Mubi Monday: Die My Love (2025)

I can easily see why director Lynne Ramsay wasn't initially keen to work on this film, which looks at the disintegrating mental health of a young woman after the birth of her child. Ramsay previously gave us the ultimate look at that kind of thing in We Need To Talk About Kevin. That also had an exploration of nature vs. nurture though, whereas this is all about someone losing their own identity, and healthy love of life, piece by piece. It has motherhood in the mix, but it's really more about how we can sometimes give too much to other people in relationships that then leave us without enough energy to properly take care of ourselves. Sometimes that is the fault of the other people, especially if they keep demanding too much of your time and attention. Sometimes it is a fault with the person who wants to keep busy and serve others while avoiding any time that could lead to some introspection.

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson are, respectively, Grace and Jackson. The two of them move into a home left behind by Jackson's deceased uncle. It needs a lot of work done to it, but it at least feels like a good home for them to start their family. Jumping forward slightly, Grace is left at home a lot with their young son, Jackson is often working away, and things start to sour quicker than a carton of milk left on the windowsill on a scorching summer day.

Based on a book by Ariana Harwicz, Ramsay has done well to collaborate with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch on the screenplay, but quite possibly did even better to assemble a cast who all had faith in her process and were up to the challenge of portraying their characters in a convincing and natural way. The screenplay works well in terms of the structure and the strong thematic core running all the way through it, but the film works as well as it does thanks to the lack of vanity shown by Lawrence and co.

LaKeith Stanfield isn't given much to do, sadly, but is as welcome as ever in his supporting role. Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek get moments that easily remind you of how great they are, but everything steps up a level when either Pattinson or Lawrence are onscreen, with the latter particularly strong delivering a performance that could arguably be considered the best of her career. It is, however, a performance much better than the film that she's in.

I really like the work of Ramsay. She's been delivering one fantastic film after another for almost the entirety of her directorial career. Die My Love is good, and it tries to walk a line between the many clouds and the infrequent silver linings, but it doesn't ever do enough to become great. Whether due to the source material (which I am unfamiliar with, sorry) or her own choices, Ramsay feels a bit undecided about where exactly she wants to take the characters. She also blurs reality and fantasy in a way that works against the potential impact of various moments in the third act, which is a stark contrast to the way she has handled such a blurring in her previous features.

There's still a lot to enjoy and appreciate here, and many others have heaped a lot of praise on this already, but it feels like the weakest film yet from Ramsay. Perhaps she was right to be hesitant when initially offered this opportunity. It certainly feels as if she doesn't have the confidence and instincts here that have served her so well elsewhere. 

6/10

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No Hard Feelings (2023)

Walking a tightrope between raunchy fun and hard-to-overlook ickiness, No Hard Feelings is a disappointingly tame sec comedy that has not enough of either the sex or the comedy. If you have been put off by the central premise (Jennifer Lawrence plays a woman so desperate for money that she answers an ad placed by two parents who want her to give their son a full girlfriend experience) then I would simply say that the script, co-written by John Phillips and Gene Stupnitsky, works hard to make everything much sweeter and more palatable, arguably to the detriment of the comedic potential of the whole thing.

Lawrence is Maddie Barker, someone we first see panicking as her car gets taken away. She needs the cat to earn money as an Uber driver, allowing her to pay off an overdue amount of tax on the house that was left to her by her mother. Maddie is a bit of a mess, for a number of reasons, but she tries to put on a different persona when answering the aforementioned advert, placed by two parents who don’t want their son to know anything about the scheme. It has to seem natural and real, and Maddie believes she will easily present herself as a fine catch. Unfortunately, the young man (Percy Becker, played by Andrew Barth Feldman) is so painfully shy and awkward, and so unable to pick up on social cues, that a successful outcome seems far from guaranteed. Maddie soon learns that he’s also very sweet, which is a development/complication that she didn’t even consider.

The main strength here is Lawrence, who leans fully into any ridiculous moment her character is thrown into. Whether she’s insulting people who are delivering unwanted judgements, sharing the class-based chip on her shoulder, or delivering so many double entendres that quickly devolve into sledgehammering single entendres, Lawrence is a lot of fun, and it’s clear that she should try her hand at it more often. Feldman is also very good, perfectly embodying the kind of nervy and good-hearted nerd that would have been placed as the super-horny lead if this film has been made in the 1980s. The concerned/slightly creepy parents are well-played by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti, both seemingly oblivious to the oddness of their approach to dealing with, and trying to help, their son. Natalie Morales and Scott MacArthur are fairly enjoyable as friends of Maddie, sometimes offering advice and sometimes criticising her choices, and Ebon Moss-Bacharach has a very amusing turn as the man who tows away Maddie’s car while wondering aloud why she broke off their short relationship without giving him any explanation or second chance.

