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  • The Long Walk: Review

    The Long Walk: Review

    The Long Walk: Review. By Daniel Rester

    The Long Walk was the first novel Stephen King ever wrote, though it was not his first to be published. Despite coming out in 1979, the book still holds relevant messages. King has frightened readers with sharp-toothed vampires, clowns in sewers, monsters in mist, and more, but it’s the author’s vision of a possible totalitarian America that remains one of his most disturbing. 

    Screenwriter JT Mollner and director Francis Lawrence have adapted King’s novel into a powerful film. It follows fifty young men living in a dystopian America who participate in an event called “The Long Walk.” All of them are to continually walk at 3 miles per hour while being escorted by a military squad in vehicles. Anyone who falls below the set speed is given three warnings before being shot to death. The last man standing will be given a cash prize and one wish. 

    The story mostly focuses on Ray (Cooper Hoffman) and Peter (David Jonsson). Ray has personal reasons for being in the contest, while Peter wants to possibly use the wish to help future contestants. They also come to interact with Billy (Garrett Wareing), Gary (Charlie Plummer), Hank (Ben Wang), and others along the way as men die around them and the squad’s leader – known only as “The Major” (Mark Hamill) – stays nearby. 

    This is not an easy watch. Mollner allows some of the victims to show dark sides, and Lawrence doesn’t shy away from staging the violence. There are often close-ups of exhausted men having their brains blown out. The soldiers are robotic deliverers of evil as they do nothing but shout warnings and fire weapons. The environments surrounding the long road are often barren and lonely. 

    The Long Walk isn’t endlessly hopeless though, finding moments of grace and humanity and stressing the importance of not bending knees to vile men. The young victims often joke around in order to hide their fears. Many of them show empathy and warmth and try to assist each other as they fall down. Some of the ones who survive long enough even find themselves making new friends. These elements keep The Long Walk from being as bleak as, say, Salò (1975). 

    Hoffman and Jonsson have excellent chemistry and deliver two of the standout performances of the year. Both of them have impressed in the past, with Hoffman shining in Licorice Pizza (2021) and Jonsson stealing the show in Alien: Romulus (2024). The Long Walk allows them to push themselves as actors again as they dig deep into their characters.  

    The supporting cast is pretty strong too. Plummer manages to bring humanity to Gary when the character could have easily become cartoonish due to some of his foolish decisions. Judy Greer also shines in the small but pivotal role of Ray’s mother, Ginnie. Hamill is occasionally unsettling as The Major, but his growly vocal choices feel a little over the top.  

    Mollner and Lawrence put the audience with the contestants right from the beginning and rarely move away from them. On one hand, this keeps the story very focused on the main characters. On the other hand, it leaves the world around them feeling a bit underdeveloped. Some of the dialogue hints at aspects of the totalitarian state, but it all feels a bit vague by the end. 

    A few of the emotional scenes could have used more subtlety. Jeremiah Fraites’ music score has beautiful passages, but it can be distracting at times as it is employed heavily. Mollner’s characters occasionally stay too chatty as well when fewer words would have worked better. 

    The Long Walk barely misses the mark of being a great film. It is still really good though. Lawrence and Mollner find the power and soul of King’s pages, and Hoffman and Jonsson are sublime in their roles. 

    Rating: 8/10

  • The War Between: Review

    The War Between: Review

    The War Between: Review. By Joe Muldoon.

    Somewhere in the scorching Sonoran Desert, two lone soldiers find themselves bound together by circumstance, but divided by allegiance. It’s April 1862, the American Civil War is in its infancy, and death is in the air. Corporate Israel (Damian Conrad-Davis) Terry fights for the Union, and Private Moses Jennings (Sam Bullington) fights for the Confederacy — in other words, they’re sworn enemies. And yet, stranded together in the desert, they have little choice but to cooperate, lest they fall victim to the sun, the land, and its inhabitants.

    Equally discombobulated by his head wound and by the unfamiliar environment, Israel’s survival rests squarely within the hands of Moses, whose worldliness and familiarity with the Apache people and their language seems incongruous with his Confederate standing. Whilst their respective comrades are continuing the conflict with arms, the two wanderers’ conflict is one of wits and principle, clashing over abolitionism and Manifest Destiny.

    Bickering, tussling, and debating below the gorgeously-shot rays of light and taking shelter beneath the cloak of nightfall, the tension leaves the men unsure whether they’d rather be left at loggerheads, or friends of convenience. Their more pressing goal is the same: to find sanctuary with their men in a distant military base. But will Moses be welcomed to a Confederate fort, or will Israel be met by the site of a Union garrison? Neither man knows, but each can only pray his companion’s desired outcome is unmet.

