Having watched films from all the decades, a rough understanding of the cinema techniques is picked up, even when not specifically looking for them. Early decades of cinema-making are characterized by experimentation of the medium and the development of special effects.
Seven years. Seven years after Steven Spielberg ( as a young fella ) was traumatized by the Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 film The Greatest Show On Earth another film-maker ( who also was a great inspiration on Spielberg ) Alfred Hitchcock decided to Hitch a train. But not in the same way Spielberg would end up doing over and over. Not into a car. If I lost you there, welcome to my review of North by Northwest.
The true brilliance of the film is the focus on the minute details. All puzzle pieces fit together and once you put the puzzle together, it feels so good. Given it is detective thriller, that's to be expected. The issue comes when you're watching it from the modern day perspective with all the Martin Scorseses and Destry Spielbergs out the, making actually messed up pictures. The thrill presented is light, tame in comparison with what is present now.
Contained thrillers are a very interesting sub-genre of film. They are usually cheaper to produce ( because they happen in one location ), but if done right, are masterful test-grounds for a film-maker. Look no further than M. Night Shyamalan and his excellent entries into this genre: Signs, The Village, Knock at the Cabin, Trap ( though this last one cannot be called cheap, I suppose ). Yet, when it comes to this kind of restricted film-making, one director takes the crown - Alfred Hitchcock and his 1954 film Rear Window. Let me explain...
There are 2 types of rebellious code-era film-makers: You have people like Alfred Hitchcock who's career is based on walking on the very edge of the censorship rules, and then not knowing what to do when these rules are lifted with the introduction of the MPAA rating system. And you have people like Stanley Kubrick who makes fucking Lolita under the code and then rejoices when the rules are lifted and makes fucking A Clockwork Orange. Yet, the question still stands: WTF is A Clockwork Orange?
Remember this situation: Mark Zuckerberg in court asked about his surveillance technology, tries desperately to make an argument that being spied on is good actually, because they can shove more personally relevant ads down people's throats. Like come on man... how do you want this to be a good argument? But you think about it and realize: he is fucking rich. He might actually have a huge issue with what to buy. For him a system that learns what he likes and suggests what to spend his money on, is a system that solves his problem.
Suppose a family, fleeting from abuse, comes seeking shelter. Do you hesitate to take them in, provide for the basic needs, when the cause of their hardship is an old nemesis of yours. One whose family and yours have been at war since time memorial.
Ricardo Stallmansky ( Richard Stallman ) is a divisive figure. He is the face of probably one of the most important social movements in today's day and age ( the Free Software Movement ), but also a lot of people borderline hate him for some rather serious-sounding stuff. There were open letters attacking the man and communities in support of him. Those who hate him, usually claim he says things that are inappropriate for him to say. Those who support him usually claim that he is Neurodivergent and therefor doesn't quite understand what triggers people.
WhatsApp, fucking WhatsApp. The app that everybody uses without thinking twice, that makes no sense being used in places that I have seen it being used. Fucking police officers share police-work-related stuff via WhatsApp groups for the entire user-data department of Meta ( and their data-brokers ) to see. This has to stop! WhatsApp has to be defeated!
So I made a bridge.
Nicolas Winding Refn appears to be incapable of making a movie that I don't want to analyze psycho-sexually. I would say more than that. I would say, that given the nature of his 2026 film Her Private Hell, we can assume, it is a direct sequel to his 2016's masterpiece The Neon Demon ( which I thoroughly psycho-sexually analyzed ) and a movie he made just before that Only God Forgives ( that deserves its fair share of analysis ). So...
If you have seen Kick-Ass from 2010, you know that the biggest and most important element of the movie is... Wait... I just realized. It's the beginning of the review and it will be in all of the previews with links to it, and stuff, and I still want you to click onto the damn thing. So the most important element in the movie is not...
I lust for a death, but my wish will never come to fruition. Even when I'll die, even when all my corporeal parts turn to dust and are scattered throughout the winds, the impact I've made on the world won't disappear, I still have existed. My place in the world, however be it insignificant, is undeniable.
3 times in a raw I self-financed a movie. All 3 I'm Not Even Human, The Package, The Car & The Time Is Running Out and Moria's Race were made on, what I consider to be, zero budget. It's a lie. Nothing costs zero. It's just it costed me small enough amount that I didn't even needed to calculate it. But now with my next movie project slowly moving into "Development Hell" I need to take budgeting seriously.
Somehow film-makers stop being nobodies and become somebodies. There is always the first film. There is always something that puts you under the spotlight, allowing you to make the movie you've always wanted to make. Let's look at those first films and how they got to be made. And analyze the patterns. And hopefully find a clue of what to do ourselves.
If you ever read my reviews of films like Ballerina or Weapons or stuff like that, you know that I'm the kind of guy who should very much enjoy the bullshit that Eli Roth put into the trailer of his new movie Ice Cream Man that was just released into cinema. But you can also notice that it isn't a review. I have not seen Ice Cream Man and I will never see it. This is an article about why.