Stupnitsky directs the whole thing with a disappointing lack of energy, not helped by the script that he and Phillips should have taken apart and rebuilt once they realised it wasn’t really working. And they should have realised that it wasn’t really working when the entire third act became far too dull and depressing. There are positives, but they are too little too late when it comes to outweighing the negatives, almost as if the film-makers forgot what kind of film they started with. It isn’t as if this is uncommon, many films like this one decide to push the laughs aside as the scene is set for a grand finale of rehabilitation and renewed love (be it for a character or just for life itself), but they have usually taken viewers on a more enjoyable journey before getting to that point.

It’s not dire, and I smiled a number of times as predictable moments played out, but this is hugely disappointing, and it lacks even one memorable set-piece (aside from one scene notable for Lawrence playing it completely nude, which gets more sad the more I think about it . . . THAT is the best you could come up with for a set-piece idea?). Either make a sweet rom-com or make a ballsy sex comedy. This neutered end result will, I suspect, end up pleasing less people as it tries to please everyone.

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: Don't Look Up (2021)

People denying facts that are literally about to hit them in a major death-strike, a three word slogan rallying round those who decide to politicise a major problem for the entire human race, and media that is complicit in helping to keep the masses placid and uninformed. Don't Look Up is a comedy that foregoes subtlety in an attempt to present something that is horribly close to the truth of our present times.

Written and directed by Adam McKay (from a story co-created by David Sirota), who has made a number of superb comedies in the past decade that use humour to probe major societal problems with surgeon-like precision, this may be an obvious allegory for the many people trying to deny climate change, but it's also yet another McKay movie clearly showing how so many ills of our world are rooted in the same place as every evil, money. A news team (Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) want to keep their audience happy for the ratings. A president (Meryl Streep) and her son (Jonah Hill) want to stay high in the polls, and nothing upsets people more than a potentially Extinction Level Event. There's also Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), a Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg/Elon Musk amalgamation, a very rich man with just enough scientific knowledge, and smart people on his payroll, to think he has all the answers.

The two lead characters, however, are scientists. Kate Diblasky (Jennifer Lawrence) spotted comet, which is then named after her, and Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) helped to work out the trajectory of it. It is these two people who spend the movie trying to warn everyone of their impending doom, helped by Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), but hindered by so many other people who have their own take on things, in defiance of the truth.

As well as those already mentioned, this packed cast includes roles of varying sizes for Melanie Lynskey, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Himesh Patel, Michael Chiklis, Robert Joy, and Paul Guilfoyle. Everyone is doing great work here, but the leads are surprisingly perfect in their roles. DiCaprio is allowed to be a very nervy individual, prone to anxiety attacks and a lack of confidence whenever he is in the spotlight. Lawrence's character is less nervy, but also less "media-trained", which works against her trying to warn people of impending doom. She doesn't care about who people are, she doesn't care about who gets upset, and her spiky demeanour is very funny, especially when she is arguing against a typically couldn't-give-less-of-a-shit Hill (who is both the son of the POTUS, and her Chief Of Staff). Morgan is the old hand at playing the game, as frustrated as the other scientists, but able to think up more strategic options to get the message out there. Streep isn't bad, she's certainly a lot of fun, but her character is the one who suffers most from the writing. She's a bit inconsiderate, trying to spin things the best possible way, but the comedy would have been strengthened by making her a complete idiot who couldn't stop herself from saying the dumbest stuff every time she had an opportunity to talk to scientists and people making serious plans. I guess sometimes you can't write anything stranger/funnier than reality. Blanchett is excellent, all super teeth and hair, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by Perry working so brilliantly in his co-anchor role, showing a real talent for being able to play comedy well by simply playing it straight (unlike the style of histrionics on display with his Madea character). Lynskey is a sweet and calm presence whenever she's onscreen, Rylance is amusingly unsettling in his constant awkwardness, and Chalamet is a great addition to the second half of the movie, as sweet and calming as Lynskey, in a way. Grande enjoys herself, and has a very amusing main scene talking to a character played by Kid Cudi, Perlman is hilarious in his very small role, and Patel is, well, his character feels completely extraneous, but he's as good as ever.

There's a decent score by Nicholas Britell and a number of songs that work well in the soundtrack, although the best one is the fake "Justt Look Up" song by Grande, as well as excellent sound design throughout, but this is a film mostly about the visuals, from the first sighting of the comet to the unavoidable ending. It's also a film about having your own kind of faith, something that McKay makes a hell of a case for in the third act.