    But it’s not just Moses and Israel whose fates remain up in the air; a Native named The Great Seer (Wayne Charles Baker) shoots his way into the soldiers’ strife, and soon joins them across the plains, having his own destiny to fulfill after having been exiled from his community. And it’s with the introduction of The Great Seer that Ron Yungul’s writing truly shines, a really interesting interplay between interpersonal empathy and duty. Each man has reason to distrust the other two, yet they seem to find it hard to hate them.

    The decision to ground the events of The War Between beside The Battle of Picacho Peak is a subtle, but particularly clever one: the battle, which took place on 15th April 1862, marked the westernmost fatality-carrying battle of the American Civil War. By choosing to mark the trio’s fateful meeting so far west, we’re shown just how far the war truly stretched and how many noncombatants found their doorsteps adorned with the banners of a war in which they wanted no part.

    In a genre soaked with (admittedly deliciously) dramatic gun-slinging, bust-ups, and high-thrill action, The War Between is a pleasant sidestep, a slowing-down of the Western’s cowboy chaos, and a focus on the human bond. Director Deborah Correa sought to challenge divisions and conflicts with the characters’ capacity for empathy, and by all accounts, mission accomplished. But more than that, The War Between is a fresh perspective on the true, hidden, oft-forgotten cost of the American Civil War, a tribute to those who —literally and figuratively— found themselves in the crossfire.

    By Joe Muldoon

  • All The World’s A Cage: Fast Times At Ridgemont High

    All The World’s A Cage: Fast Times At Ridgemont High

    All The World’s A Cage: Fast Times At Ridgemont High. By Rufus Black.

    Welcome, one and all, to the first instalment of ‘All the World’s a Cage’, or alternatively, the ‘Cage of the Month Club’. Here, once per month and in roughly chronological order, we will work our way through the storied filmography of Nicolas Cage – the greatest actor to have ever lived. Some people may claim that awarding that title to this man requires justification, and as such those people are ridiculous, their views an outrage and their existence utterly absurd. In terms of sheer acting talent, whilst he may be brilliant in the utmost, there are many champions who may always compete for the top of the podium. And yet, there are a variety of factors to an actor’s career beyond that, and it takes a Cage to juggle them perfectly. A component in which he truly excels is in the diverse variety of roles he takes, and the absolute commitment with which he attacks them all. You would never see Daniel Day Lewis in Mandy, for example; Olivier would have shied from Deadfall.

    Thankfully, there is already sufficient Cage that at a rate of one a month it will still last until we’re all dead, even if for some unspeakable reason he were to stop making new movies today. And so, what format shall this feature take? We’ll begin with a review of each film based on its own merits, keeping an eye out for our intrepid hero, before rounding off with a separate assessment of it as a Cage film. We’ll lay down some criteria in this first instalment which may evolve in the future.

    Without further ado, we kick off this month with Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), marking his cinematic debut. Here, Nicolas Cage (credited as Nicolas Coppola at this point) plays Brad’s Bud, a true character for the ages.

    Review

    Fast Times At Ridgemont High was released in 1982, based on Cameron Crowe’s 1981 book of the same name (he would also pen the screenplay), and marks the directorial debut of Amy Heckerling. A comedic yet honest story which follows a snapshot of the lives of several Ridgemont High students before they graduate, the film is steeped in a nostalgia for the seminal point of adolescence. It’s also something of a time capsule simply due to the period in which it was made, as there isn’t a frame that doesn’t betray exactly when that was. The opening montage familiarises us with the characters quickly and adeptly, though admittedly I was distracted by the shopping mall it takes place in. It wouldn’t be a big deal, but the many establishing shots therein made me feel like I’d been there before… and I quickly realised that the layout was almost identical to the one featured in Chopping Mall (1986). Indeed, as it happens, it was the exactly the same mall – Sherman Oaks Galleria in L.A. If that name rings a bell, it’s likely because you know it from Terminator 2 and Commando, and we can assume as such it was quite a popular filming spot in the 80s. Chopping Mall darts around that place so much that by the end, the viewer knows it inside and out unmistakably. So there you go – didn’t take long for us to run into some movie history. We’ll be back at Sherman Oaks Galleria for Valley Girl in this very feature.

