Noises In A Quiet World

  It’s not a big secret by this point that my favourite film characters tend to be psychopaths. These twisted yet nuanced individuals often immediately draw me to a film. A particular favourite of mine is Patrick Bateman, the murderous businessman portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2000 satirical horror ‘American Psycho’ (based off the equally excellent book). So when I saw posters for the 2020 film ‘Spree’ frequently using the statement from Collider “‘American Psycho’ for the digital age” I was both intrigued and hesitant. Intrigued to see how the film would direct a similar kind of satire and commentary to modern society and hesitant as I was almost convinced it wouldn’t succeed. Regardless, I watched the film and was left disappointed. To be able to express my thoughts on the film, I will be comparing it to ‘American Psycho’ to highlight where it missed the mark for me.   ‘American Psycho’ follows Patrick Bateman, a narcissistic 1980’s Wall Street worker, for a long pe...

  For the first entry in my series of TV reviews I’m going to be discussing the Finnish crime drama ‘Bordertown’ (also referred to as ‘Sorjonen’ in Finland). I touched upon this series in a recent post about Autism in the media but after recently completing the entire series I feel I am more ready to tackle the programme as a whole. As the series could be considered quite niche (even compared to other subjects I’ve talked about) I am sure many readers have not seen it. In which case I would like to cast a spotlight on an excellent series that may have flown under your radar.   ‘Bordertown’ tells the story of Kari Sorjonen, a police detective with implied Autism who moves to Lappeenranta with his wife Pauliina and daughter Janina. Whilst there he joins SECRI, a special police task force focusing on more serious crimes. Aided by Lena Jaakola, a former-FSB officer with a mysterious past, and Nikko Uusitalo, a likable everyman, Kari solves some of the most difficult crimes of ...

  For today’s film review I’m going to be discussing ‘There Will Be Blood’, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 western epic. I was initially told about this film by a friend and despite their praise for the film and the acclaim it had received critically I was sceptical about watching it. I was convinced that this film would be pretentious and overly self-indulgent but regardless I decided to watch it. However, after watching the film I can wholeheartedly agree with the positive consensus for this film.   ‘There Will Be Blood’ tells the story of Daniel Plainview (played by the legendary actor Daniel Day Lewis), an ambitious Oil Prospector who expands his operations into a small Californian town. This places Daniel at odds with Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young preacher who condemns Daniel’s actions throughout the film. Whilst this idea is somewhat simplistic on paper, the film turns the concept into a unique and thrilling experience. The characters in the film are a joy to watch an...

  Quentin Tarantino is often considered to be one of the greatest directors of our time, if not the greatest. His films span many genres and feature exciting stories told with sharp dialogue and gorgeous cinematography that makes them enjoyable to a wide variety of audiences. Whilst I have not watched all his works, the ones I have were all exceptionally good. With this in mind, I had high expectations for his latest film, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ (2019) but unfortunately these were not met.   One of this film’s biggest issues for me is its story, or more rather the way it tells it. The film is set in 1969 Los Angeles and focuses on Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a 1950’s western star who’s fallen out of favour, and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) as they navigate a changing Hollywood. Along the way the duo become wrapped up in the actions of the Manson Family and the lives of their neighbours, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and director Roman Polanski (a br...

  As someone who has loved superhero films for a long time, it is impossible to ignore how great Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ is. These films have been praised endlessly for their story, acting and dark tone. By this point it feels that any more discussion about them wouldn’t bring anything new to the table. However, today I want to explore something that I feel is often overlooked about the films. How their take on Batman/ Bruce Wayne (portrayed by Christian Bale) was the perfect hero for his time.   Before discussing this, I think it is important to briefly explain the history of Batman films why the trilogy exists. In 1989 Tim Burton directed ‘Batman’, followed by ‘Batman Returns’ in 1992. These two films were met with a lot of praise for their dark, gothic tone and are seen as largely responsible for making Batman into a more serious character compared to his 1966 TV series counterpart. Despite this, Burton stepped down as director after ‘Batman Returns’, ...

  As someone on the Autistic Spectrum, portrayals of people with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) in film and television have always been important to me, particularly those characters with Asperger’s. Like many groups I always want to see my community represented in a fair and accurate way. However, there is a long history of autistic or implicitly autistic characters being under used or misrepresented in the media. Today I will be exploring these types of characters, both those that I consider harmful and those that I consider positive representations, to show how they have evolved over time. By doing this I hope to be able to suggest what can be done to continue to create interesting and accurate autistic characters into the future.   For many people the 1988 film ‘Rain Man’ is likely to have been their first exposure to an autistic character.  In this film Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learns of the existence of his brother Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) who has inhe...

  For what is to be the first in my series of film reviews, I have decided to start with the film I watched most recently. This film was Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1971 crime film ‘A Clockwork Orange’.  As a fan of films and TV with psychotic characters that focus on delving into their twisted mind (American Psycho, The Talented Mr Ripley, and the Hannibal Lecter franchise to name a few) I went into the film with high expectations and when it finished, I felt that for the most part these expectations were met.     To briefly summarise the film without spoiling it, the narrative focuses on Alex  DeLarge  (Malcom McDowell), a young sociopath who enjoys nothing more than assaulting innocents (except maybe classical music). After being apprehended for a particularly heinous crime, Alex is made to watch violent and horrific imagery in hopes of scaring him away from future acts. Whilst the film is most associated with its earlier scenes where we get to see A...