The news keeps telling us how we can do better in our daily lives, with recycling, going vegetarian, using our car less, etc. Don't Look Up serves as a reminder that individuals aren't the big problem. The big problem comes from those with the money, with the power, and it is reassuring to think that their long-term plan for money to buy their way out of everything is a delusion. Because it is. That's not to say that we shouldn't all play our part in trying to ensure that we avoid being the species to destroy the entire planet. It's just that, as well as doing our small household part, we really do need to do whatever it takes to create a massive shift away from the unrelenting damage being done by companies headed up by people who will never make enough money to satisfy them. The irony being that this review will be shared on Facebook and Twitter after I wrote it on my beloved Macbook Pro, and you can all choose to read it on your smartphone of choice. But at least I have never been flown by private jet to a climate change conference. So, y'know, everything in moderation.

But I digress. This is a great comedy that consistently stays on point when it comes to the serious issue at the heart of it (the nonsensical equality that has developed between opinion and facts). A lot of the cast are giving brilliant performances, with the two leads absolutely perfect in their roles, and McKay continues his run of great films that have started to make his filmography a real treat for fans of comedy and social commentary.

8/10

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Red Sparrow (2018)

Although I didn't really dislike Red Sparrow while it was on, it's not a film I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone, mainly because of the way it constantly wavers between being too slick and neat and being bloody and faux-gritty.

Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika, a Russian ballerina who ends up struggling after an injury cuts her promising career short. She is then approached by her uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts) with a job offer - seduce a local gangster. That job ends in death, and Dominika is then given the option of either training to become an intelligence agent or being killed, to ensure there are no witnesses left. It's not much of a choice, and Dominika also has an ill mother (Joely Richardson) to consider. She starts her training, which soon puts her at odds with those around her, due to her strong will and determination, and then ends up heading to Budapest, where she meets an American agent (Nate, played by Joel Edgerton) who may end up being able to help her with her predicament. Or maybe she will just do her job, leaving a number of corpses in her week.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, Red Sparrow is certainly an ambitious film, considering the attempt to make an old-fashioned spy movie that will appeal to a wider age range than most. Lawrence did a decent job of mixing pure entertainment with interesting psychological moments in his three movies that made up three of the four The Hunger Games series so it's a shame that he can't do just as well here. Perhaps some of the fault lies with the script, by Justin Haythe, or perhaps the source material, written by Jason Matthews, was just never suited to what feels like a more sanitised telling of the story (despite a few strong moments).

Lawrence does a good job in the lead role, and her accent remains consistently impressive throughout. She's given good support by other fine Russians, such as Richardson, Charlotte Rampling,  Ciaran Hinds, and Jeremy Irons (obviously all picked for their talent and name recognition, as opposed to their actual . . . Russian-ness). Schoenaerts feels more obviously authentic, despite being Belgian, and he does a lot with a role that could have easily been either a pantomime villain or just a forgettable plot device.

Red Sparrow gets a few things right. The performances, the generally clean shot compositions and style (this is not a film for anyone looking out for the next Bourne), a lot of the plotting. But it doesn't ever do anything to make it stand out, cinematically, and the 140-minute runtime feels overlong by a good 20-30 minutes. But it's that inconsistent approach to the material that probably harms it the most. There are scenes that Lawrence knows can't be shown to be cool or sexy, he'd be in big trouble if he tried, but then he tries to keep everything moving along in between those scenes by utilising the star power of his leading lady, who inevitably comes across at times as, well, cool and sexy. It stops the film from having one true identity throughout.

Worth a watch, I'm just not sure of anyone who will love it, and I can't see it being one that anyone will choose to revisit more than once or twice.

6/10

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X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

For anyone mad enough to care about such things, my reviews of the previous X-Men movies can be found here (the first), here (the second), here (The Last Stand) and HERE (First Class). I've also reviewed X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine. Sadly, I've still not read any of the actual comics, but I've enjoyed, to varying degrees, every cinematic outing for the superhero squad.

Bryan Singer returns to the director's chair for this instalment in the X-Men movie franchise and it's not long until he reassures fans that they are back in safe hands. A lot of people enjoyed X-Men: First Class, but I was a bit disappointed by it. It was entertaining enough, sure, but really felt lacking in the action department. Five minutes into X-Men: Days Of Future Past and the action is thick and fast. Mutants are being wiped out by giant robots, called sentinels, that can absorb mutations and add them to their formidable arsenal of weaponry. Many have died, with a small group staying alive thanks to the unique gift of Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page). If an attack begins, and they can save some precious time for themselves, Kitty can send the consciousness of someone back to an earlier time, that person can then warn everyone, and the attackers arrive to find nobody around. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) want to end the war, and they think that Kitty could be the key. Unfortunately, she would need to send someone back decades, not just hours or days, and the mind can't handle that. Unless it's a mind that can repair itself almost as quickly as it's being broken to pieces. Yes, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) ends up being the one chosen to travel back in time. He has to find the young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), and the young Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and he has to ask them both to help him find Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). She doesn't know it yet, but it's her blood that could lead to the death and destruction of all mutants.

