Film 2376 - Companion

Intro: I saw the poster and I got really curious about it. Then the red carpet, the press and the good reviews came in, which got me excited. Somehow, tho, I ended up forgetting about this film, until someone mentioned it and I finally decided to give it a go.

Film 2376: "Companion" (2025), Drew Hancock
Watched on: The projector
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. Was it as revolutionary and groundbreaking as some reviews made it out to be? Not really.
"Companion" is a good sci-fi thriller with a little bit of horror and humor in it and it works well, althoigh the idea of a robot lover (the companion) that gains conciousness (or freedom) and turn agains her partner (or captor) isn't necessarily new. To be honest, it gave me "Black Mirror" vibes (which is good).
The cast is great, Sophie Thatcher does an amazing job and is a great lead - and perfect for the part - while Jack Quaid continues to do great work. I was happy to see Harvey Guillén outside his familiar Guillermo clothes ("What We Do in the Shadows").
Overall a good watch.
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend.
Box Office: $36.7 million
Worth a watch?: Not groundbreaking, but an entertaining watch. Definitely not for everybody, but for those who enjoy this kind of movies it worth giving it a go.
Awards: /
Key word: $12 million.
Trailer
#HollywoodCiak
Bengi

Film 2365 - The Whole Truth

Intro: Another movie from the Netflix catalogue, another dinner at home in Lanzarote.

Film 2365: "The Whole Truth" (2016), Courtney Hunt
Watched on: On the TV of the apartment
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: I love legal drams, so I had high hopes for this one. In the end, tho, "The Whole Truth" isn't as powerul as it promises it to be when watching the trailer.
The movie has a very slow pace and the performances are a bit underwelhming, mostly because the story isn't that exciting. And it's a pity, because the cast is great and this genre of movies I usually really enjoy.
Ps. The screenplay is written by Nicholas Kazan, the son of famous director and 2 times Oscar winner Elia Kazan.
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Renée Zellweger, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Gabriel Basso, Jim Belushi.
Box Office: $1.7 million
Worth a watch?: It's not terrible, but there are other legal drama pictures there are way better and more interesting to watch, like, to name just a few, "12 Angry Men" or "Juror #2".
Awards: /
Key word: Watch.
Trailer
#HollywoodCiak
Bengi

Film 2363 - Gladiator

Intro: The first week in Lanzarote was all about relaxing and recharging (but also working, because yes, we went there to work from abroad while enjoying more favourable weather than the Irish one). So we watched quite a few movies during our first nights we spent at home.

Film 2363: "Gladiator" (2000), Ridley Scott
Watched on: On the TV of the apartment
Language: English
Watched with: Niamh
Thoughts: I mean, talk about an iconic movie.
Not one of my favourite pictures of all time, but definitely one I enjoy watching, we decided to go with this one first between the many options available on Netflix because a) again, it's an iconic film, b) we just saw the sequel at the movies back in November. So to us it just made sense to go with the epic story of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Crowe) on his quest to venge his family brutally murdered by the jealous Commodus (Phoenix) after his father refuses to let him rule the empire and choses Maximus over him.
The drama is all there, Crowe and Phoenix are excellent in their respective roles and "Gladiator" just works: it's entertaining, well produced and acted and has an amazing soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.
Film 576 - Il gladiatore
Film 2363 - Gladiator
Film 2325 - Gladiator II
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Richard Harris.
Box Office: $465.5 million
Worth a watch?: Interesting movie, it's a good outing for a directorial debut. Zoë Kravitz has a clear point of view and the story has good plot twists, enough to keep the viewer constantly engaged. Not an easy watch.
Awards: "Gladiator" won 5 Oscars (Best Picture, Actor for Russell Crowe, Visual Effects, Sound, and Costume Design) and was nominated for an additional 7 (Best Director, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, Original Score, Cinematography, Art Direction, and Editing). It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Original Score – Motion Picture and was nominated for Actor (Crowe), Director, and Supporting Actor (Phoenix). At BAFTA it won Best Film, Cinematography, Production Design, and Editing over 14 overall nominations (including Best Direction, Original Screenplay, Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role). It was nominated for 1 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. 6 nominations at the MTV Movie + TV Awards and 1 win for Best Movie.
Key word: Afterlife.
Trailer
#HollywoodCiak
Bengi

Film 2341 - Juror #2

Intro: Third movie in a row on my very busy Christmas day, I went for something not a lot of people were talking about (and I heard my parents were going to see at the movies the next day).

Film 2341: "Juror #2" (2024), Clint Eastwood
Watched on: From my laptop
Language: English
Watched with: No one
Thoughts: Potentially Client Eastwood's last motion picture, there was a lot of controversy surrounding this movie because apparently - and for whatever reason - Warner Brothers, the distributor of the movie, decided not to promote it. It doesn't really make sense to me, as this is a solid movie and the cast is great, but as a result, "Juror #2" wasn't a big success at the box-office (quite the opposite actually: it cost around $35 million just to produce it) nor with award bodies, which is really shamefull.
Although I don't think this is Eastwood's greatest work, I still believe it deserved at least a chance: Nicholas Hoult's and Toni Collette's performances are great, the story is compelling and well narrated, the overall result is well done and entertaining. All of this achieved by a man in his 90s, not to mention that he is literally a movie legend. SO why was this movie snubbed and quietly released in theaters?
To be honest, I can't really tell what happened behind the scenes, but definitely something must have went wrong for the outcome to be so unexpected. "Juror #2" is a perfectly fine and well crafted movie that deserved the attention of the audience, especially the fans of Client Eastwood's body of work. I particularly enjoyed Nicholas Hoult's performance, as it doesn't happen often he is given the chance to be the leading man of a drama movie, especially one that sees him being the actor with the most star-power of all the cast. I think he should be given more opportunities like this one, as he's a capable actor and his performance here is no exeption. Needless to say that Toni Collette is flawless here, always on point (give her more roles too!).
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J. K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Cedric Yarbrough, Leslie Bibb, Gabriel Basso, Kiefer Sutherland.
Box Office: $24.8 million
Worth a watch?: A really good movie. The story reveals its unexpected twist pretty soon and the audience is forced to live, together with the main character, the consequences and implications of the choices he makes. This plot device is really interesting and shakes things up narration-wise. For those who still remember it, this movie heavily reminded me of another legal drama from 11 (!) years ago, "The Judge". So, if you liked that one, you'll definitely enjoy "Juror #2".
Awards: /
Key word: Deer.
Trailer
#HollywoodCiak
Bengi