    The soundtrack punches in for the opening with We Got the Beat by the Go-Go’s, and there’s a rich range of 80s rock that escorts us through the whole movie. It’s a nice touch, and really adds to the timely teen nostalgia, though I can’t recall if there was actually an original score. The downside is that at times, due to the soundtrack being used for transitions so freely, it starts to feel a bit like a sitcom. This could be accentuated by the fact that there are so many stationary scenes, but Matthew F. Leonetti is such a competent cinematographer that it never feels like it visually loses the pace.

    The cast really hold the whole thing together tightly. With a film so focused on its characters’ interactions, good casting is essential and in this case was executed perfectly. Sean Penn is intrinsically tied to this movie for a lot of people, and with good reason. As the perpetually stoned Spicoli, he is also most at risk of veering from reality and becoming a cartoon. Penn rather masterfully stays on the brink of it but never quite tipping over, mostly due to a sadness that creeps in whenever his easygoing nature is challenged. When Judge Reinhold is on screen as Brad he dominates it, and makes it impossible not to watch him. His physicality shows so much conviction in his character with his confident swagger, that either Reinhold is always that guy or he lived it for a while in preparation for the role. I would assume the latter based on the scenes where he’s flipping burgers completely naturally, even occasionally going for a few trick flips. The more conventional leads are Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brian Backer, who I found alright, although I’ll admit to not really noticing them amidst the other cast.

    Certainly hitting all the required beats, and Leigh carries the more complicated intimate scenes with commitment. Robert Romanus is excellent as Mike Damone, somewhere between a guy you know and a guy you wished you knew (at least until he turns out a bit of a scuzzball). It really feels like you’re hanging out with a friend when he’s on, due to his relaxed and unbothered nature. Phoebe Cates is cut from a similar cloth as Linda, Leigh’s more experienced friend, who also steals the audience’s attention with her full embodiment of the character. Yet more genius casting in Ray Walston as Mr. Hand: Spicoli’s nemesis as the strict history teacher. Similar to Spicoli, he initially comes off as something of an exaggerated archetype, but the more time we spend with him his humanity comes out as a teacher who genuinely wants his students to do well.

    In smaller roles there are faces that would go on to be familiar – Amanda Wyss is in there and would go on to Nightmare On Elm Street, Forest Whitaker bringing some real intensity and gravitas in his little screen time, and of course, Cage himself. His role as Brad’s Bud amounts to maybe a cumulative minute of screen time, and I didn’t hear any dialogue from him though there may have been some in the crowd. This is very much what would now be called a featured role in background acting (extra) lingo, save for the fact that he does make the credits at the end. He’s most notable near the beginning, where he slaps an “I am a homo” sign on some nerd’s back. We see him again getting out of Brad’s car, watching in dismay as Brad is fired, and dancing at the prom. Utterly amazing.

    All in all, this is a solid picture with no major flaws to report. I believe most negative reception at the time was aimed at its perceived vulgarity and sexuality, seen as something of an exploitation flick. In truth the handling of teen sexuality comes off as very honest rather than crass, and grounded in believable characters. In fact, the sex scene between Romanus and Leigh was cut in order to be screened and placate the censors, which had the effect of making it actually seem more exploitative. It still has that awkward, not-sexy, hesitant feel, but by all accounts was even more so prior to being recut. The sexuality serves more as a means to an end rather than a thinly-veiled purpose, with the notable exception of Brad’s brief fantasy of Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool topless, but since that was both incredibly hot and awesome I don’t care.

    Also worth noting before signing off is the impressive stunt work in both the football scene and the car crash, coordinated by John Moio. The ending is lovely and clicks like Lego, winding down with Leigh and Backer, at which point I was slightly concerned that the other characters were going to be forgotten, but almost everyone gets a nice farewell, especially Brad and Spicoli. Overall, even if the teen sex comedy is not a genre you’re particularly interested in, this slick movie will still keep you invested, chuckling and feeling like a kid again.

    8/10

    Some Notes on Cage

    Here is where I’ll try and dig up a few Behind-The-Scenes factoids about Saint Nic’s involvement in a given project, though they’re a little thin in this case. As previously divulged, this is his feature film debut – not his film debut, as he had previously starred in The Best of Times a year prior, the pilot of an intended variety show that simply never happened. As such, that’s floating around as a tv movie. I probably should have started with that but it’s difficult to source, so it may pop up as next month’s or later.

