Piffritic-Half-arsedproductions

The Brutalist is this century's answer to cinema from a buy-gone era of filmmaking. Resting beside the all-time greats of Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind, The Brutalist is a magnum opus, and knowing these kinds of films are still being made just fills me with jubilance. It is beautifully crafted and filmed, has a gorgeous and melancholic score, and of course amazingly well-written. The acting is undoubtedly some of the best you will ever witness with Adrien Brody taking home the Best Actor Oscar, which he fully deserved. That being said, the rest of the cast should not be ignored, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones should also be commended for their outstanding performances. However, the film is well over three hours and this may be a turn-off point for some, but I personally relish in these rare special experiences with a gloves-off "Show me what you've got!" attitude. The film is being praised as a masterpiece, a tribute to the past, a cinematic juggernaut, and even though I don't disagree with these comments, I don't completely agree that it is a perfect film. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, the ending left me a little underwhelmed, and surprisingly I still have questions about the characters, but The Brutalist is a cinema connoisseur's dream that I'm sure will be speculated and dissected over time. The main issue I have now is that I'm unsure if I love it. Either way, the film is dripping with passion and if you have a spare day off (because you will need the day) I recommend treating yourself to an experience of what cinema used to be.

2025 thus far, seems to be on the trajectory for being the year of mediocre films, and Riff Raff is unfortunately added to this less impressive list. The cast alone grabbed my attention as I had no knowledge of its existence prior to its release, and the performances are solid across the board, yet I'm not convinced that the narrative needed such a bloated cast list. The film is a crime-thriller dark comedy, and here lies the problem. Riff Raff struggles to execute what it set out to be, the tone of the movie just felt weird, bouncing between tense dramatical scenes and quippy comedic moments all too often took me out of the experience. Don't get me wrong the characters are interesting, and some decent exposition is given throughout the story, but I felt this would have made a better mini-series instead of a film as its content feels all too crammed in. Plus, Fargo the TV show (2014) knocked it out of the park when it comes to juggling comedy and cinematic drama and I believe this is what the movie intended to achieve. If they took these exact same cast and characters and allowed more room for them to breathe, you could potentially have a banger of a season 6 under the Frago name - right actors/characters, wrong method. Overall, I was less than impressed with Riff Raff, it's not bad and produces some good characters but I felt they needed a lot more exploration to justify the climax.

Oh my lord! Where do I begin with this one? On the one hand, The Gorge is an entertaining sci-fi-action sort of horror fest reminiscent of movies from the early 2000s. On the other, it is badly written to the point that it fits nicely under the "so bad it's good" category. Honestly, I am perplexed as to what I think. The movie begins with an interesting yet obscure concept that is highly stylized, an immersive soundtrack, with a dark and ominous tone that I found engaging. However, in the second and third act, the film spirals into a blender of genres that had me guessing if it worked - can't decide what genre you want your movie to be? No problem, just use them all! Like I said, when it's good, it's awesome, but the movie all too often fluctuates between adrenaline-fueled action and what the hell am I watching? Still, credit where credit is due, the Gorge is absolutely one to talk about and will most likely be one of the most polarizing films of the year. If I were to sum it up (here goes nothing) I would describe The Gorge as a rail-gun shooter computer game made into a film, that would not feel lost within the Resident Evil franchise and If I were to have watched this in my late teens, I probably would have loved it! But now in my early 40s, I can't decide if I thought it was brilliant or terrible. Either way, you should check it out because this is a film that deserves conversation and definitely one to watch with your mates!