jtindahouse

I think Seth MacFarlane has spoiled us into thinking that all adult animation can be extremely funny. What he does is not the norm however. It takes incredible writing and unbelievable voice work to make it all come together. 'Fixed' had neither of those things (and that hurts me to mention, because I really like Adam Devine) and I can honestly say I never laughed once.

It's such a mundane story-line too. I mean this is an animated film. You have absolutely no limits on what these dogs can do. And yet it feels very contained and unimaginative.

I was hoping for another experience like 'Strays' which I really enjoyed. Dog humour can work, that film proved it. But 'Fixed' was a total miss for me. 3/10.

I love the idea of a movie that tells the same story from two different perspectives. If I ever wrote a screenplay myself, that's probably how I would structure it. But it just didn't work in 'Bring Them Down'. This movie set itself up really nicely for what should've been an epic second half. And then it made the decision to tell the same story all over again, rather than giving a worthy conclusion to the one it had already told.

The animal cruelty in this movie was a little much for my liking. In fact it was a lot much. If you're sensitive to that kind of thing at all then I would suggest avoiding this movie. I think the movie would've been better served to mention that aspect of the story, but steer away from showing it. It will leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

Also I would suggest having your subtitles turned on for this. Even the English language being spoken is heavily accented and hard to pick up.

This should've been a great revenge tale. Instead it turned into a pretty forgettable experience. 6/10.

It's becoming quite a treat every time Yorgos Lanthimos releases a new film. He's proven himself to be very consistent and he keeps making incredibly interesting movies. You never know what's going to happen next in his films and they're always an incredible experience for this reason. 'Bugonia' is no exception I'm pleased to say.

There is an actor in this movie, Aidan Delbis, making his debut film. I can't imagine the pressure that entails by itself, let alone being told that you will be working alongside the two greatest actors of our generation in every scene. He does a great job being the soul of the film in what is quite truly a heart-breaking performance.

Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone each turn on a masterclass of acting. Both in very different roles, but each just creating magic in every scene. The body acting of Plemons was really noticeable for me in this film. He can portray so much without even needing to say anything. And Stone's performance will be studied for decades to come I suspect. It's hard to fully appreciate on first viewing is the problem (and what will likely hamper her winning as many awards as she should).

Reading up about this film afterwards has been great fun. There are so many little details that can easily be lost in the wash. And there's even a reasonably major revelation that comes and goes so quickly amongst the chaos that you can forget it even happened.

This is a film that demands multiple viewings to fully appreciate and I look forward to doing that. On first viewing though, it is already clear that is one of the best of the year. 9.5/10.