    Cage actually auditioned for Brad in Ridgemont, by his telling “10 or 11 times”, though since he was a minor at the time he couldn’t legally shoot for as long as was necessary, once again proving that the law sucks. Whilst he almost certainly would have brought something to Brad, there’s no denying what a great fit Reinhold is, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone else. This is the last time he’d be credited under the Coppola name until 2022’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, due to accusations of nepotism on Ridgemont – ever the professional, he won’t name names, but he’s often mentioned how other cast members would keep bringing up the Coppola name and his uncle Francis in relation to his own presence in show business. He would adopt ‘Cage’ shortly thereafter in reference to Luke Cage, Hero For Hire.

    As A Cage Film

    Here’s where we’ll have a look at the picture from the perspective of a Cage movie, how it fits into the canon of Cage filmography, as well his role, through the medium of some key questions every Cage fanatic has in relation to each of his films and characters. Expect this section to alter and evolve in further instalments, and do leave comments and notes for suggestions.

    How much of the motion picture is he in?

    Here we’ll distinguish movies led by Nic, or where he’s a main character, side character, cameo, etc. However, duration is not the only metric here, as a perfectly utilised small role could be optimal Cage usage for the right film.

    In this case of course, he’s barely in it – the brief moment of “Oh, look, it’s Nic Cage” is obviously preferable to a random extra of course, so that’s something. A line or two wouldn’t have hurt…

    1/10

    Could anyone else have played this role?

    An assessment of whether he was well cast for the part. Being the wild card he is, a good casting director doesn’t just stick Nic in anywhere. Cage’s job is obviously to make it fit wherever he’s put, but here we’re assessing the casting.

    In this film, pretty much anyone could have done this part. When he smacks the sign on the nerd, he makes sure to pull that little background actor trick of ‘looking over his shoulder’ to ensure that his face ends up on camera. But that’s really some of the most character he gets to inject here.

    0/5

    Does he get Uncaged?

    You can often tell his favourite scenes to shoot. When he’s really feeling it, he screams, shouts, breaks stuff, laughs maniacally… being the modern expressionist, it’s worth assessing to what degree he goes into an expressionist furor or hysteria – to what degree he gets Uncaged.

    In Ridgemont, that’s not at all.

    0/5

    Would it suck without him?

    I’ve sat through some right shit just because it’s a Nic Cage movie. And I’m sure I haven’t even seen the worst of it yet. So far the only one I’ve actually given up on and not watched all the way through is Jiu Jitsu, though of course I’ll try again. Naturally, he’s brilliant even when the film is awful, but it is still a factor of a good Nic Cage movie that it is actually a good movie, not just resting on him.

    Since he’s a little inconsequential in Fast Times, that’s basically a question of how good it is anyway. I don’t really know from this genre so it’s a little difficult to gauge how innovative/derivative it is. And in fact, this might even be the most subjective criteria here. Whatever, I thoroughly enjoyed it, without it revolutionising my perception of cinema.

    8/10

    Cage Fight – Could [this role] beat [title holder] in a fight?

    It hardly needs stating that it would be awesome to watch every Nic Cage character have a massive fight until only one remains. Is this anything to do with how good a Nic Cage movie is? Probably not, but we’ll do it anyway. The ‘title holder’ in question is the victor of the previous Cage Match. Assessed out of 3, where 3 is a victory, 0 is a landslide loss, and 1 and 2 are losses gauged by how close the fight is. I wholly expect that when we get to Ghost Rider, Ghost Rider will probably win in perpetuity, but I could be wrong.

    Since this is the inaugural All the World’s a Cage, there is no fight to be had. Brad’s Bud is hereby our Cage match champion and will go on to fight next month.

    3/3

    Cage Score

    The final assignation of how good the motion picture is as a Nic Cage movie. All categories are given equal weight to calculate the final percentage.

    38%

  • Fantastic Four: First Steps – Another Review

    Fantastic Four: First Steps – Another Review

    Fantastic Four: First Steps – Another Review. By Daniel Rester.

    Marvel’s famous comic book family The Fantastic Four has finally arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Four previous Fantastic Four films have been made outside of the MCU, all of them ranging from bad to mediocre. Thankfully, that curse has now been broken as The Fantastic Four: First Steps is mostly excellent. 

    First Steps takes place on the retrofuturistic Earth-828 during the 1960s. Scientist Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and their friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are four years into being celebrated superheroes after having gained powers from exposure to cosmic rays. Reed can stretch his body, Sue can turn invisible and use force fields, Johnny can fly and burst into flames, and Ben has superior strength and skin made of orange rock. 

