SilentLuminary Reviews

  Genre: Adventure/ Comedy Time: 2 Hours Director: Greta Gerwig Quick Summary:  Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence. I wanted to cry. So much. This is absolutely a masterpiece that tackles one of the biggest social issues currently known, and it does it with such good taste. I laughed equally as much as I cried.  Everything is pink! But it's never an eyesore. Everything works in perfect harmony to create this adorable aesthetic. The set designs are also incredibly well done, appearing to be a perfect replica of dollhouses and various doll toys.  Margot Robbie is perfect casting as Barbie, she nails the movement and the joyous attitude of Barbie wonderfully. I personally don't think anyone else could have done as well as she did during this film, especially during the more emotional parts of this which ended up really hitting hard. Ryan Gosling is phenomenal as Ken. Hilarious but yet still had such a deep philosophy b...

  Genre: Drama Time: 3 hours Director:  Christopher Nolan Quick Summary:  The story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. So for context, I knew nothing when going into this film. I knew none of the history or of the person beforehand and I'm going purely from this film. Now this is a film where you fully have to focus on what is going on as it jumps back and forwards through the timeline and it can take a long while to understand what is happening when. For the first hour, I mainly struggled to understand and follow who was who. It is incredibly dialogue focused, and not a lot happens on screen apart from people talking a lot of big words, which admittedly I don't mind but is definitely not for everyone.  I enjoyed this mostly, but it was too long. The last hour to me felt incredibly dragged out. I understand there was a lot of context to them that needed to be shown/said, but ultimately I became bored by...

  Genre: Sci-fi/ Adventure Time: 1h 45mins Director : Steven Spielberg Quick Summary:  A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet. This is a wonderful film that is incredibly touching and very emotional. As a child, I did not appreciate this film for what it was. A masterpiece.  I loved how funny this was, I felt like I was constantly laughing at this. Mainly it was due to "E.T." running around screaming, or just simply shuffling about. Everything about him is just joyous, just watching him interact and learn human things was so entertaining. As funny as he was, he was also incredibly adorable as he learns to speak and show he cares for his new human friends. It's amazing to see how convincing they managed to make this small alien.  I feel like this is impossible to dislike. Everyone performs so well, so much that you forget you're watching a film and not just looking into someone's life. All o...

  Genre: Drama Time:   1 hour 48mins Director:  Andrei Tarkovsky Quick Summary:  A dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of the Russian nation. This entire film feels like poetry through visuals. It's all so mesmerising to watch. The main focus of this that the nostalgia of memory and the past. Any feeling you can put towards those such as regret or even longing, this film portrays. It holds such small moments up to the light and idolises, showing how the smallest and simplest of things can stay with people. Everything is shot so perfectly and in such a unique perspective. A lot of the time, the point of view is not entirely clear as people get mixed up as stated in this, which can make it hard to understand what is going on. As well there isn't actually a story to this, and there doesn't need to be. You're watching someone else's life through their memories a...

  Genre: Family/ Adventure  Time: 1hour 20 mins Directors:  Ted Berman, Richard Rich Quick Summary:  A young boy and a group of misfit friends embark on a quest to find a dark magic item of ultimate power before a diabolical tyrant can. There are many good things to love about this, unfortunately, it falls a bit flat in a lot of places.  This isn't your usual Disney film, there are no songs for a start which actually I'm glad about as the tone of this would be very different. It's a lot darker and more gritty as well.  It has a wonderful pacing to it with some fantastic action scenes that are incredibly engaging. Wonderfully adventurous and manages to tell its story, though unfortunately, it drags out a lot of things meaning it gets very boring at times.  Being someone who loves hand-drawn animation, I adored the art and style in this. It reflects the dark atmosphere perfectly, having a dark palette and "scary" backgrounds that occasionally flows int...

  Genre : Comedy/Drama Time: 1h 40mins Director : Wes Anderson Quick Summary:  A writer encounters the owner of an ageing high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge. Wonderfully charming and stylistic as always from Wes Anderson though it is easy to see why people might not like this film. This is a story told within a story which is shown flawlessly, it's easy to distinguish between the two and they cut to each other pretty smoothly. As always, he makes his own little world within this film that is full of colourful scenery and characters bursting with personality. Everything in this has thought put into it and a clear passion is driven into it.  This is a fun film and everyone seems to be having fun in this. It's full of quick witty dialogue and is absolutely wild with a handful of dark humour that not everyone is going to enjoy. Along with the characters, I personally liked the...

  Genre: Adventure/ Comedy  Time: 1h 41mins Director: Wes Anderson  Quick Summary:  Set in Japan, Isle of Dogs follows a boy's odyssey in search of his lost dog. Wonderfully quirky and simple, if you want a cute film this is it.  Something I love is how he keeps his unique style and makes it work very well with the futuristic, but still traditional Japanese art. It also incorporates some cartooning along with interesting ideas - the Japanese dialogue is not always translated. When it is, it's by interpreters or foreign exchange students which was a clever storytelling element to convey only the most essential information.  I'm glad, this film didn't need to be overloaded with words. Don't get me wrong, it was still funny with his usual witty and dry humour and had a good mix of exposition and lighthearted moments. It keeps its whimsical and silly nature throughout, along with a good amount of weight to still be interesting. He always manages to create suc...

  Genre: Sci-fi/ Comedy Time: 1h 45mins Director:  Wes Anderson Quick Summary:  Following a writer on his world-famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to a small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his worldview disrupted forever. Oh, I loved this. It was so fun though I don't think it will be to everyone's taste. There are so many wonderful characters thrown into this, and each and every one individual. But the problem is, it was hard to tell who the actual lead character was, and then in hand made it hard to follow at times. Along with this, the delivery of the lines was also sometimes too quick to follow, with frantic shots panning to various characters and things making more harder to follow.  Stylistically it's very much what we expect from Anderson and I loved it. Cinematography is more interesting than usual with lots of focus on the set pieces and costume designs. The cam...

  Genre: Thriller/ Action Time: 1h 43mins Director: Daniel Barber Quick Summary: An elderly ex-serviceman and widower look to avenge his best friend's murder by doling out his own form of justice. I can't deny the highly authentic and strong performances in this film, particularly that of Michael Caine, but honestly, this got boring very quickly. The setup for this I found really interesting, but the longer it goes on, the more dragged out it feels and honestly I expected more to come out of this. Don't get me wrong it is watchable, but you don't really have to think about it. If you're in the mood for a violent film then this is the one to go for. To be honest, nothing really happened.  Caine is the main appeal and he does a really good job in this role. His performance is good and it did make me wish the material had given him more to work with in terms of substance. He is a great presence but he is lost in the overblown final third and really deserved a tight...

  Genre: Drama/ Romance Time: 1h 30mins Director: F.W. Murnau Quick Summary:  A sophisticated city woman seduces a farmer and convinces him to murder his wife and join her in the city, but he ends up rekindling his romance with his wife when he changes his mind at the last moment. This is a nearly perfect movie that is impressive in every detail, especially for the time. Honestly, it's really fun to watch, offering moments of suspense and tension and other moments of humour and humanity. The story provides a very thoughtful look at the importance and the fragile nature of human relationships. I liked how it showed that people can manipulate you into feeling certain ways and shifting your thoughts for you. The plot isn't massively substantial, but it's the subtext that is important. Janet Gaynor is wonderful as the wife she is always believable, endearing, and completely sympathetic. George O'Brien is also good as the husband, and both of their performances are enhance...