film critic journal | by ares

Is Joaquin Phoenix's performance of the Joker worth an Oscar nomination? Yes. Ok, but, besides that, why is everybody so hyped by this film? Because we've seen a movie with plenty of superheroes hit the box office this year and now, six months later, just one man, a villain, is stealing the whole show. The one thing that hyped me the most was reading, when the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival back in September, that this movie didn't have special effects, that it was organic.   I know, I'm not going to say anything you've already read on any film magazine or twitter, instagram or your friends may have commented but I needed to post this.  Joker is a movie that is undoubtedly influenced by Scorsese's films, such as Taxi Driver (1976) and presents a Gotham that reminds us of the 1970's New York. One of the things I liked the most is the contextualisation of the action, because it helped to understand and empathize with Arthur Fleck, the...

Yesterday -  directed by the great Danny Boyle and written by the genius Richard Curtis - is, without a doubt, "the feel-good movie" of the summer.  This film is a rom-com, as Richard Curtis is the best writer of this kind of stories (Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, About Time or Love Actually), that recounters the story of Jack (Himesh Patel), an aspiring singer that cannot find the way to succeed, and Ellie (Lily James), his best friend, supporter, and manager that is secretly in love with him, even though everyone notices she is into him  except Jack.  As everyone in the world forgets who The Beatles are, Jack finds his opportunity to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer, but he will have to face the struggles of fame and its impact on her friendship with Ellie.  With this movie, you have the opportunity to listen to the great songs of The Beatles and watch this love story, with two actors that have great chemistry on screen....

Rocketman ( & why is it different from  Bohemian Rhapsody ). These past weeks all I could hear about this movie was the comparison with what we had seen in  Bohemian Rhapsody.  There has been a debate on which one is better, the realistic and intimist Rocketman, with no censored scenes on drugs and sex, or the grandiose and spectacular Bohemian Rhapsody w, Taron vs Rami, imitation vs inspiration, etc.  And yes, the biopic film based on the life of Elton John's life is definitely different from Bohemian Rhapsody, because it is a musical with all its letters. It reminds me of the West End and Broadway musicals because the songs from Elton John, sang by Taron Egerton, are the ones that flow and lead the plot and help to understand the feelings from that kid, called Regiland Dwigh to the creation of the music star Elton Hercules John and its descent to the "underworld".  Egerton delivers a great performance - imitating Elton in the...

It's never too late, they say. I've finally watched this film and all I can say is that, if you haven't watched it, go and do it 'cause it will move you for sure. It is the heartbreaking story of the first love, the discovery of those feelings that you feel for the first time, the sadness of knowing it has to end, the fear of love and being loved (plus, in this film we have a homosexual love), the inexperience, it is the "crazy" thoughts you have and the "crazy" actions you do.  In this film though, the first love from Elio is Oliver, a doctoral student that spends the summer with Elio's family, helping out Elio's father, Professor Pelman, to do some research.  I've always thought that an image is worth a thousand words and in this case, I think that the scene where Elio's father addresses his son is the summary of the whole movie. Not just the story, but also the way Luca Guadagnino, the director, conceived this film; an...

The movie - based on the memories of David & Nic Scheff - explores the addiction and the consequences not just only on the addict and his addiction but on their families.  It juxtaposes two addictions, the drug addiction that Nic, marvellously played by Thimothée Chalamet suffers but also the addiction of a father to help his son even, struggling with his own life and family. Steve Carrell shows his talent for drama one more time, letting go his comedian side and portraying a character that, as said before, battles with his own demons like his son.  A film that opens the debate of the drug addiction, the way that it should be treated  and thought-out by the drug addicts, their families but also the governments with their policies.  After all, a feature length where the director, Felix Van Groeningen, achieves to show us both sides of the coin.  Everything . Beautiful boy. 

A really good (and must) film to watch during the holidays. This is apparently an ordinary story told by an immense Alfonso Cuarón. The movie was shot in black and white and it is also beautifully shot in long takes. Fundamentally Roma is the tale of two women, Cleo (play by Yalitza Aparicio) working as a live-maid for a beleaguered upper middle-class family in Mexico City. It is an autobiographical story from the director and during the film you can see that there are signs of tensions and dysfunction from both the family and the maid. Those little things are hints and demonstrations of the feelings of the characters. The man of the house (Antonio) can't stand being at his own house, you can see that by the way he parks his car, and his wife  (Sofía) is struggling to keep the family together.  So, meanwhile Antonio keeps travelling for what, supposedly, are business trips, a stressed Sofia one day tells the children it would be a good idea to write to their dad, ...

This film is based on the book written by Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows where every chapter is a letter written by a different character.  Juliet Ashton (Lily James) is the main character of this lovely film that portrays the story from some citizens from Guernsey Island that became a family when the nazis occupied the island during the II World War. As they had taken away all what they loved, they started a literary club where they discussed about books and life while they refuged from the demands of the nazis.  Juliet Ashton, a londoner who lost her parents when she was a girl, meets this literary club through a letter that Dawsey Adams, a citizen from the island, sends to her when he found out her name and address in a book from the local library that had been abandoned. Juliet that loves reading books, but also is aspiring to be a writer thinks that visting the island can be her inspiration to do so as she is curious about this literary club and its story ...

