The Cuban Missile Crisis

Movie Review: X-Men: First Class

Charles Xavier attempts to befriend and educate fellow mutants as he charts their emergence across 1960s America until he discovers another powerful mutant with a more malevolent agenda: Sebastian Shaw. Stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, and January Jones. Directed by Matthew Vaughn and written by Vaughn and like four other people. 2011.

At a fairly early point in the film, First Class presents itself as a stupid movie, and never surpasses that expectation. However, it does have some moments of clarity. McAvoy and Fassbender enjoy a great on-screen chemistry. Their relationship is touching and well-portrayed; a scene in which Charles experiences one of Erik's fondest memories is a particular highlight of the movie. This is a well cast film, and cameos were handled sensibly. That said, my list of complaints is long. At no point does this ever feel like the sixties. Aesthetically and dialectically, these are modern people. Havok looks like a guy from One Tree Hill. Setting it amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis feels like a minor effort that doesn't sell the era at all. The support cast are essentially warm-body roles with the possible exception of Raven and Hank, whose relationship is rushed and illogical. Moira McTaggart's rethinking into an American CIA agent begged a few questions. The effects are surprisingly bad, and the movie is glaringly bloodless. I'm bewildered that this is reviewing so well. A pothole in Matthew Vaughn's mediocre track record.

Magicians Do Not Exist

Movie Review: The Illusionist

Looking for work in 1959 Scotland, a Parisian illusionist encounters a young woman who, after he performs several feats for her, believes him to possess magical powers of conjuration and follows him to Edinburgh. Stars the voice talents of Jean-Claude Donda and Eilidh Rankin. Based on a screenplay originally written by Jacques Tati, adapted and directed by Sylvain Chomet. 2010.

After Don Bluth in the 80s, the Disney Renaissance of the 90s, and now Pixar's instant classic after instant classic, I feel like animation isn't really something I have to defend anymore. Generally, it's taken for granted at this point that an animated movie can achieve great cinematic heights comparable to a live-action one. But the next time I encounter someone of a different opinion, I'm going to recommend The Illusionist, and then I'll have to specify that I don't mean the 2006 Ed Norton movie. This is Sylvain Chomet's second feature film, his first being The Triplets of Belleville, and I would've been satisfied with something equally zany and off-the-wall, however The Illusionist is a much more subdued story with a considerably greater emotional depth that came as a surprise but not an unwelcome one. There's no dialogue to speak of in the film, what lines we hear are indecipherable. This is a good way to highlight the language barrier between the two main characters, but also showcases the talent of the director and the film's animators, who are able to convey a range of emotions and atmospheres without being able to rely on dialogue. Chomet's landscapes are breathtaking, his array of even minor characters memorable and the film on the whole is heartfelt and sincere. The most recurring criticism I've seen is that it's occasionally oversentimental, and I guess that's true in places, but it's a movie about an old man trying to keep on doing what he loves in a world growing only more indifferent to his craft. Sentimental, perhaps, but it's not happy-go-lucky by any means. An exclusively mature animated film.

To See the Frontier

Movie Review: Dances With Wolves

John Dunbar is stationed at the American frontier, where he serves alone - save a loyal horse and a curious wolf - until he begins encountering his Sioux neighbours. A dialogue is begun, and he befriends them. Stars Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, and Wes Studi. Adapted by Michael Blake from his novel published in 1988, and directed by Kevin Costner. Released in 1990.

As a child of the nineties, I equate Kevin Costner with pretty much Waterworld and baseball movies, and after movies with questionable plot philosophies like Avatar or The Last Samurai, I had it in my head that Dances With Wolves was another long-winded half-patriotic diatribe about a white guy getting in with the natives and then leading them to victory against his own people. But Dances With Wolves is a story that avoids heroics and grandstanding, and just tells an exciting and dramatic tale that never seems far-fetched. John Dunbar is a character for whom duty is first but an appreciation of the land a close second, and Costner himself probably has similar philosophies, as pretty much every location is a beautiful sweeping vista that seem to laments the loss of what America once was. Dunbar's relationships with the Sioux characters as well as his animal friends all develop uniquely and never feel taken for granted. The film feels fair-handed in regards to what I'm sure was and remains a delicate subject, showing nobility and cruelty in both peoples, and a pragmatism of inevitability; the characters are reflective, but never bark of injustice and unfairness because they needn't. Considering the big-league fumbles Costner would go on to make, Dances With Wolves is a surprise that is worth the time it demands.

