Reviews

Established by early shots, that somehow manage to capture a sky too big for any camera, The Dig reminds viewers that life is more than the ground panning by our stumbling feet. Each and every camera shot is painstakingly placed matching up time of day to the emotions and nuance of the script. One can almost forgive some of the stilted, and all too perfectly worded exchanges late in the film as inconsequential; weighted against the larger picture enveloping the viewer. Yet for every stumble in that script, a verbal polished relic of adoration emerges to further bind image to sound.

With the sheer volume and regularity of movies being released in the arms race of streaming services, the script and story are often the lynch pin in weather or not a movie stands appart, and yet, the casting in The Dig almost asks us to forgo these thoughts and coalesce like water colors into a scene simply by the remarkable cast put together by Lucy Bevins. The directorial work Simone Stone cannot be understated here. His vision possibly shines the brightest in how understated yet convincing all of the actors take to their parts. Every actor on display sheds their persona and let the ensamble of characters, story, and music take the forefront.

The score by Stefan Gregory fades and crescendos in harmony with the poetry on display continually throughout The Dig's runtime. Comparisons with Jóhann Jóhannsson's exceptional work in Arrival would probably be a solid association for moviegoers that enjoyed that sound scape. The interweaving violin and cello work had my breathe weaving in rhythm as the cinematography constantly impressed.

If you are simply a fan of cinema, The Dig will leave you feeling a sense of awe, hope, and comfort, knowing that the form as art is alive and well.

I watched Soul with my parents and son, hoping to relive the nostalgia of classics like 'Toy Story' and 'Cars'. We were all very excited to see the new release from Pixar after their recent 'Inside Out' film that we also greatly enjoyed by us.

Unfortunately 'Soul' never quite got going for me, in the same captivating way that other films from Pixar had in the past. The first half hour was particularly slow, which may have put me off a bit for the remainder of the film. A lot of the comedy was clearly expressed towards a younger generation (or two!?) than some of the old nods to adults sprinkled throughout their films. Overall I never really got that invested in the storyline and found it tedious to watch the film to conclusion.

There were some sections that I did appreciate however, especially some of the musical interplays with their animated world.

My family was mostly mixed in their post film exchanges, and I could see how this might be a divisive film.

I wouldn't tell you to pass on this film, but it doesn't get the same must see recommendation that I'd be happy to give most of Pixar's back catalog.

To start off, I wish there were more movies like this. Another sci fi war movie of humankind vs. unkown alien forces. Tons of action, special effects, explosions, it's about as much as you could ask for now with nothing in theaters. Honestly some of the vfx shots were extremely well done given whatever the budget for this movie actually is. Yeah, it's a little slow, and dubbed from a foreign language, but overall, it blew my expectations out of the water and that is something more and more rare as my decades of cinema continue to age.

Popcorn Action Sci-Fi, turn out the lights and crank up the sound, it doesn't have to be perfect to be a good night at the movies.

You're not watching this for oscar buzz, you're watching this because you want to see Terry take out his anger with a hammer. The script is crap, the actors are stiff, but you don't care about that. What's wrong with watching a movie to fulfill a basic need? It's the same need that has us watching bruce willis and nicolas cage movies 10 years after their careers went south.

We all (the educated world) know that climate change is man caused, and accellerating. There are clearly companies looking to profit from governments that look the other way to engage in atrocious acts that will eventually rend our planet unlivable. Regardless, using 30 minutes of a motion picture to constantly beat us over the head with that message doesn't let me enjoy an otherwise excellent movie. I get it, climate change sucks, and we should be doinging more to prevent it, but don't let that agenda ruin the chance at acheiving visionary cinema.

The movie could have been a clear cut front runner for film of the year, however the politics make it a muddled quagmire. Since this was clearly their intention, I dropped it from 8 stars to 6.

Regardless, despite the ignorant pandering that ruins an otherwise fine film, I would wholly recommend this to anyone that enjoys those good, slow burns, with a cinematic footprint striving to emulate kubrick.

Fell free to visit the restroom during any of the Climate change lambasting sessions, you won't miss anything important.

How would the Hobbit have played out if Bilbo and the dwarfs had never left bag end? Mother! gives us a glimpse into the strange occult relationship wound tightly around a group of unexpected guests and the stains they leave on our soul. It's truly though provoking that one can live a life on cruise control that appears to be unwavering until a single drop in time of an others company diverts one to an entirely new plain of existence. Much like a murderers life is out of their hands once they are confronted, the meeting of people that had until now been divergent from our path creates a situation unfathomably out of reach to our own desires.

Mother! creates a seamless transition from the mundane to a rich tapestry of feelings and emotions almost completely disassociated from the norm. How does one measure the relevance of time by the day? The hour? The minute? The second? The infinite number of measurements between each of those? Aronofsky takes the audience on such a symbolic journey crying out to be dissected, confronted, and discussed. The very nature of such a film allows for a different experience from each point of view? How would we each comprehend the messages and symbols from these various positions defines a work of art as experienced from so much diversity.

Great directors have seldomly had the reins to truly strike out and create an experience so exceptionally unique as to ask their audience to have faith. Mother! delivers this promise that hand holding has no place in art.

Gone are the long wide shots of splendor and cinematography so often ripped straight from Kubrick himself. We are isolated, alone, and experiencing an existence out of our hands. When the final credits roll, have you finally come to grip with the fact that your life is not your own?

Let me just start out by saying that this movie is literally two separate movies, that are merely tied together by a brief moment. The first half half was engrossing, rich in character development, and extremely well paced.

Without spoiling anything, I would just like to say that I would have given the first half of this movie an 8 or 9. Unfortunately for whatever reason they decided to tell a story that was a great injustice to the quality cinema that was setup. In the end you get the same story that Cillian Murphy trudged through almost scene for scene recently. If you are a fan of the pervious movie, and want another take on the situation, I do recommend at least watching this film for the first half. Otherwise it has been done before, and much better in all aspects.

For some reason I came into this movie expecting it to be 'THE' choice for my Friday night viewing, as if for some reason it had set it self ahead of all other movie rivals for my Friday night viewing. I don't think it's from the advertisements, as ambiguously vague they were, but that I felt like there was something so unspeakably brilliant that no one would put it to words in their reviews.

It was interesting how much of this movie, in hindsight, I start comparing to the Blair Witch Project. You go into it relatively incapable of knowing what it's about other than the fact that it is a horror movie and there is a basic plot available.

Where it starts to diverge from Blair Witch is that this movie starts to turn in on itself where as Blair Witch slowly revealed it's hidden narrative.

I would rate this movie a 3/5 for suspense, but couldn't consider it a horror movie. It's just too bland. There are some interesting dynamics and Edgerton does his best to put on a good game face for the unripe plot.

I feel like this should go down as the engine that couldn't, because every time I was ready for it to go for it and sock it to me, it just puttered out and went to bed after some warm milk.

There are dozens if not hundreds of movies I would recommend to someone along the horror/thriller Genre before something like this would get my vote so if it's your hard earned money, or the only night you get to yourself, give it a pass.