Tag: Anya Taylor-Joy

MORGAN (2016)

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Directed By: Luke Scott

Written By: Seth Owen 

Cinematography: Mark Patten 

Editor: Laura Jennings 

Cast: Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rose Leslie, Toby Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Garret Hudlund, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Cox 

A corporate risk-management consultant must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being.

In this grand cinema study, there are some Films you know a bit about. Yet manage to avoid or skip for some reason or another.  then when looking For Something new, you finally decide to give the film a chance. Sometimes it truly does work For the better, but other times you remember why you Wanted To skip it in the first place.

It isn’t necessarily bad, but it just feels like a waste of time or a wasted opportunity, especially considering what it had. This is one of those films unfortunately it’s more of the latter.

One of the more shocking appeals of the movie is in looking back at this film. It has such a stacked cast for a film That doesn’t

Offer much in the form Of material for them to work with. It comes off as a workman and everyone seems more here for a paycheck.

Those looking for a horror film might be disappointed as though its Advertisements make it look That way and there is violence the film is more like a strictly science fiction tale.

Which is what is at least admirable about the film.

This feels like one of the first of more recent trends of films about androids and AI and how much humanity exists in them. Surrounded by humans who go about being absent, if any humanity at all or trying to show none for the supposed greater good.

It doesn’t offer enough material to be truly thought-provoking and lacks action throughout  to truly be a genre picture 

In the final act, the film Finally Releases the violence and gives the audience what it has been waiting for most of the characters you have come to know will most likely become

Victims. They pay the price, In different ideologies, and pick the wrong side which proves fatal because of choosing to show their humanity.

It feels especially cruel to one character who truly fights back and gets the most violent death in a scene that feels cut down because of how gory it could get. While any action resorts to a BOURNE IDENTITY intensity with bad club music to accompany the action for those brief Moments only that feel like it’s coming from another film

Jennifer Jason Leigh is only in a few scenes and seems here to be punished more than anything else. which seems to be a trend in her more recent roles. As of 2025 most of the cast signed up for the same feet, but they have a few more scenes and more to do.

The film offers a perfect example of corporate culture versus a family and a more nurturing culture.

It does offer a sensational ending that wasn’t expected though hinted at throughout 

Grade: D+

AMSTERDAM (2022)

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Written & Directed By: David O. Russell 
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Editor: Jay Cassidy 

Cast: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Robert DeNiro, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Timothy Olyphant, Anya Taylor Joy, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Taylor Swift, Max Perlich, Ed Begley Jr, Colleen Camp 

In the 1930s, three friends witness a murder, are framed for it, and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in American history.

This film had so much promise, an all-star cast, and a period-piece comedy. Somehow it all went so wrong. 

As it is big everything about it is big, but limits the places it can go and at least acknowledges that people have other elements to their lives other than the main plot as a focus. 

Director David O. Russell always likes to keep his films somewhat unpredictable and lovely as the camerawork is usually styled yet fluid and there are so many characters floating around who play important roles. That you never quite know who is going to drop in and out. He seems to like organized chaos so that by the end that is when you really notice the style or the plan. As it comes to light.

He also usually gets actors to play parts in his films as the roles are usually off the wall or quirky enough. That it allows the actors more to play than to necessarily act.

When it comes to this film though everything seems off. Not in his usual way though. As the film wants to say something about modern society and politics. As well as race and class relations to a degree, but also wants to mix in comedic elements that feel slapstick yet the laughs never come and nor the comedy exactly.

Here half the minor roles are played by recognizable actors who you wonder why they are even in the film. Though one of those big names Taylor Swift provides the only noteworthy and truly funny jaw-dropping scene. That someone who is not a fan of hers might enjoy it a little too much. 

It doesn’t help that you have a love story among friends and colleagues. Yet no one has any chemistry and they say the lines so blankly that there is no emotion at all and no real reason to truly care about the characters. Even as the situations get zanier and a conspiracy forms. The film stays steady and slow. Where the only actor who seems like they could be interesting is Christian Bale who seems stranded in this movie. His romance with Zoe Saldana is cute and her character is short-changed. As this is the most appealing she has been on screen in quite some time. As the film seems desperate for his character to have a love story as it keeps shining a light on Washinton.s and Robie.s  

As even the film tries to paint a love triangle but it is more of a love story between the two and he is just close to them. If the film had incorporated more of the triangle of the two characters both in love with the woman or them all in love with one another. That would have kept the dynamic more interesting. 

The characters all seem like they deserve their own film. Even though they aren’t playing passionately. They have backstories that would certainly fit a better film or be better used in one.

By the end, this film is about a conspiracy and is played by a caper. Feels like it was much ado about nothing. By the end, only two characters falling in love is the only true change throughout. So that by the end you feel like you went through an endurance test. A well-meaning one but still a chore 

It’s focused as it wants to be a lot of things all at once. It wants to be angry but also soft. As it is paced at times like a screwball comedy but intended to stick and not just go by. It just feels very unfocused. Yet wants to include a lot of details

Grade: C-

THE WITCH (2016)

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Written & Directed By: Robert Eggers 
Cinematography By: Jarin Blaschke 
Editor: Louise Ford 
Production Design: Craig Lathrop 
Art Direction: Andrea Kristof 

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson, Harvey Scrimshaw, Julian Richings, Viv Moore, Sarah Stephens


*Please note that some trivia and facts have been republished from imdb among other sources In this
review

New England, 1630: William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life, homesteading on the edge of an impassible wilderness, with five children. When their newborn son mysteriously vanishes and their crops fail, the family begins to turn on one another. ‘The Witch’ is a chilling portrait of a family unraveling within their own fears and anxieties, leaving them prey for an inescapable evil.