Live Dogs and Dead Lions

Movie Review: Something Wild

On-the-rails Charlie meets out of control Lulu, and after she offers him a ride, she kidnaps him. Stars Melanie Griffiths, Jeff Daniels, Ray Liotta, and Jack Gilpin. Written by E. Max Frye, directed by Jonathan Demme, released in 1986.

I guess you can't really review Something Wild without giving away the big spoiler, which I was unfortunately aware of before going into it. So I will say that this was a cool all over the place movie and was a good watch. If you're worried about spoilers, stop reading here and go see the movie.
To everyone else: Something Wild starts as a happy-go-lucky whimsical romp, with maniacal Lulu having the time of her life just trying to get a rise out of suppressed yuppie douchebag Charlie. I've never thought Melanie Griffiths was that good an actor, and Something Wild doesn't alleviate that but Lulu's disaffected nonchalance isn't a demanding role and Griffiths sells her. Jeff Daniels, who is a good actor, handles Charlie well, transitioning the character from rube to accomplice at a very gradual and believable pace. Ray Liotta plays a psychopath again. Oh yeah, this movie has a psychopath in it, and well into the film the story becomes a fairly tense thriller. It's difficult to say whether or not the genre shift was successful, as I knew it was coming and kept expecting a sudden turn, but the movie didn't suffer from it, and all the characters felt like they were acting naturally. The ending seemed tacked on, like it was scrambling to finish the romantic comedy it started, but doesn't debase the whole piece.

Should've Had A Better Home Town

Movie Review: The Last Picture Show
America Lost & Found: The BBS Story

Sonny and his friends come of age in Anarene, a small Texas town, in the early 1950s. Over the course of several years, their lives intersect with the rest of their town as it slowly crumbles around them. Stars Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybil Shepherd, and Ellen Burstyn. Written by Larry McMurty and Peter Bogadanovich, and directed by Bogadanovich. 1971.

I've been noticing a common thread amongst the BBS movies I've seen so far, and it's that the plots aren't really about any one thing, and tend to be observational pieces revolving around a character over a certain period of time. The Last Picture Show is a contemplation of friendship, growing up, and life in a dying community. It's one of those movies that reads like a book. Shot in the style of a fifties teen romp, it undercuts the fluff and happy-go-lucky rebellion characteristic of those films by showing teens growing up and facing realistic problems that the people around them can't recognize nor resolve. The Last Picture Show never tells or shows us what is driving this town to ruin, and ultimately it's unimportant, because the characters don't try to save it, and occasionally beg the question if it deserves saving at all. An all round exemplary cast never overdoes it, playing scenes in a very organic and conversational manner. Touching, bittersweet, full of a very human aimlessness.

Just Some Old Hood

Movie Review: Hard Eight

Professional gambler Sydney recruits transient John outside a diner and teaches him how to make a living cheating casinos. Two years later, Sydney becomes wary of John's new friend Jimmy. Stars Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Samuel L. Jackson. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and released in 1997.

Movies with older protagonists aren't as common as you might think, and it sometimes feels like every time I see one, it's possessed of an immediately distinct atmosphere. Hard Eight isn't a movie about getting old, but only an old man could be the main character of this film. Plus, it's Philip Baker Hall, who I'm beginning to think would read the phone book with depth and subdued passion. Hard Eight is the feature debut of writer/director Anderson, but it doesn't miss a single beat. It's another movie that has too much going on in it to be about any one thing, and it's plodding, low-key delivery makes every scene seem very thoughtful and methodical. Anderson's trademark tenderness for his characters is really the spotlight here, and the film is stronger for it. A fascinating first entry that is clearly his own without ever trying too hard.

I Try So Hard to be Good

Movie Review: The Elephant Man

John Merrick suffers from such severe genetic disfigurements that he cannot go out in public without being met with horror. He is displayed as a carnival freak until he is met by Doctor Frederick Treves, who attempts to diagnose him and offer him a more dignified existence. Stars John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Freddie Jones, and Anne Bancroft. Adapted from the 1923 novel The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves and the 1971 book The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by Ashley Montagu. Directed by David Lynch and released in 1980.