Ten years after... here we go again! Mamma Mia! 'cause is that kind of memory that you will recall from your summer.  Besides from the original cast with Donna Sheridan - Meryl Streep - as the main character along with her daughter Sophie - Amanda Seyfried - in this film we have the young Donna (Lily James), Bill (Josh Dylan), Sam (Jeremy Irvine), Harry (Hugh Skinner),  Rosie (Alexa Davies), Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Sophie's grandma (Cher). The past and the present from this characters is combined and intertwined and keep you on the edge of your seat during 2 hours.  Normally, sequels from movies aren't as good as the first one, but in my own opinion, this film is as good as the first one mainly because of the amazing performance that Lily James - young Donna - offers us. She totally knows how to step in Meryl Streep's shoes (and that's not easy as Meryl may probably one of the best actresses ever). She has charisma and accomplishes the mission...

[CAT] C oco  és una pel·lícula que té el seu punt de partida en la història d'una família que viu a un llogaret, en castellà "aldea" de Mèxic, Santa Cecília. Només amb el nom fictici d'aquest llogaret tenim una pista del fil conductor i l'essència del film, la  música . Així doncs, ens trobem amb una família, fabricants de sabates tots ells, que - per una raó que s'explica al principi del film - tenen vetada la música en tots els àmbits de la seva vida. Tanmateix en Miguel, el més jove de la família, és un gran fanàtic d'Ernesto de la Cruz, qui sembla ser el més gran dels cantants mexicans de tots els temps. Per aquest motiu ell vol "viure el seu moment" i esdevenir músic encara que això suposi enfrontar-se i allunyar-se de la seva família. Durant la pel·lícula, Miguel aprendrà a veure des d'una prespectiva el significat d'estimar i a valorar la seva família i també veurà quines són les conseqüències del pensament basat en la ide...

[CAT] Tren de nit a Lisboa és una pel·lícula que gira entorn un llibre i el seu autor, d'origen portuguès i, com moltes altres, està basada també en un llibre. Sota el meu parer, a més, la manera com es narren els fets en ella, la fan una pel·lícula que és una mena de "llibre visual". Hi ha diversos temes que es tracten en el film que, especialment, em recorden a la manera en què estic últimament percebent les lectures que faig i potser per això l'he qualificada de llibre visual.  En primer lloc, m'agradaria destacar la idea del viatge , similar que seria una "road movie" on els personatges troben el sentit d'allò que estaven buscant realitzant aquest viatge al seu interior, i a un indret nou.  En aquest cas no hi ha carretera, ni diverses parades, si no que només n'hi ha una, Lisboa. El protagonista, Raimund, un professor d'escola divorciat amb una vida que ell descriu com "avorrida"- i percebem que sense gra...

A monster calls, the movie directed by J.A Bayona that talks about us.Yes, about us, about our inner I and, especially, the fears that we have and those fears that, sometimes, we don't know how to master.  The protagonist, Conor, is a boy that lives in a world with practically no support. His parents ara divorciated, he suffers from bullying at school and her mother has cancer. Despite that, he tries to live his life as a boy of his age.  However, every night, Conor has a dream and always wakes uo at the same moment, at the same time. We do not know how the dream ends, and he seems like either.  Nevertheless, this story, that combines reality, fiction, aquarelas and dreams (or nightmares) is a metaphor of what we do not want the world to know about us, because we think it isn't correct or ethic or even a metaphor of those things we don't even face ourselves.  It is a novel, a poem and film, all in one. -- [CAT] Un monstre em ve a veur...

The Jungle Book is the "real" version of the Disney movie from 1967. It is a fable about animals and the balance between them. However, Mowgly is a human that lives with them and combines the human intelligence with the animal instinct.  This story shows us that we can be whatever we want to be and we just have to believe and work in order to achieve it. Mowgly is a human and the law of the jungle does not accept a human. Despite that, Mowgly proves that he is different and that this fact doesn't have to be a barrier in order to live with the animals.  On one hand, he just loves being with the animals and learns from all of the creatures. On the other they comprehend that there has to be no fear of Shere Khan (the tiger) because if they stay united there's nothing to worry about.  The film does not draw on the music of the original animated version but it still has the magic of the tales that Rudyard Kipling wrote and it's essence, that it doe...

