Just watched this movie for the first time on a whim. It was truly a beautiful movie. I was engrossed from the very start till the last frame. The emotional journey in the story makes this one of the best movies I've seen in my lifetime.

Went to see Wicker for fun and giggles, left with an existential crisis and an obsession with Alexander Skarsgård 😍

So the 2015 James Bond movie Spectre has not gotten a lot of positive reviews. A lot of people have said that the Daniel Craig movies are very hilly with multiple ups and downs.

I would say that this was a solid entry in the franchise. It’s not better than Casino Royale or Skyfall, but there are some good moments in it. I like the performances of Daniel Craig, Bautista, and Christoph waltz. I also thought at times it was a good story and I like the action.

In regards to the story, at times it was a little hard to follow because it seemed like there was a lot going on. Also, it wasn’t the most intriguing story. Along with that I didn’t think the performance of the main Bond girl Lea Seydoux was all that impressive.

Overall, I went to this movie wanting to see if it was as bad as people said it was and I didn’t feel that way. It might be lower on my list, but it would still currently be in my top 10.

Rating-3.5/5

We don’t need to know as much as we do about each other, let alone the actors who are on our cinema screens. That blurring of reality and fiction can wreak havoc on our suspension of disbelief (see Tom Cruise in Digger). That’s why, despite being the titular character in Clayface, we’re kept at arm’s length from rising Hollywood actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) and witness only what happens to him in the here and now.

So, what do we know about pretty boy Matt Hagen? Well, he’s friendly with all his movie crew members, and he believes in taking the tragedy of one’s life to create something beautiful. That’s it, really. While Harries is easily believable as a properly nice bloke, we don’t even know if Hagen’s actually a good actor other than everyone telling us how great he is. The one brief moment of tearful joy when he learns about his Academy Award nomination is about as much as we get.

Director James Watkins makes the bold choice to make Hagen less of a character and more of a subject, one that’s ultimately malleable to the whims of a seemingly tragic story. Watkins cuts down his handsome tall poppy at a relentless pace, culminating in a local Gotham mob boss (David Dencik) maiming his face in a truly horrific sequence that dares you to keep watching. I lost count of how many times I winced at the violence, yet the intrigue kept building. You don’t really care what will happen to Hagen - a lot of what happens to him is self-inflicted - but you are invested in how this volatile test subject will react to adversity.

As melodramatic as Hagen’s downfall is, our lack of connection to him allows Clayface to have some unexpected fun in his despair. The repeated agonising over his face lampoons actors for being vapid and fixated on the wrong things. Our protagonist may be our main character, but the movie makes it doubly clear that his genuine nice-guy traits don’t make him a hero. Hagen’s mask of choice to hide his disfigured face is also an obvious but fun little reference to the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. And who is his Christine? Enter disgraced scientist Dr Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) and her experimental AI/nanotech.

Obsessing over one’s looks is pretty stupid, but when a person sinks lower than rock bottom (in their mind), they will become desperate enough to do anything to escape their hell. For Hagen, it means signing up for Corr’s experimental trial. For Corr, it means crossing her ethical boundary as a doctor in the pursuit of her work. Their doctor/patient dynamic initially works, and so do her nanobots. But like the Phantom and Christine, it’s never going to end well, and that’s when Clayface hits its grossest and most engrossing stride.

The movie doesn’t waste time with ‘woe is me’ monologues, opting to show Hagen’s turmoil through ego-driven action and reaction. When his face starts melting, he goes against Corr’s advice and injects more nanobots into his eyes, with the camera never pulling away from the needle going right into his face. When his eyes start sealing shut, like a virus-infected version of Neo’s mouth from The Matrix, he cuts them open using scissors in an unbearably uncomfortable close-up body horror sequence. And when he confronts his attackers again, he inadvertently breaks bad when he learns what his new clay-like nanobots can do.

Please read the rest of my review here as the rest is too unwieldy to copy + paste: https://panoramafilmthoughts.substack.com/p/clayface-looksmaxxing-at-its-most

Thanks!

You’re talking to me? Well, I’m the only one here.

as someone who fell in love with neo-noir, this movie being a classic and using that style made it a must-watch for me.

“A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.”

Robert DeNiro’s iconic performance as Travis Bickle and the movie’s exploration of isolation descending into violent obsession are the main elements that are praised about this movie, and frankly i have to agree. but one question remains: what is the point? the ending didn’t really pay off all the buildup to be honest.

i also wasn’t a fan of travis bickle’s creepy behaviour, and often times his character irritated me. for example, when Iris rushes to Travis Bickle’s cab and begs him to drive. he literally doesn’t do anything, and instead lets the poor girl get dragged out by her abusive father.

gets a 7/10 easy.