    Sue finds out that she and Reed are going to have a baby. Not long after, the herald Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives and tells the people of Earth-828 that their planet will soon be devoured by the cosmic being Galactus (the deep-voiced Ralph Ineson). The Fantastic Four set off into space to find Galactus in order to stop this from occurring. 

    Despite having a screenplay credited to four writers (Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer), First Steps manages to contain a focused story and consistent tone. By taking place on Earth-828, it is free of the rest of the MCU and therefore doesn’t feel like it’s trying to reference previous MCU films or set up future MCU films (until a scene during the end credits, that is). This approach feels welcome and fresh in a day and age where some of the MCU films have started to feel like homework. 

    The screenplay also has a good sense of humor, while not trying to force in too many jokes; the banter between Ben and Johnny is especially fun. Its dramatic scenes work well too, especially when they are focused on Sue and her responsibility as a mother. The aspect of Sue protecting her child and family really becomes the heart of the film, as she gets put into an impossible situation that I won’t spoil. 

    Some of the supporting characters do lack development on the page. Galactus is an imposing villain and Ineson gives him personality, but there isn’t much to him besides “bad guy needs to eat planets.” Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) and Rachel Rozman (Natasha Lyonne) are two welcome characters, but they are given barely anything to do. The subplot involving Ben being attracted to Rachel is so undercooked that it could have been removed altogether and First Steps wouldn’t have lost much. 

    Director Matt Shakman brings the script alive with his confident handling of the character interactions, staging of the action sequences, and capturing of the retrofuturist environments. He is greatly aided by production designer Kasra Farahani and composer Michael Giacchino. The film’s entire technical team brings fine work to the table (including vibrant CGI from the visual effects members), but Farahani and Giacchino’s work in particular elevates Shakman’s vision; the 1960s interiors pop from scene to scene and the musical themes are rich and exciting. 

    The whole cast in First Steps is strong. Pascal feels a bit miscast as Reed, but he still delivers a committed performance and gives Reed emotional complexity. Quinn, Moss-Bachrach, and Garner are also very good. The standout of the film, however, is Kirby. Her performance as Sue is magnetic as the character goes through a rollercoaster of decisions. It’s a performance full of both nuance and intensity, and it’s one of the finest in the MCU.

    First Steps is easily the best Fantastic Four film to date and is among the better MCU films of the past few years. There are many smaller elements in the film that can be nitpicked, but First Steps as a whole is an entertaining and uplifting superhero blockbuster. Marvel’s first family has arrived and is hopefully here to stay in the MCU going forward. 

    Rating: 8.25/10

  • Sugar: Review

    Sugar: Review

    Sugar: Review. By Simon Thompson.

    Co -directors Eden Ohayon and Alexandra Nedved, and writing trio Molly Ehrenberg-Peters, Eden Ohayon and Alexandra Nedved’s Sugar, is a bizarre combination of biting social commentary, an awkward comedy of assumptions and surprising sweetness, all wrapped up into a neat little package that somehow never becomes too tonally dissonant across its nine minute running time. 

    The plot of Sugar follows Maeve (Molly Ehrenberg-Peters), a broke, down on her luck Brit living in New York. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so Maeve decides to become a sugar baby (a much younger woman who enters into a sexual relationship with a rich elderly benefactor usually out of financial necessity) bringing her into contact with Frank (Larry Pine). 

    At first the audience is cued into thinking that the rest of the narrative is going either to be really dark or that they’ve hit the jackpot in toe curling levels of secondary embarrassment. However, through Ohayon, Nedved, and Peter’s script it instead turns into an endearing chat between two disheartened and lonely people. From a comedic standpoint I would describe Sugar as being a mixture between Peep Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show.

    Just like Peep Show, Sugar makes extensive use of running internal monologues underpinned by a vast undercurrent of bitterness and self-loathing exaggerated to comedic effect. Like Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show, the jokes are predicated around awkward social situations where the characters put their feet in their mouths, thanks to them more often than not completely misreading any given social situation that they find themselves a part of. 

    Ohayon and Nedved’s direction fits the tone of the story perfectly, balancing both deft technique, as shown by the montage of New York at the beginning, and an understanding of when to dial back, such as during Maeve and Frank’s conversations, which flow realistically with little cutting. Molly Ehrenberg Peters and Larry Pine have strong chemistry on screen, and play off each other nicely as the story develops, both actors understand their respective characters perfectly and bring a naturalistic quality to their performances that compliments the dialogue and tone. 

    Overall, Sugar is a well-directed, funny, and likeable short that tells a complete story in just nine minutes, something many films can’t even manage across an hour and a half.