Oliver Battershall

Atragon (1963) 2/5
An obscure one from a seminal Kaiju director. Well, the Kaiju in this has about two minutes of screen time and it’s not until the final act that it pops up. A first half full of boring melodrama and almost comically long shots make for a film that’s nowhere near as cool as its poster, or even its general concept.

Stay (2005) 4/5
Gripping and stylish. The 2000’s sure did love psychological thrillers didn’t they. And Dutch angles. And flashy transitions. And trip-hop needle drops. And so do I, but all that can be very naff sometimes can’t it. But this isn’t!

Malice (1993) 3.5/5
I love neo-noir. Even when it’s a bit trashy with a bad script and a couple of subplots that didn’t make sense. Are you going to stand there and tell me to resist 90s Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman?

Metropolis (1927) 5/5
Starting the new year off the right way, with a classic that more than lived up to my expectations. I found this utterly staggering. The sheer scale of it all, the expressive acting, the powerful pro-worker message, and that original score. God, that original score. Definitely my favourite score of any silent film and up there with my all-time favourites. This is all so emotive and such a step forward for narrative and experimental cinema.

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) 4/5
Completely manic. The runtime isn’t really an issue considering the ensemble cast and jumping between characters, though I admit if I’d ended up with the full length version instead of the 163-minute version it probably would’ve lost me. The kind of comedy where it’s the charm of the cast that strikes me more than the humour itself. The scale of this and the who’s who of comedy talents of the time is more than enough for me to excuse Kramer’s iffy directing.

Nosferatu (2024) 4/5
In hindsight it was a bit silly of me to assume this would be a simple remake of the original film, this is much more expansive and atmospheric in Eggers’ typical way. Fantastic costume and set design with a great screenplay that gets you in the gothic mood and made me want to head back to Whitby for some very not tacky vampiric tourist attractions. Maybe this was a little overly long but I didn’t mind. I’m still not sure why Eggers is scrutinised so often in film twitter discourse, you could maybe accuse him of getting a bit too wrapped up in the aesthetics of what he makes, but that’s not a problem when it looks so good! He’s allergic to making a bad film.

Better Man (2024) 4/5
Surprisingly meaningful and vulnerable, comes from a deeper place than most, including myself, would’ve expected. There’s a self-awareness and sincerity that you don’t find in many other celebrities’ attempts to express their struggles with fame. Teared up a bit towards the end!

The Glass House (2001) 2.5/5
A fairly average suspense thriller with a poor script and slow pacing. Stellan Skarsgård is the obvious highlight and pulls his weight during the decent few twists and turns of the plot.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) 4/5
Scorsese’s most controversial work by far for obvious reasons. Dafoe is maybe the most reliable actor of all time, and his take on an edgy, fallible Jesus is probably more captivating to non-believers like me than Christians. The same can be said for the other departures from the Bible in its narrative, it felt much more bold and expressive of Scorsese’s personal relationship with Catholicism than a traditional adaptation would. As a whole it didn’t feel quite as epic a tale as I was expecting, but I appreciated the bravery of this, especially the ending. Also call me blasphemous but…Judas had his points?