Despite the fact that Jacob and Monica argue and are on the verge of splitting, there is still a passionate admiration for each other between them, which at times, is heartbreaking. 

Things take an interesting turn as Jacob and Monica need someone to look after the children when they are at work and they choose to fly Monica’s mother, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung) from South Korea. Soon-ja is pretty distant with the children, David not remembering her as he was too young when he saw her last. She is a rambunctious, unconventional Grandmother who regularly swears in front of the children but has an unconditional affection for them all and tries her best to dilute the families hardships, even when she makes poor decisions. She tries to get David to come out of his shell and she plants minari seeds (a Korean water celery) by a stream on the land, which she is convinced will bring luck and prosperity for the family. 

The interplay between the family is excellent and the performances poignant. The highlights are of course, Youn Yuh-Jung, whose Oscar win for her turn as the grandmother is excellent, deftly balancing the comedic elements of the role with some powerful sequences in the third act. Steve Yeun is also commendable as Jacob and his plight for success is piercing to the audience, as is Han Ye-ri as Monica. The film is technically beautiful with dream-like cinematography from Lachlan Milne, the families land seeming other-worldly and distant. Emile Mosseri’s predominantly piano and woodwind based score is also soul-stirring in its ethereal quality. 

Minari is a quiet and unassuming drama that packs a punch as it invests you in its sincere and well-developed characters. It is one of the best films of this year’s Oscar nominees and one of the best films of the year. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Excellent)