Film 2333 - Gone Girl

Intro: A few months ago I picked a new book to read after I finished Melanie C's authobiography back in the summer and I decided to take a break from ready for a month or two.
Once I felt going back to reading again, I finally decided to give this book a chance after I've been re-watching the movie it inspired so many times over the years. And while reading in Malta, I started to feel the urge to go back to the movie once again... And here we are again.

Film 2333: "Gone Girl" (2014), David Fincher
Watched on: My computer
Language: English
Watched with: No one
Briefly: I think it's fair to say that I really, really like this movie. I think it's great cinema and that Rosamund Pike gave the performance of a lifetime (that should have gotten rewarded a bit more).
I'm not reading the book yet, tho i felt the urge to go back to what for me was the source material: David Fincher's (crazingly underrrated) adaptation of Gillian Flynn's book.
Now that I have better insight on the story and, especially, on the character of Amy Elliott Dunne (Pike), I have to admit that my feelings towards her have schifted a bit: yes, she's crazy, manipulative, disturbing, yet there was always something there that fascinated me (still there, tbf). Some sort of respect for the guts she has, let's say
This time, tho, it was different. Knowing what she was doing willingly to her husband Nick (Affleck), reading the words coming straight from the character's mind... it was different. I felt disgusted by her and, to a certain degree (case yeah, she's a fictional character at the end of the day and this is just a well told story after all) I hated her.
And I think this says even more how great Rosamund Pike is in this movie. It's like she was born to play this part: she's unsetteling and mysterious, cold and manipulative and... it's impossible not to love her!
And I'll add this: I think Ben Affleck does a realy good job in portraying his character, readying the book gave me a better understanding of Nick and how he behaves and faces certain stressful situation adn I think Affleck should have gotten more praise for his performance.
Anyway, overall great movie, always compelling, beautifully shot and great sound track.
Film 853 - L'amore bugiardo - Gone Girl
Film 1020 - L'amore bugiardo - Gone Girl
Film 1544 - L'amore bugiardo - Gone Girl
Film 1739 - Gone Girl
Film 2156 - Gone Girl
Film 2331 - Gone Girl
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Missi Pyle, Emily Ratajkowski, Sela Ward.
Box Office: $370.9 milion
Worth a watch? Not Fincher's best movie, but definitely a great one. It's a gripping thriller wonderfully written adn acted marvellously. If you hadn't watched it yet... what are you waiting for?
Awards: 1 Oscars nomination for Best Actress (Pike). 4 Golden Globes nomination for Best director, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (Pike), Best Screenplay and Best Score. At BAFTA, the movie was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Pike) and Best Adapted Screenplay. 1 Grammy Awards nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. 4 nominations at the MTV Movie + TV Awards: Movie of the Year, Breakthrough Performance (Pike), Best Scared-As-S**t Performance (Pike), Best Villain (Pike)
Key word: Diary.
Trailer
#HollywoodCiak
Bengi

Film 1514 - The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Intro: I was intrigued by the the incomprehensible plot and the tense trailer, not to mention the good reviews and the best screenplay win at the Cannes Film Festival last year. That's why I was so keen to see the latest Lanthimos directorial effort.

Film 1514: "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" (2017), Yorgos Lanthimos
Watched: my laptop
Language: English
Watched with: Fre
Briefly: tense, but particularly slow, "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" aims to be a thriller with horror vibes even though it just manages to exacerbate the viewers with its deviant plot. In my opinion it's more boring than scaring;
Farrell and Kidman are beautiful actors and they carry the story as far as they can, the problem is that nothing really happens here until the end and it's frustrating that you have to wait for the very last minutes to get the plot moving forward. Probably it was one of Lanthimos goals to induce these kind of emotions in the viewers, yet still you really need to be committed to the cause to actually enjoying it;
"The Killing of a Sacred Deer" has a really powerful finale that partially redeems its previous 90minutes of nothing happening while you wait for the good stuff to come, but I don't think it's enough to appreciate a 2 hour-long movie that leads nowhere for the most of its running time. I think "The Lobster" has a powerful message underneath that is missing here. And you can definitely feel it.
Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Camp.
Box Office: $6.1 milion
Worth watching?: Yorgos Lanthimos fans will find it interesting and probably entertaining, but for those who don't know the previous Greek director works it's probably better if they start with "The Lobster" first: "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" is even slower and less fun.
Awards: Best Screenplay at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival (tied with Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here).
Key word: Alcoholism.
Did you like it? Buy it HERE!

Trailer
#HollywoodCiak
Bengi