Tommy Lee Jones
Helgeland writes and directs Finestkind with all the right intentions, but it ultimately feels shallow.
Ad Astra is not without its flaws, but Gray’s science-fiction endeavor is ultimately one of the best films of the year.
While Ad Astra is no doubt visually stimulating, ultimately Gray’s film is a meandering lifeless existential entity that overly emphasises on simplicity.
In Ad Astra, an astronaut travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet.
Since the inception of the Bourne franchise in 2002, the blockbuster as we know it has undergone a dramatic shift. Variety is limited as superhero films have taken over the industry. There are lingering alternatives like the Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious franchises, but the Bourne films have been the thinking man’s blockbusters since the series began.
In Andrew Davis’ brilliant 1993 thriller The Fugitive, the filmmakers use a variety of techniques to lead the viewer through the story. They drop hints with color and lighting that viewers are not necessarily trained to consciously notice while they’re watching, and employ a gripping editing style that effectively supports the cat-and-mouse game that embroils the film’s two main characters. Every movie has content, which is what is seen and heard on screen, and what is referred to as form, which is the way in which the film’s creators manipulate that content to their own ends and present it to the viewer.