The premise is based on America’s first witch hysteria in colonial New England, set 62 years before the infamous “Salem Witch Trials” which occurred in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This is one of those films that is more rewarding the less you know about it. So you are free to discover instead of coming in with perceived notions. Stephen King has stated that he was terrified by this film.

This is a film that takes you by surprise. As it is more atmospheric filmmaking. That feels more accomplished than half the horror films that are offered today. 

The film focuses more on community and character. So that it stays intimate the whole time.

The film builds itself up. So that you have to pay attention to exactly know and understand what is going on.

The film sets itself up and its own limits. It takes its time, as this is not a film of jump scares and theatrics. It is trying to tell a story so it won’t offer answers immediately that we know and they have to figure out. When it makes a move it is playing for keeps. As the film is more haunting than scary. As it gives you a sense of unease the whole time.

It continuously goes where you don’t expect it. Especially when you believe you have things figured out and it seems it will go that way. If it does get too familiar the film seems to then go to the more physical actions of the characters as they begin to uncontrollably tremble and weep in their weakness that is never clearly defined.

The film is a period piece and as well as sets and costumes even the dialogue is more said in olden speak than natural dialogue. Which only helps the actors as they are so dedicated to their performances. They are so strong you believe them, their situations, and their reactions to them. Even the child actors’ performances are great and feel natural.

Most of the film’s dialogue and story were based on writings from the time. It feels like a film of its time period. This film seems dipped in tradition and truth as it scarily reveals itself and its nature. It isn’t so much thrilling. It is more full of ideas and imagination. The work of a skilled hand filmmaker. That seems more rooted in the type of films of the ’70s that could be ambiguous and make us question more. Then set out to give the audience visceral thrills. The film was mostly filmed in natural and available light which helps give a natural Spookiness to it

This is a film that uses nature more to reinforce the atmosphere and to provide the horrors of the film. That produces a calm whiny film that never settles again after s certain point in the film.

The movie is beautifully filmed on a smaller scale. Though making the simple and expected scary and haunted. While offering many misdirections, but feels immersed In Something sinister. As when all is revealed it feels worse than anything they could have shown us or that we could imagine and not with pyrotechnics or make-up but with hints that seem more plausible and homegrown. Whose reality is easily imagined and can be felt which makes it all the more devastating. This is a film unafraid to go to the places most mainstream cinema wouldn’t or would shy away from.

The Satanic Temple has endorsed this movie and hosted several screenings of the film. Their spokesperson, Jex Blackmore, addressed the film as “an impressive presentation of Satanic insight that will inform contemporary discussion of religious experience.”

The film manages to give a fresh meaning of horror that feels like a festering Underneath its surface.

It also takes a while to get there but once we do, we get the whole scope of events and what they mean.

The film, unfortunately, was a minor hit at first through strong word of mouth, but audiences expected a more traditional horror film and weren’t prepared for this film which takes it times with its horror and fully takes advantage and explores the ideas it spills forth

Grade: B

THE NEW MUTANTS (2020)

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Directed By: Josh Boone
Written By: Josh Boone & Knate Lee
Cinematography: Peter Deming 
Editor: Andrew Buckland, Robb Sullivan & Matthew Rundell 

Cast: Blu Hunt, Alice Braga, Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, Adam Beach 

Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.

Had high hopes for this film when it was originally supposed to be released. As in the advertisements, it seemed to offer something different when it came to a superhero film. One that was more of a horror film.

While the film resembles one. It doesn’t scare or fascinate. In fact, it feels more like a video game for the number of CGI effects used and more aimed at teenagers for how clean it comes off being.

Especially as it plays more like a haunted house film That just happens to involve a laboratory.

One can understand with all the supposed reshooting and re-edits that delayed the film. Which is supposed to sharpen the movie or at least make it better, but it seems to have sucked all the originality out of it.

The actors also use a variety of f accents that don’t seem to always stick. There is one. Performance that is so bad it’s never believable and amazed it stayed in and in so many scenes. As it comes off more cartoonish than probably intended.

The movie also comes off a lot simpler than it should.

The film had certain darkness that hangs over it that would work in a horror film or if it truly meant something but as the film plays like a dramatic thriller. It feels more artificial. So that the angst that the film tries to display feels more scripted than natural.

All of this is a shame as this was also one of my favored comic book series when I used to collect comic books as a teen. This movie doesn’t come close to it in any way, shape, or form. In fact, it feels more random than anything else 

Some of the disappointment might be that the film feels a bit unfinished; it offers a nice short story, but holds the ideas for something bigger and more. That could have been a different kind of superhero movie. Though it feels like any development for something original was stopped in its tracks or just cut out. As it feels constantly on the edge of something then stops way short. Which just leaves a major disappointment. 

Grade: C-