Mario Dhingsa's Blog - Posts Tagged "mariodhingsa"
#SilverScreenBlack: 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' (2017)
(121 mins)(Supra) Mario's rating: 3/5 (symptoms)
Sophie's (Worst) Choice: This is horror without hope, kinship without kindness, and solutions without resolution.
Superbly acted and sickeningly realised, watching this is like skydiving without a parachute, because all you'll do is plummet.
- Best quote🥇:
"You have beautiful hands. But so what if they're beautiful? They're lifeless. Sometimes Steven, you're just an incompetent man who goes on and on saying stupid things."
- Best spaghetti quote 🍝:
"Not long after my dad died, someone told me that I eat spaghetti the exact same way he did. At that time, I thought I was the only one who ate spaghetti that way. Me and my dad. Later, I found out that everyone eats spaghetti the exact same way. This made me very upset. Maybe even more upset than when they told me he was dead."
- Worst time-to-ask quote ⌚️:
"Our two children are dying in the other room, but yes, I can make you mashed potatoes tomorrow."
- Worst quote ever 😢:
MOTHER: "I believe the most logical thing, no matter how harsh this may sound, is to kill a child."
#nicolekidman #colinfarrell @20thCFlicks @empiremagazine @guardianfilm @totalfilm @mariodhingsa
#SilverScreenBlack: 'Victoria' (2015)
(2hrs 18mins, Ger)
Mario's rating: 4/5 (favours)
Berlin Birdman: One rejection, one romance, one robbery, one release; and all in one overwhelming take.
👍 Night clubs: The tension of the never-ending take. As in life, innocent lies and mistakes can be fatal, and there are no re-takes here. There's no going back.
👎 Night fights: The film was disqualified from being nominated for the 2016 Best Foreign Film Oscar, as it's mostly in English. No German film was subsequently short-listed that year by the Academy, for this category.
📽️ Favourite scene: The baby scene. Smartly done, and simply devastating.
🥇 Best quote: "I've been 16.5 years practicing playing the piano. Every day, seven hours. Our teacher said that 90% of us are wasting our time. You know, when I was 12, I was like an old lady, just always playing the piano."
🙁 Best depressing quote: "I'm not a bad guy, I just did a bad thing."
#20thCFlicks #empiremagazine #guardianfilm #totalfilm @mariodhingsa
#SilverScreenBlack: Press Review - 'Marathon' (2021)
Filmotomy’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
At some point, everyone wants to be healthier. Everyone has tried to be a better version of themselves. Some of you will have thought of jogging; others will have done it and may still do. But what happens when you want to turn your five mile jog into the full 26.2? What happens when you see everyone else training for a marathon and reckon you could too? Well, according to the brilliantly funny Marathon, it could actually be the worst choice you ever make.
Writer-directors Keith Strausbaugh & Anthony Guidubaldi have crafted a stunning comedy that will have your lungs aching, thighs chafing, and bladder emptying far harder than any run around the block. It’s easily one of the best mockumentaries in the last ten years, and earns a place in that blinding pantheon next to What We Do in the Shadows and This is Spinal Tap. Marathon is what so many other classics have tried to be: There’s more underdogs here than Chariots of Fire, more insanity than Run Lola Run, and more pelvic close-ups than the mighty Spinal Tap.
Like all the best comedies, there’s a wealth of satire below the surface. As the characters explain their reasons for entering the marathon, they begin with the obvious like self-improvement, setting records, and competing with the best; and eventually arrive at more honest ones like wanting to escape your relatives, and proving your family wrong. Indeed the genius of Strausbaugh & Guidubaldi is the breadth of social commentary that it covers: product placement, class prejudices, toxic relationships, institutional racism, post-natal depression, existential loneliness, emotional abuse, acceptable masochism, and sport obsession. And all this from a film that had me in hysterics several times.