To say that The Elephant Man is a movie about humanity is vague, and I guess all movies are (except The Bear), but this movie in particular shows the heights of kindness, forgiveness, and dignity while simultaneously showing humanity as a psychotic creature of fear and hatred. John tries so hard to be good in an effort to make up for his deformity, and is humbly silent even when confronted with great cruelty. He's so used to being a terrifying oddity that he is limitlessly grateful for the most basic of human courtesy. It's absolutely heartbreaking. David Lynch's direction coats the whole film with a viscous atmosphere of dread, and his habit of including quietly horrifying abstract dream sequences is put to especially good use here, perhaps exemplified by the Victorian setting, which seems both ancient and modern at the same time. There's a lot to take away from The Elephant Man, and a lot has to do with how unforgiving the world can be to people who are a little different. But on the other hand, it also showcases how sometimes being a little nice can make the most important difference.

Things That Get Bad

Movie Review: Five Easy Pieces
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

Bobby Dupea is kind of an asshole, works on an oil field, and treats his not-too-bright girlfriend like shit. When his sister tells him that their father has fallen ill, he returns home for a final visit. Stars Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, and Lois Smith. Written by Adrien Joyce and Bob Rafelson, and directed by Rafelson. 1970.

Very sombre, plodding, disenchanted. Five Easy Pieces could be described as an unforgiving character study of an asshole. The film moves at a very staggered pace with plenty of memorable scenes, delivering short episodes of conflict before Bobby, and the film with him, simply moves away from these. It's not a movie that's about any one thing, except for I guess Bobby himself, and it doesn't really deliver a moral, a theme or idea that we're supposed to take away, and it becomes fitting the more the audience gets to know Bobby. The movie spends a lot of time building Bobby into a person we don't really like, and then shows us what made him into the man he is and can't help but sympathize. You can't call him a hero or a rebel, but a guy who's just trying to move away from the intolerable and finds nowhere else to go. Jack Nicholson brings his talent to bear here in one of his earliest lead roles, showing us a man who simply goes through the motions of everything, until it becomes too much trouble and he flees. The social dissatisfaction and desperation presented in the film seems aimed in particular at the western culture of the time, but it doesn't matter because it feels like nothing's changed.

I like it! More!

Movie Review: Thor

On the eve of being proclaimed King of Asgard, Norse god Thor defies his father's edict by declaring war on Jotunheim, and is exiled to Earth in the hopes that he will learn to be worthy of the title. Stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, and Tom Hiddleston. Directed by Kenneth Branagh and released a few weeks ago (2011).

I never got into Thor the comic at all. My interest in Marvel comics really centred around the X-Men and Spider-Man animated shows of the nineties, and the idea of a high fantasy superhero existing among them never really appealed to me, so I can't speak to Thor the film as a faithful adaptation (though I hear it kind of isn't), so strictly experiencing it as a superhero action movie, it is a stupid one, but it's a fun kind of stupid and I enjoyed myself pretty much start to finish, but I'm not going to call this a masterpiece, and in the scheme of Marvel movies, I'll say it's not as good as Iron Man, but it's a lot better than Iron Man 2. Thor kind of meanders around Earth in a comedy of errors (which is funny) while all the real drama is still going on in Asgard (which is dramatic). The story keeps moving and once the two plotlines catch up with each other, it's an action spectacular. It's worth it for the great cast, of whom the standout is the underused Idris Elba as Heimdall, and Chris Hemsworth is a charming hottie who handles the lead well even amongst such a crowd of much bigger names. Definitely a worthwhile addition to Marvel Studios' lineup, and I continue to be cautiously enthusiastic about their current schemes.

Skunk

Movie Review: Half Baked

Thurgood, Brian, Scarface, and Kenny are best friends connected largely by their love of getting stoned. On a snack run, Kenny accidentally kills a diabetic police horse and ends up in prison, where the threat of being anally raped constantly looms. His friends resort to stealing and selling pot to raise bail money. Stars Dave Chappelle, Jim Beurer, Harland Williams, and Guillermo Diaz. Written by Chappelle and Neal Brennan, and directed by Tamra Davis, fairly prolific and generic comedy director whose credits include Crossroads. 1998.

