Oliver Battershall

Operation Avalanche (2016) 4.5/5
A fun and clever mockumentary within a mockumentary that effortlessly shifts tone throughout from a quirky comedy to an engrossing conspiracy thriller. It benefits from a commitment to period accuracy, many unexpected turns, and the performances of its small cast.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) 3.5/5
Or: The Curse of the Director Who Forgot to Yell ‘Cut’. It’s so hard to parse my feelings towards this. How do I critique a movie that’s deliberately boring and frustrating? If you can’t become accustomed to the pacing and shot length, there’s nothing for you in this. It took me until about halfway in to do so, and gradually things started to feel less excruciating and more incisive into the female experience and all of its monotonous rituals and oft unseen frustrations. I also started to realise how subtly masterful some of the shot composition was. It’s best to not think of this within the constraints of what we generally know or think to be cinema, instead embracing the mundane or meditative details shown here that are ignored without a second thought in everything else we watch. I still couldn’t quite escape the part of me that wanted more of a narrative structure here, with a clearer look into the gradual crescendo of desperation and deterioration, but I can’t say I’ll be forgetting about this film anytime soon. A cinematic thought experiment if ever there was one.

Joe Kidd (1972) 3.5/5
A Western that sticks to the basics can still be fun, as evidenced here by solid Eastwood and Duvall performances, a script that gets the most out of them, a quirky soundtrack and a couple of unique set pieces. Little extra details like the white guys consistently mispronouncing the Mexican’s name and Eastwood getting inventive while stealth-killing a guy Metal Gear Solid V style made this fairly memorable despite the directing being anything but that.

Porgy and Bess (1959) 2.5/5
Gave this a watch because for a while I’ve been in love with Nina Simone’s cover of ‘I Loves You, Porgy’. Poitier starring was a nice added incentive. Unfortunately this is still without a home video release due to Goldwyn’s very strained relationship with the Gershwin estate who have been playing hardball with the distribution rights ever since it came out. Ira Gershwin even denounced the film as, I quote, “a piece of shit”. So a fuzzy 480p bootleg version on YouTube it was doomed to be for me. Unfortunately, as is the case with a large portion of his filmography, Poitier was only in this due to studio pressure, and his dislike of the role is fairly clear. I wish they didn’t do a laughably distinct dub of his singing bits. I generally liked most of the songs, but I just really hate opera singing. Samuel Goldwyn’s last ever film, a box office failure, feels like a harbinger of the end of Old Hollywood. Theatrical song-and-dance cinema that has a spark but is tired and far too long.

The Disaster Artist (2017) 3.5/5
Love the Franco’s. Wiseau’s casting would make or break this but James does a perfect job. Some scenes had me laughing out loud, despite how much I usually struggle with cringe comedy. I like movies about movies in any capacity.

Fright Night (1985) 5/5
We open on our protagonist witnessing a murder outside his window through binoculars while rejecting the advances of his lover. No, it’s not a Hitchcock classic, it’s Fright Night baby! I was not even remotely ready for how much this movie rocks. The absolute pinnacle of 80’s supernatural horror with American Werewolf. A superior cast, irresistible practical effects and a killer soundtrack. There’s an original song by the singer from Mott The Hoople that plays in an awesome nightclub scene, I think I felt myself levitating during it. This knows exactly when to get campy, sincere, funny or spooky. Absolutely perfect.

Once Upon a Time in America (1984) 4.5/5
By far Leone’s boldest work. Not only to depart from the Western genre so successfully, but to interrogate the gangster genre by really testing the limits of the harm a character can inflict while still remaining compelling (albeit not always successfully). A sprawling epic that does non-linear storytelling very well, accompanied by a phenomenal Morricone score. With this and Untouchables, that guy was really cooking for the Prohibition era gangster films. De Niro and Woods are great (though I don’t condone the latter of whom’s right-wing twitter rants), but I enjoyed the childhood flashbacks even more than their bits. So close to giving it 5 stars, but De Niro’s character’s shocking antics, especially those of a sexual nature, meant I was distancing myself from him a little much to fully appreciate his rich backstory.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) 4/5
My first James Dean film, and it really struck me how despite his archetypal slick heartthrob reputation he expertly plays a character who at heart feels deeply vulnerable and frustrated while battling with an identity crisis. Such a mature performance. It’s interesting to see a film from this era critiquing the generational divide and bad parenting, when I’m so used to media that came out long after this that did the same thing but with Dean’s generation on the other end of it. You can really see how this had a hand in the creation of teenagers as their own social group in the West. A film about the angst and fear that can develop when you’re not given the attention and respect you deserve.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) 3/5
A tough one to rate, since on principle rape revenge movies are awkward for me to justify. The first half was a challenge to get through with its mix of misery porn and well, porn. But once it moves on from that it comes into its own and you can see why it drew plaudits from filmmakers like Tarantino. Fantastic sound design, glorious slow motion violence, and a well-shot ending that plays like a classic Western. Half of a 1-star film and half of a 4-star film.