Finally caught up with a few (well 5) films this weekend
Thunderbolts (2025)
Didnāt have high hopes for this because apart from Multiverse of Madness (which I really like because of how certain things so obviously have Sam Raimiās stamp all over them) and Shang Chi, Marvel have been consistently putting out duffers. But I really liked this. I canāt be bothered to look into this in more detail because trawling through comic book websites is something I cannot and will not do, but it does kind of sound like the writers and director (or the studio, who knows at this point) had a great concept for a film and pulled it off. I had only seen Lewis Pullman in Top Gun, but I thought he was really good playing multiple roles ,essentially. Pugh is reliably good, and I thought overall the characters were made much more interesting and effectrve that in their earlier appearances in the franchise. Apart from Taskmaster, obviously. Not the most amazing film ever, but a nice surprise. I saw that the director only has two previous film credits: Robot and Frank (which I havenāt seen) and Paper Towns (which I didnāt like).
Dream Scenario (2023)
GREAT concept for a film, and the first half (I think, I wasnāt counting the time) has some of the funniest moments Iāve seen in a film in ages. Nicolas Cage nonchalantly bumbling through peopleās dreams is just made me laugh out loud. The final third just didnāt really work for me, although I got what it was doing. Itās basically a more fun, but less high-brow version of TAR but based on a silly concept.
In the Mood For Love (2000)
My third attempt at watching this, and the only time I made it to the end. I feel like an idiot for this, but I really just donāt get it. I watched it because I read the New York Times ā100 best films of the 21st centuryā list, and this was the highest placing film I hadnāt seen*. I might try again, but sometimes I think you just have to admit to yourself that something is not for you, and itās probably not a good thing to try and force yourself to like a film because it has such high acclaim, and if I can say I donāt like The Grand Budapest Hotel with ease, then why canāt I also say I donāt like In the Mood For Love with the same ease? Of course they are completely different films, but my reaction was āI just donāt see itā to both. If any Wong Kar-Wai fans on here can tell me what else to try so I can vibe with him, please recommend.
*The only other films in the top 20 I havenāt seen are two Ang Lee blind spots: Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hiddden Dragon. I feel bad that Iāve seen Ang Lee drivel like Gemini Man and Billy Lynn, but not seen either of these.
Nosferatu (2024)
I still havenāt seen The Northman, so I canāt do a complete Eggers ranking, but Iām not sure where Iād place this. It looks amazing (and deserved all the tech Oscar nominations it received) , and although itās an obvious thing to do (and maybe they did it a bit too much here), I liked having characters hidden in the dark in scenes, and then emerge into the light so you can see what they actually look like. My main concerns going in were āBill Skarsgard has already played one iconic monster, isnāt this a bit typecasting?ā But I thought he was great, and I never know how these things are done, whether heās doing the voice on set or adding it later, but his voice was great and he was so different from Pennywise that I felt stupid for having the first thought. I also thought āwasnāt Nicholas Hoult in that dracula movie from a couple of years ago?ā But I havenāt seen Renfield, but I assume thatās a sillier movie than this. I know itās their job to do it, but I do like it when actors have to say archaic dialogue, and I like Eggers for pretty much making his actors do this for his entire career.
The Teachersā Lounge (2023)
The pick of the bunch for me. I really loved this, and Iām probablty going to watch it again pretty soon. Bascially, itās a school drama about a new teacher who at various times is convinced she is doing the right thing investigating a series of thefts that take place on school property. That was all I knew about it before watching, apart from that it was German, and nominated for the international film at the Oscars last year. I have spent an hour or so reading about whether the film is supposed to be realism, a psychological thriller, or if itās all an allegory. I think all interpretations are valid, because the film is intentionallty amibiguous in places. But itās pretty relentless in causing believeable chaos, especially for the main character. It really works well at making you question almost every character as whether they are doing the right thing or not, and there is so much going on for a 90 minute film. This film reminded me of Uncut Gems, strangely (or not) in that every decision the teacher makes seems to be the right one, only for everything else to spiral into more problem. I think the scenes regarding the school newspaper come closest to making this an allegory of how easy it is to get fucked by the system if you believe you have good intentions.
I have read some reddit threads on this (I know, I know) and there were a lot of people going āthat shit wouldnāt never fly at an American schoolā or pointing out āIf she had just done this thing, then this wouldnāt have happenedā to which I just thought. 1) Itās not an American School, 2) The whole point of this film is to create drama - if the character did what you said in the first five minutes, you wouldnāt have a film, and 3) if the movie is intended as allegory, then none of that matters anyway. It reminded me a bit of the Adrian Mole books, where Adrian goes to a book group talking about Animal Farm, and gets out of his depth because he thought the book was about actual farm animals.
Rawr 