As they were produced in the same year, Half Baked and The Big Lebowski can't really help but invite comparison, and especially in that light, Half Baked is a fucking disaster. It's not funny, its characters are unsympathetic caricatures of do-nothing idiot stoners, and it seems to have a low opinion of the people for whom it was ostensibly made. Now fine, Lebowski is maybe more high brow, but whatever, Half Baked wasn't even low brow funny. And what kind of stoner comedy ends with the main character giving up pot for a girl whose only real attraction is that she will have sex with him? Unstimulating, insulting, and who the hell shoots a scene in front of Sam the Record Man when you're trying to disguise Toronto as New York? I mean, christ, at least pretend to make an effort.

Fun, Rich, Always in Trouble

Movie Review: The People vs. Larry Flynt

A chronicle of the rise to power of Hustler founder Larry Flynt, and his excruciatingly long legal battle over the limits of the first amendment. Stars Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Ed Norton, and Brett Harrelson. Directed by Miloš Forman. 1996.

Even as your watching it, The People vs Larry Flynt seems charitable to Larry Flynt, but really, he could use a fucking break, and the film doesn't pretend to be a beat-by-beat life story, omitting such details as Flynt's other wives and second lawyer (the one who actually got shot). Even so, the story of Larry Flynt is an important one to tell, and it is told well here. Harrelson plays Larry Flynt the infamous douche with a heart of gold, and also sells his disability. And seriously, who better to cast as skanky junkie Althea than Courtney Love, the modern queen of the skanks? This is a great movie for enthusiasts of both pornography and civil liberties. It turns out I've seen a few other films by director Forman, but hadn't been paying him any formal attention. If anyone can recommend any of his Czech films I'd like to give them a try.

Big Trees & Pissy Little Bugs

Movie Review: Animal Kingdom

After the death of his mother, teenager Joshua moves in with the family from which his mother was estranged, a notorious crime family in Melbourne, in which he quickly becomes assimilated and complicit. Stars James Frencheville, Ben Mendehlsohn, Guy Pearce, and Jacki Weaver. Written and directed by David Michôd, and released last year.

A surprisingly compelling crime drama, Animal Kingdom hinged largely upon the depth of newcomer James Frencheville's talent, and he delivers a performance that seems at first fairly simple but becomes a much more demanding role as the film progresses. An added benefit is a very well-written and believable character, who acts like a regular teenager in extraordinary circumstances. The rest of the ensemble cast is exemplary, each member of the family very well-drawn and organic. Mendehlsohn's Andrew is an especially terrifying presence, at once quiet, unassuming, and psychotic, and Weaver's sinister/motherly grandmother is superb. A couple of false endings damage the pace of the film, but the viewer is never disappointed that they stuck around. One of the best films of 2010 I've seen.

Who Would Have Thought a Small Amount of Liquid Would Ever Fall On Me?

Movie Review: Signs

Widowed ex-reverend Graham Hess at first shrugs off the crop circles in his cornfield as kids playing pranks, but it soon becomes apparent that they are tied to a large-scale global invasion by aliens. Stars Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and released in 2002.

I don't mind Signs as much as I probably should. There's a lot of religious overtones and a plot of interconnection that seems to be a half-hearted answer to "why does God let bad things happen to good people?" Its aliens have too many magical powers, and it has a twist - that water is toxic to the aliens - which is pretty stupid. Aliens invade a planet mostly covered by water, populated by creatures largely composed of water, where it is prone to rain, and devise or use no means of protecting themselves even though they're clearly technologically advanced? Signs was a film that would've really benefited from the loss of its twist and its insistence on trying to be clever. Narrowing the focus of an alien invasion to a single isolated family is a cool idea that came very close to working. It's got a pretty good cast (I still think Gibson's a good actor in spite, or perhaps because, of his very obvious psychosis), it has moments of high tension, and offers what is at first an interesting take on a classic premise.

