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Red Sparrow (2018) Review

Red Sparrow is a 2018 spy-thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence who worked with Jennifer Lawrence (the star here) on a couple of the Hunger Games movies, but this is a very different beast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova (in, it has to be said, a not entirely convincing Russian accent), and Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenarts and Charlotte Rampling star as the film's secondary characters. This one is a pretty big departure from what Lawrence has done in the past, although it has to be said that she's making some pretty bold career choices. I'm not the first one to say that, and for a good reason: it's true. After last year's Mother! it appeared as if she was trying purposefully trying to appear in more "mature" films, and believe me, it doesn't get much more mature than Red Sparrow. The film plays out like one of those schlocky exploitation from the seventies, in that there's sexual violence, sex, violence, torture, and all manner o
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The Meyerowitz Stories Review

The Meyerowitz Stories is a 2017 comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach. It stars Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Elizabeth Marvel. It tells the story of a group of siblings who all convene in New York to visit their father who is a formerly successful artist, but is now at the end of his life. The problem is that the two older half-brothers (Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller) both have personal problems with their father, which is the main source of the drama.

I've been a fan of Noah Baumbach in the past. I'm still a massive fan of Frances Ha, but I think the main problem with most of his films is that they all include very similar characters, and The Meyerowitz Stories is no different. There are the artists, the emotionally damaged people, the sassy humour is still here. I don't really have a problem with any of that, but it would be nice to see Baumbach experiment a little.


The Main difference between this, though, and Baumbach's other films is that Sandler has done his ritual sacrifice which he occasionally does that involves giving a good performance in a good film, so he can (for reasons that remain completely unknown to me) make a load of films like Jack and Jill. But for now, we can rest assured, because Adam Sandler is great in this film. In fact, this might be the best performance of his career.

The rest of the cast is very good too. I enjoyed this film quite a bit, however I don't think it's quite as good as Frances Ha. It has the same amount of heart as that film, and it does have a lot of affection for its characters (which I think will be shared by its audience), but I do think it's a little too long. There were moments in which conversations were too long and a bit meandering, and honestly there were moments in which I started to get pretty bored.


Still, this film is far from terrible. It's too slow for its own good, but the entire cast is great here, and if you can stick with it, there's a good pay-off at the end. Unfortunately, the only people I could really recommend this film to are the ones who are very big fans of Noah Baumbach. It's good, just not a classic.

Score: B-
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