The majority of the film focuses on the three months of training that our four hopefuls endure (and ‘endure’ is no understatement). As the reality of the marathon’s demands becomes apparent, their bodies buckle and their wills break under the colossal pain and pressure. Well written and beautifully acted, these four protagonists – who are flawed on a scale ranging from ‘unfortunate’ to ‘irredeemable’ – are immensely fascinating and incredibly identifiable. Tavius Cortez (my favourite!), Natalie Sullivan, Andrew Hansen and Anais Thomassian are exceptional in their comic timing and heart-string pulling. For a quartet of characters whose only reason for entering this desert marathon is to fill an overwhelming void in their desperate lives, you may end up cherishing them long after the film ends, even if they themselves don’t make it out of the desert alive.
Special mentions must also go to Jimmy Slonina as the marathon’s organiser for 15 years (and who’s being doing this for 15 years too long); Andrew Jacobsen as the coolest Race Day volunteer (I found all of your questions relevant, Andrew!); Roberto Raad as Banana Runner #2, who’s running the same race but on a different planet; and Kimia Behpoornia, whose elegant slacking proves that you don’t need to run a marathon in order to finish a winner.
So if you want to the see the smartest satirical comedy of the year, the most hilarious foot massage committed to film, and the funniest carb-loading joke ever conceived, let Marathon take you by the hand and drag you across the finish line, one way or the other…
Review published by Filmotomy.com [5/7/2021].
'Marathon' is now available on digital and On Demand!
At some point, everyone wants to be healthier. Everyone has tried to be a better version of themselves. Some of you will have thought of jogging; others will have done it and may still do. But what happens when you want to turn your five mile jog into the full 26.2? What happens when you see everyone else training for a marathon and reckon you could too? Well, according to the brilliantly funny Marathon, it could actually be the worst choice you ever make.
Writer-directors Keith Strausbaugh & Anthony Guidubaldi have crafted a stunning comedy that will have your lungs aching, thighs chafing, and bladder emptying far harder than any run around the block. It’s easily one of the best mockumentaries in the last ten years, and earns a place in that blinding pantheon next to What We Do in the Shadows and This is Spinal Tap. Marathon is what so many other classics have tried to be: There’s more underdogs here than Chariots of Fire, more insanity than Run Lola Run, and more pelvic close-ups than the mighty Spinal Tap.
Like all the best comedies, there’s a wealth of satire below the surface. As the characters explain their reasons for entering the marathon, they begin with the obvious like self-improvement, setting records, and competing with the best; and eventually arrive at more honest ones like wanting to escape your relatives, and proving your family wrong. Indeed the genius of Strausbaugh & Guidubaldi is the breadth of social commentary that it covers: product placement, class prejudices, toxic relationships, institutional racism, post-natal depression, existential loneliness, emotional abuse, acceptable masochism, and sport obsession. And all this from a film that had me in hysterics several times.
The majority of the film focuses on the three months of training that our four hopefuls endure (and ‘endure’ is no understatement). As the reality of the marathon’s demands becomes apparent, their bodies buckle and their wills break under the colossal pain and pressure. Well written and beautifully acted, these four protagonists – who are flawed on a scale ranging from ‘unfortunate’ to ‘irredeemable’ – are immensely fascinating and incredibly identifiable. Tavius Cortez (my favourite!), Natalie Sullivan, Andrew Hansen and Anais Thomassian are exceptional in their comic timing and heart-string pulling. For a quartet of characters whose only reason for entering this desert marathon is to fill an overwhelming void in their desperate lives, you may end up cherishing them long after the film ends, even if they themselves don’t make it out of the desert alive.
Special mentions must also go to Jimmy Slonina as the marathon’s organiser for 15 years (and who’s being doing this for 15 years too long); Andrew Jacobsen as the coolest Race Day volunteer (I found all of your questions relevant, Andrew!); Roberto Raad as Banana Runner #2, who’s running the same race but on a different planet; and Kimia Behpoornia, whose elegant slacking proves that you don’t need to run a marathon in order to finish a winner.
So if you want to the see the smartest satirical comedy of the year, the most hilarious foot massage committed to film, and the funniest carb-loading joke ever conceived, let Marathon take you by the hand and drag you across the finish line, one way or the other…
Review published by Filmotomy.com [5/7/2021].
'Marathon' is now available on digital and On Demand!