Wherein the Hero Digs His Own Grave

Movie Review: Lady in the Water

Cleveland Heep, the superintendent of a Philadelphia apartment complex, comes across a mysterious woman who calls herself Story and is revealed to be some sort of supernatural water-nymph. She has come to this place with a specific purpose, but is harried by attacks of monstrous wolf-like creatures. As Story's presence ignites something not only within Cleveland but the rest of the complex's residents, he resolves to help Story fulfill her mission and return safely home. Stars Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, M. Night Shyamalan, and Jeffrey Wright. Directed and written by Shyamalan and released in 2006.

Lady in the Water came at a pivotal time in Shyamalan's career. He had backed himself into a very specific corner and because he was now so widely known as the guy who puts giant plot twists in his movies, it got to a point where everyone saw them coming a mile away. Lady in the Water was to be his first movie without a twist, of course it turned out to have one anyway, and Shyamalan claimed it was the movie which was closest to him emotionally. I think he may have meant: the movie in which he most liberally indulged himself. He plays, in the movie he wrote, a writer whose work is world-changing, but incendiary enough to result ultimately in his assassination. There is also, in something of a preemptive strike, an asshole film critic who gets everything wrong and is the movie's sole fatality. The central myth is overcomplicated, overexplained, and relies too heavily on straight-up exposition. Paul Giamatti is well cast and performs admirably with the limited resources the script allows, but Bryce Dallas Howard doesn't really sell her role, and while some of the kooky residents are fun, the characterizations are shallow and come across as silly at times we're meant to take them seriously. It is well-shot and the creatures are cool, but are too little too late. The lesson: it's alright to fantasize about being an artistic revolutionary and martyr - I mean, who doesn't? - but to expect an audience to enjoy you indulging those fantasies is asking too much.

Everyone Loses

Movie Review: Ghosts... of the Civil Dead

In the events leading up to a lockdown that lasted for over a month, both inmates and guards at a privately run maximum security prison in the middle of the Australian outback find themselves being pushed into an altercation with each other. Stars David Field, Mike Bishop, Chris DeRose, and Dave Mason. Directed and written in part by John Hillcoat. Music by Nick Cave, also credited as a writer and plays a secondary role in the film. 1988.

Great performances, bloodily violent, and a fairly thought-provoking and disturbing examination on the use of fear by the media and government to control the masses with a subtle hand. There's a ring of almost sci/fi through the use of its computer screen narration and sensationalist newscasts (I might just be mistaking actual 80s style as the 80s trying to predict the future), but by the time the tension builds to its crescendo, it all comes off as very plausible and terrifying. Nick Cave's music is sparsely used - most of Ghosts has no ambient music - and very creepy.

Doppelgänger

Movie Review: Black Swan

Nina is a tightly wound ballerina at a high profile New York ballet company. Already pretty unhinged, she is pushed to the edge when she wins the lead in a production of Swan Lake, and her world begins to unravel. Stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis. Directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Black Swan examines the madness and self-destruction inherent in success in ballet similar to the fashion that The Wrestler looked at wrestling in 2008, and Aronofsky apparently considers them companion pieces to each other. Nina's delusions are their whole own thing, but after seeing the strains endured by the bodies of the dancers as highlighted by the film, mustn't they all be at least a bit crazy? Nina's mother Erica, director Tomas, and predecessor Beth are all severely unbalanced but their madness presents itself  in more functional (I guess) capacities. Very entertaining, moments of incredible tension and creepiness, and pretty solid effects put to great use.

At Least It Wasn't All Just a Dream

Movie Review: The Village

A 1900s-era community in Pennsylvania lives in a land surrounded by a forest inhabited by mysterious, dangerous creatures who are kept at bay by elaborate rituals and an ancient truce with the village elders; the villagers stay out of the forest, and the creatures stay out of the village. But when Ivy Walker's close friend is brought to the brink of death, she volunteers to save him by traversing the forest and getting medecines from the surrounding towns. Stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, and Adrien Brody. Directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan in 2004.