Although rooted in a darker storyline regarding the planned extermination of all mutants, this remains a surprisingly light and upbeat film (something that Singer also managed with the first movie - both started with scenes featuring a holocaust). This is thanks, mainly, to the large ensemble cast all clearly enjoying themselves, and also to the pacing of the movie, with at least four fantastic set-pieces helping to make the 131-minute runtime just fly by. When the action kicks in, it's almost as if everyone involved is so relieved to not be explaining "the science part" that every set-piece is taken up a notch thanks to the additional exuberance of all involved.

Jackman is the star of the show once again, after his fleeting appearance in the previous movie, but there's plenty time to enjoy the performances of McAvoy and Fassbender. Lawrence would have benefited from more screentime, but that's more a comment on how great she is onscreen than a criticism of Simon Kinberg's script. Nicholas Hoult gets to Beast out, impressively, on a few occasions, and Peter Dinklage is enjoyable as the potential villain of the piece. As well as Stewart, McKellen and Page returning to their roles, we get Halle Berry back (stuck with her character, Storm, being as useless in the movies as she has been from the beginning), Shawn Ashmore reprising his role as Iceman, Josh Helman portraying a young Maj. Bill Stryker, Evan Peters stealing a few scenes as Quicksilver, and Bingbing Fan making a great first impression as Blink (seriously, she's probably the coolest one that I was previously unaware of). There are many, many more, old and new, but I don't want to spend more time just reeling off the names.

Because of the time travel element, there's plenty of room here for references, in-jokes, and plot holes. Having said that, I never once sat and thought about any major mistakes in the developing timelines. The movie may (in fact, probably does) have the kind of errors/paradoxes that most other time travel movies also contain, but it's so polished and consistently entertaining that it doesn't matter. You also have to admire the skill shown in ret-conning the franchise so effectively. By the time the end credits roll (and wait for the post-credit tease, of course), fans can leave the cinema happy with the way things have been set up for the cinematic future of this franchise.

It may not be the best of the series, I still think 1 and 2 are a pretty unbeatable double-bill, but this is a return to great form for the X-Men. In fact, it's almost impossible to think of any fans who will dislike this one.

8/10

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The Hunger Games (2012)

Just when you think you can safely go along to the cinema without having to wade through fans of one teen-orientated cinematic juggernaut along comes another to assert itself as the new king of the hill. But, they all say, The Hunger Games is better than you think. It's full of more mature themes and better characters. It's darker and much better than any sparkly vampire movie. It's based on much better source material.

Well, I'll admit that there's some small degree of truth to that. However, The Hunger Games is still very much a watered down and sanitised film setting out to do little more than please the core demographic. In fact, I managed to convince my wife that the whole thing was nothing more than a metaphor for surviving high school (where popularity will get you through another day, competition is fierce, cliques develop and even if you survive to the end you'll find that you may have changed yourself beyond all recognition).

There was a great joke doing the rounds when the movie was released. It was a picture of the main characters from Pulp Fiction accompanied by the following caption: "You know what they call The Hunger Games in Paris? Battle Royale with cheese".

It's funny because it's true.

For those of you who have somehow avoided all of the hype and publicity, the plot runs something like this: It's the future and the rich and pampered stay in a lush capital city, miles and miles away from the outlying sectors that provide them with their essentials. Two youngsters (aged between 12 and 18) from each outlying sector are chosen each year to take part in The Hunger Games, a challenging experience that sees 24 enter a game zone and only 1 leaving alive. The Hunger Games is survived by those who are strong, smart and popular. Viewers remain mesmerised from start to finish.

I do have good things to say about the film. Most of the cast did a great job. Jennifer Lawrence in the main role once again shows why she's such a satisfying leading lady, Stanley Tucci is possibly one of the most dependable actors you can have in any movie, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth are both young men doing well in roles that have them playing . . . . . young men, Wes Bentley lends great support to his scene-stealing facial hair and there are quirky, and enjoyable, performances from Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland and a practically unrecognisable Elizabeth Banks.

The direction from Gary Ross (who also co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray) is okay but it also shows the work of a man unsure of just how to get the material up onscreen. This is not the same man who pleased us with Seabiscuit and, one of my particular favourites, Pleasantville. Nope, this is a man who knows that he has to cater to as wide an audience of teens as possible by glossing over subject matter that deserves far more mature treatment. The fact that the film doesn't quite make an enjoyable, cohesive whole (overediting is used to cover up the more violent moments, the heroine is almost completely passive for the first 3/4 of the movie and some of the plot holes seem pretty massive to me) actually makes me review it with a more charitable mindset. It's not a success but it tries as hard as it can to be all things to all people. Which we all know is a thankless, and impossible, task.

We also all know that there are many, MANY worse teen movies out there so if you end up being dragged along to this one perhaps it's best to just be thankful and try to enjoy individual aspects of it, as I did.

6/10

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