"Julieta", by Pedro Almodóvar is a movie that I didn't plan to watch and I think that, as it has happened to me with the few last movies I've watched, it gave me a valuable lesson about life,  family, friends, in fact about us, humans.  Julieta is a humanist, she teaches ancient greek culture (literature and mythology) when, in a train,  she meets "prónos" a man named Xoan, who is a fisherman from the north of Spain that will change her hole life. They become a family when Artía, their daughter, is born and their story seems to be perfect.  Nevertheless one day, everything changes, because Julieta discovers that his husband, Xoan has been always seeing her previous wife best friend and spending some days with her when Julieta was visting her parents. That day, Xoan leaves forever and Julieta has to deal with her daughter and the guilt of the situation.  Even though Artía seems to understand and help out her mother in everything with no c...

Barcelona nit d'hivern , the sequel of Barcelona nit d'estiu, captures de spirit of Christmas, when everything is possible. The film follows the life of various couples, families, friends  and people that spend the Christmas night in Barcelona. Some of them fall in love, others try new things, and some others share a secret they were hiding for a long time...  In the movie everyone learns something about life, family or love... in fact, the magic of Christmas is always present. It is romantic, but you also real and magic and you laugh a lot as well.  A perfect film for these holidays

The movie starts as it does the book, with the same words that F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote in the beginning of The Great Gatsby.  Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) keeps his low profile as it does in the novel. He is an observer of all the actions around him, but he does nothing; so he is the narrator of another person story, Jay Gatsby’s story ( Leonardo DiCaprio). In the movie it seems, though, that everything is a flashback that Carraway does every day in different moments. This fact, though, does not appear in the book. In fact, Baz Luhrman uses Nick as a narrator from a different point of view of Fitzgerald’s narrator.  The director of Moulin Rouge shows us a crazy Carraway in a shelter as if the roaring twenties and the non-love story between his Jay Gatsby and Daisy had been the cause of his craziness. The rest of the film is similar to the book and Luhrman emphasizes two aspects. The first one is the roaring twenties. This decade was, precisely, one of t...

Nowadays, that in almost every job experience is required, we wouldn't be thinking of a senior doing the typical tasks an intern does.  Well, this film shows us that besides young people seeking for experience to find decent job there's also seniors who don't know what to do with their life when they're done working and family, friends and trips aren't enough to fill the days.  Ben (Robert De Niro) is one of those seniors who needs to work and do something in order to find sense to his life after having traveled around the world and being widower. He finds an intern workplace at About the fit, a company founded by a young passionate entrepreneur, Jules (Anne Hathaway) who didn't even knew this posts were offered.  When Cameron (Andrew Rannells) tells Jules that she's going to have an intern that is 70 years old, she isn't really convinced but as the movie goes on, the viewer is going to see that sometimes we need someone to support and ...

A masterpiece. Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke are outstanding in the performance of their characters and Richard Linklater has done a work of art. A must see, the story of a boy who becomes and adult does not comprehend just him but his family and friends. The story of a mother that fights for his family, a father that wants to be a part of them and a soul that wants to find his place on earth. 

If you like music, you'll like this film because it is a story about love for music, there's also time for other love, yes, but the main purpose of the film is showing the love people have for music and how this thing can help you overcome things and change your live. I've heard some critics say that this movie "has a soundtrack for every love story" and "a movie for those who live life as if it was a playlist" and I also would define it like this. If you don't like music, or it is not one of your most loved interests, this film makes you appreciate it. The places where the music is made captivate the viewer and the songs make you spend some good time watching the movie.  As for the story itself, the base, I wouldn't define it as groundbreaking story because if it wasn't for the music component, it could have been entertaining - because it is not a film about how a music star is born- but it wouldn't have been that good. As said...

The idea that Luc Besson tried to develop in this film is great. However, the film isn't that good. It is about a young woman, whom we don't know barely anything, - she's just an american woman living in Taiwan that speaks a little bit of french and it's not very good looking- that ends up being caught in a dark deal where she has to transport a bag of drug, inside her body, to a certain part of the planet earth and there she'd be free when they extract the bag.   Lucy ends up drugged after a beat of one of the captors, and from this point on, the film becomes very interesting because the drug increases the brain capacity progressively from 10% - the average of humans - to 100%. Meanwhile, another character is presented. Morgan Freeman becomes a Professor, named Norman, that is working on a theory where he wants to discover what could happen if a human could use more brain capacity than the average.  If the film would have centered the attention in...

The James Gunn film is set in a galaxy where the heroes haven't got the superhero profile. Peter Quill is a bounty hunt er that was taken away from his planet, the Earth, when he was just a boy. From his planet he only has a walkman with a cassette that has multiple songs.  It is noteworthy to say that the nostalgic songs and the reference to the movie Footloose (1984) where Kevin Bacon becomes a hero changing a situation by dancing makes this film different.  As said at the beginning, the characters have all a different profile that you wouldn't identify with a hero. They are selfish, they only look for themselves... When Peter steals something capable of destroying the galaxy from Ronan - the tyrant of the film  - Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has the duty to bring it back to Ronan, but she's planning her betrayal. Besides that, the Groot and Rocket want to capture Peter to earn money. This persecution finishes when they all go to jail and have to ally in order to get ...