Critically, The Village was generally viewed as Shyamalan losing his touch. The twist (that the community, despite its turn-of-the-century trappings, actually exists in modern isolation and that the creatures are a myth to keep the young villagers from leaving) didn't creep up on audiences in the same way it did in his earlier films, with many guessing it based off the trailer alone, robbing it of much of its gravitas when the veil was lifted in the movie itself. This is coupled with Shyamalan's cameo which pretty much serves as an unnecessary exposition that lays out all the details of how the twist "could work," which only serves to suggest that it wouldn't. The Village was a film that would have benefited by another writer's temperance, and suffered from Shyamalan's attempt to essentially fool his audience. But the movie is nevertheless well-acted, still scary, and the characters have a depth and emotional weight to them that makes it an ostensibly good watch. The cast is flush with skill, with many of the supporting cast played by talented character actors, and it also has a good twist of plot (subverting Lucius with Ivy as the protagonist) which gets quickly overtaken by a looming twist of premise.

Cry of the Fishmongers

Movie Review: Barton Fink

After his first Broadway play has him heralded as a visionary, Barton Fink takes a job for a film studio in Los Angeles. Tasked with writing a wrestling film, Fink finds himself crippled by writer's block, and taunted by a lone mosquito. Stars John Tuturro, John Goodman, John Mahoney, and Tony Shaloub. Directed and written by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, and released in 1991.

Barton Fink starts out as a fairly straightforward film with a lot of elements that can be mistaken as autobiographical, but those suspicions are quickly dispelled when the movie starts getting weird and surreal in the second act. While I suppose it is a statement on the corrupting nature of Hollywood and the perils of working in a town where reality isn't all it seems to be, it's also an examination of the hypocrisy of artists who claim to speak for the "common man." Tuturro's Fink is inspired by an idea of the common man yet is all but entirely repulsed by the reality them. The movie is filled with characters only the Coens could produce, reads like some sort of historical fantasy, and is simultaneously chilling and funny. This was an excellent period in a series of excellent periods for the Coen Brothers.

The Two Women in You

Movie Review: The Last Metro

Occupied Paris. Stage actress Marion Steiner hides her Jewish director husband Lucas in the cellar of the theatre they run together, where he directs in secret the play Marion is attempting to stage with her oddball band of thespians, all the while attempting to reconcile the attraction she has for newcomer and leading man Bernard Granger. Directed by Francois Truffault in 1981.

Romantic, witty, beautifully shot. Catherine Deneuve is uncompromisingly elegant; burly Gerard Depardieu is clumsily charming. Virtually any story told in Nazi-occupied anywhere benefits from the added element of tension, danger, and paranoia, and The Last Metro's just-trying-to-get-by Paris plays host to a number of varying attitudes in the face of occupation and defeat. An odd pacing makes it a bit hard to predict when it's going to end, but that might have something to do with the language barrier. Still, a great watch start to finish.

Chaos Reigns

Movie Review: Antichrist

After his wife is crippled with grief following the death of their son, a therapist takes her on as his patient and retreats to a remote cabin in the woods, but his treatment soon becomes overshadowed by a mounting fear and insanity in both of them. Stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Directed by Lars von Trier and released in 2009.

Antichrist is at first a two-man performance piece and a portrait of staggering grief, and Charlotte Gainsbourg in particular brings her talent to bear in a very complicated and demanding role. The film is beautifully shot and is peppered with surrealistic imagery that tends to start in wonder and slowly mutate into quiet horror. It's also shockingly graphic, with very explicit scenes of both sex and sexual violence making it easy to see why it was so upsetting to so many people. Though I applaud the efforts, though, I think that Antichrist is ultimately a failure; a failure by a master director, which lends it something worth seeing, but a failure. The film is a portrait of shared madness between lovers, which I think is a really meaty idea, and the film borrows thematically from Hour of the Wolf, Ingmar Bergman's movie on the same subject. But Antichrist becomes lost within itself, and suffers from being heavy-handed in its somewhat confused tone of feminism, which points the finger (or seems to) at women as its modern perpetrators. This isn't an argument without any merit, but it's difficult particularly for a man to make it without being labelled a misogynist (and this wouldn't be the first time he has been), and Antichrist tries to be too many things at once to pay due attention to any one of them. Thematically, it's clear that Lars von Trier has a lot to say about humanity, humanity's relationship with nature, humanity's relationship with itself, but while his insights may be worthwhile, the supernatural sheen he lends the film ultimately overshadows any message he conveys.