Episode 70: Seven Films From Summer

Cinema in Context

Seven films from the summer for our 70th episode. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss the following 2021 films: Don't Look Up, Encanto, The French Dispatch, House of Gucci, The Matrix: Resurrections, The Power of the Dog and West Side Story. Don't Look Up: We begin with review by song, highlighting how much the satire was or wasn't on the nose - especially pushing a particular agenda. We celebrate the cast, especially Melanie Lynskey. We reference Heavenly Creatures (1994) and Mother! (2017). Our collective rating adds up to: 2 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down Encanto: We discuss the messages and themes of the film, especially how dark gets and how subtle it explores those ideas. We also talk about the Disney influence on the film, particularly around character and toy design. Our collective rating adds up to: 6 thumbs up The French Dispatch: Wes Anderson's latest film, with a plethora of brilliant actors. We discuss the balance of humour, pretentiousness and how Wes Anderson this new Wes Anderson film is. We compare the film to Midnight in Paris (2011), Last Night in Soho (2021), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) and Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014). Our collective rating adds up to: 6 thumbs up House of Gucci: We start by discussing the accents everyone is putting on and whether their performances are over-the-top or not. We talk mostly about the performances of Jared Leto, Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. We reference Ridley Scott's previous film The Last Duel (2021) and its similarities. Our collective rating adds up to: 2 thumbs up and 1 thumb down The Matrix: Resurrections: We discuss our general enjoyment of the film, with each of us falling in different points of the spectrum. This is in reference to the Wachowskis' works, like The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Speed Racer (2008), Cloud Atlas (2012), Jupiter Ascending (2015) and Sense8 (2015-18). Our collective rating adds up to: 2 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down The Power of the Dog: Jane Campion's return to the big screen, after two seasons of Top of the Lake (2013-2017), her last film being the fantastic Bright Star (2009). We discuss the fantastic cast, including Kodi Smit-McPhee, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. We discuss the tension in the film, in connection to Quentin Tarantino and Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood (2019). Our collective rating adds up to: 6 thumbs up West Side Story: We discuss Steven Spielberg's career-long desire to make a musical, especially remaking West Side Story (1961), referencing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and In the Heights (2021). We talk about the specifics of the show and the changes made in the new film, especially highlighting the songs "Somewhere", "I Feel Pretty" and "Cool". We talk about the casting, including Bernardo played by David Alverez, Chino played by Josh Andrés Rivera, Riff played by Mike Faist, Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort playing Maria and Tony, respectively, and Valentina played by Rita Moreno. Our collective rating adds up to: 4 thumbs up We also mention Nightmare Alley (2021), The Green Knight (2021), Scream (2022), and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).