Penrose Film Critiques

Continuing on from my awards for the alternate Oscar picks for films in 2019. A quick recap of the rules, you can only win a category if you aren't nominated for an Oscar in that same category. We've done the technical awards, now onto the acting and the big two, directing and best picture. Best Supporting Actor First up is our best supporting actor and with Mahershala Ali absent this year, its back to the academies favourites with Al Pacino and Joe Pesci both close to a win for The Irishman . However it looks like its finally time for Hollywood favourite Brad Pitt to receive his dues for his gruff machismo performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Yet my best supporting performance goes to an actor who has been passed along by the academy year after year, with 2019 giving by far his biggest challenge with Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse . Both Dafoe and Pattinson gave a staggering performance as two Lighthouse keepers driven mad by isolation and misery, but it was Daf...

With the awards nominations announced and the internet prepare to complain on the outcome, we must remind ourselves that there is more to the world of film than the old crusty academy says it is. So here in the UK, one of the most notable figures in film journalism, Mark Kermode, designed an award specifically to counter the Oscar system known as the Kermode Awards. Simply put there is only one rule, you cannot win in a category you are already nominated in for the Oscars, thats it. Since me and Marks opinions have differed in the past, I thought to make my own winners for films that deserved a chance in the spotlight. Now remember to think about this less as a top 10, and more of a compilation of recommendations for the best of cinema in 2019. So here are my picks for the Penrose "Kermode award" winners, with some added thoughts of the Oscar nominations too. Best Cinematography So firstly comes the cinematography award and this year we have nominations for academy favo...

People complain that movies are getting too long, but it takes balls to go beyond past the three hour mark and still keep your audience watching. The Irishman feels less like a movie and more like a West End theatre show with how well paced and enjoyable it is to watch, even without an intermission. Clearly Scorsese understands that in order to make your story come across to an everyday audience you need the right energy from your actors, and you don't get more energy and charm than from De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. Seeing Al Pacino and Joe Pesci return to the character studies that made them famous was a rollercoaster ride in of itself. Although I hate to say it but Robert De Niro was the weakest link in the cast along with Stephen Grahams excuse of a New Yorker accent. This wasn't because of De Niro's performance or delivery, but rather his portrayal as young mid thirties De Niro with face capture. Now I understand that getting two actors to play the same character of diff...

Ever since the infamous clown prince of crimes first comic book appearance by Bob Kane and fellow writers of DC Comics in 1940, one thing that has always been unanimously agreed to is that we would never know the true origins of the villain known as "The Joker". As time has gone by we have come close to revealing this great comic book mystery with Alan Moore's The Killing Joke with the red hood, or Tim Burtons Joker played by Jack Nicholson who famously falls into a pool of acid. However most die hard fans agree that what truly makes The Joker memorable and frightening is the mystery itself, that we will never know what drives his love of crime and that chaos is an unstoppable force of madness. So we then arrive to Todd Phillips's 2019 interpretation of Joker ( ironically not called "The Joker") which attempts to combine the story of a man who wants the world to love and accept him  and a battle of class of society where chaos is brewing. Arthur Flick is a...

10- Hope Gap Alongside Marriage Story in the witty divorce drama genre, we have William Nicholson's Hope Gap . With a charming dysfunctional duo of Bill Nighy and Annette Bening, we see a young web designer played by Josh O'conner returning to his parents home on the coast as he hopes to fix their breaking marriage. Nicholson gets the most out of these actors with a punctuated and scintillating script, as well as taking advantage of the cold bitter British coastal weather for the narrative. Having this in comparison to Marriage Story's claustrophobic cityscapes is intriguing so if you cant get any tickets for that, then Hope Gap is a great second option. 9- The Peanut Butter Falcon And so we witness the return of the Hollywood castaway, now indie film fest darling Shia LaBeouf. Starring in the headlining film of the Love strand, Peanut Butter Falcon is less focused on romantic love, but rather on the brotherly love that breaks the barriers of mental illness. The fi...

With the month of October approaching, film lovers from across the UK and the world will flood cinemas all over London for the BFI's London Film Festival. With each year bringing us exclusive screenings of some of the worlds most exciting and innovative works of cinema, it can be quite difficult to choose which films are worth the admission and which aren't. This list will comprise of some of my most anticipated releases this year, from Oscar contenders to independent cinema favourites. This will be my attempt to break down the 20 films that I am the most excited to see this year. Some honourable mentions that didn't make the cut for me were Tom Harpers The Aeronauts, Micheal Winterbottoms Greed and even A beautiful day in the neighbourhood which will probably get more Oscar buzz than most of the films here thanks to Mr Hanks. 20- Miles Davis: Birth of Cool/ My Friend Fela Right of the bat im already technically cheating with two films at the number 20 spot. Both of th...

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...