Penrose Film Critiques

Its so hard these days to find cosmic horror in the unknown. With the world connected by the global zeitgiest and fear being portrayed in social constructs rather than aliens from outer space. It feels like films such as 2001:A Space Odyssey  (1968) and The Thing  (1982)   aren't leaving the same fear of the existential that they once did when they first came out. So in 2019, we have a contemporary addition to the cosmic horror genre in Alex Garlands latest eerie sci fi flic  Annihilation. Based on the trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, Natalie Portman stars as Lena, a biologist whose husband (Oscar Issac) reappears after being presumed dead now with a strangely different personality. Suddenly his body breaks down as Lena is thrown into an all women expedition lead by Dr Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) into an unknown expanding area called "The Shimmer", which could have the answers that Lena seeks about her estranged husband. Before this movie was even release...

The notable American icon of the independent cinema world Jim Jarmusch, has never been one to conform to the norm of cinema elements in narrative and performance. And it's his latest Cannes opening horror flick that takes the idea of the undead quite literally in the zombie pic  The Dead Don't Die. The story is set in the aptly named 'Centreville', your classic American small town in the middle of nowhere, as we follow the day to day lives of its inhabitance including the local police duo played by indie darlings Bill Murray and Adam Driver. However, due to the earth turning off its axis due to the polar fracking, the dead are now raising from their graves in classic George A. Romero fashion as the town attempt to deal with this phenomenon in their own strange ways. Firstly as cast lists go, Jarmusch certainly won the lottery for his actors list. With a variety of weird and cooky performances by Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, Tom Waits, Danny Glover and e...

With the apparent end to the history making marvel cinematic universe, the film public now wonder where the next big blockbuster franchise will take place and if I could possibly compare to the juggernaut of Stan Lees creation. However it seems like Legendary Pictures have already begun an attempt on this success with the latest in their newly titled "Monsterverse" franchise with Godzilla: King of Monsters. The sequel to the well received 2014 film simply titled Godzilla , King of Monsters takes place straight after the final battle of the previous film where the mysterious organisation "Monarch"(because monsters) are trying to uncover and communicate with the remain domant creatures which they have dubbed as "titans". This leads to the awakening of classic Toho giants like the majestic Mothra, the crafty Rodan and the arch rival to Godzilla, King Ghidora. The first thing you realise is that the studio clearly understood that the audience wanted to see...

When you first hear the unearthly chimes and eerie calls of Goblins haunting soundtrack, you remember the technicolour nightmare that is Dario Argento's Suspiria ( 1977). While his filmmaking has had its ups and downs from the skin crawling Deep Red (1975) and Phenomena (1986) to the laughable Dracula 3D (2012), there is no doubt that his legacy and honing of the Gialli subgenre has made him one of the greats of horror cinema. So when we heard that a remake of his beloved Suspiria was in the works, you can imagine the scepticism of critics reaching its boiling point before the film had even been released. However this reimagining of the mesmerising tale would prove to be a mixture of new ideas and themes while blending in with the supernatural scenes of gore and beauty. Luca Guadagnino, straight after is heart warming summer romance Call me by your name (2017), made it clear straight away to the press that he would treat the original ' Suspiria ' with care. Showing t...

"Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong". The quote from the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha , really does sum up the journey of unfortunate events surrounding Terry Gilliam and his cursed film project around the classic tale of Don Quixote del La Mancha. So after more than 30 years of deals, casting changes and rewrites, we finally see the finished product of a directors magnum opus. Unfortunately it seems like a story 30 years too late. The man who killed Don Quixote  follows the tale of Tony Grisoni (Adam Driver), a Hollywood director portraying the biblical story of the same name with a crew that cannot understand his creative vision, sound familiar? However he is sent on a nostalgic trip to his amateur film days and reconnects with a crazed Spanish shoemaker (Johnathon Pryce) who believes he is the incarnation of Don Quixote. What follows is a mixture of hallucinogenic spectacle and blundering humour but none of the magic and wonder. Firstly lets look at the cast...

Unfortunately, if you're looking for a guide on how to stop your greenhouse from spontaneously combusting, I cannot help you. But the latest film from acclaimed author and director Lee Chang-dong, might make you think twice before you see a flamming glass cornucopia in the distance. Burning is a fresh wild take on the thriller genre with a drawn out pace mixed with brilliantly simplistic visuals to give a new meaning to violence and rage in Korean cinema. The film follows aspiring writer Jong-soo (Yoo Ah-in) as he runs into high school friend Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) who after an intimate reunion, requests that he look after her cat while she travels to Africa. She returns however with the sinister yet eccentric Ben (Steven Yeun), whose introduction sends Jong-soo down a rabbit hole of mystery, disappearances and ominous greenhouse fires. Firstly you have to give credit to the brilliant triple threat casting of our main characters. Yoo and Jeon would seem out of their leagues c...

To me the subtitle for the seemingly final addition to the marvel cinematic universes vast library seemed to fit my opinion of the franchise as a whole. I remember telling my friends before the screening that they could of named it 'Avengers: Extra Time', since if Infinity War was the Super Bowl, then Endgame was the match going into deep overtime. Exciting, yet heavily draining on the eyes. And yet when this film ended I was less relived, but instead content. After a whopping 3 hour run time, Endgame had become the send off to the 11 year saga that I wanted it to be. After the infamous results of Infinity War, we see the Avengers (or whats left of them) in their darkest hour. Now looking to fix the the crimes done by the tyrant Thanos (Josh Brolin), they look to the always popular writing trope in comic book narratives, time travel. The first thing you should know is that if you have little to know knowledge of the marvel films or have not seen the precursor to Endgame, then...