High Life (2018)

Claire Denis's first foray into sci-fi is titled High Life, probably because she was high on something when she wrote this incoherent mess. She just hopes that you don't ask any questions, especially why and how. How did he raise Willow in this spaceship? How did she learn to speak English? How does she know what a dog is? What is the point of Dr. Dibs's experiment? What if she succeeds...then what, they're on a one-way mission anyways. And who cares? It's not like she's breaking new ground, she's just being creepy. She truly does look like a witch; one whose English sounds weird for some reason, which is strange because Juliette Binoche speaks perfectly good English. And what if they succeed in the larger mission? Then what...how are they supposed to harness the energy of a black hole? What good does that do anyone on Earth? The premise just makes no sense. And the design is not your typical futuristic space ship. This is no Starship Enterprise. It is a bleak shoebox, dark, low tech, uninviting. Robert Pattinson has really proven himself to be quite the actor though. They're going to start casting him in daddy roles soon enough.

Good Time (2017)

This is an intense heist movie that takes place in gritty Queens. Robert Pattinson, who has become quite the actor, robs a bank with his mentally challenged brother, who he must free from jail. Basically, anything that can go wrong goes horribly wrong. It's really intense because you're just waiting for the next thing to spiral out of control. It's a combination of the (very) shaky, uncomfortably close camerawork and the unnerving music and Robert Pattinson's frenetic acting that keeps you at the edge of your seat. The dark and shadowy lighting is ominous. I think my heart rate was actually elevated throughout this movie, tensely quivering in anticipation. 

The Lost City of Z (2016)

The biggest problem about this movie is that it's so slow. It moves at such a slow pace that I hesitate to even categorize it as an adventure film. Sure, I guess when you're actually an explorer, things don't happen fast all at once. Maybe it's a more realistic depiction. But he spends so much of the film back in Britain. Those adventure-less scenes are decidedly less interesting than the rainforest scenes. I get it, it's about his obsession with the New World. That he's always clamoring to get back. I just didn't think that was particularly interesting. I understand that he was a real person and this is biographical. But it was hard to keep my attention. And despite the slowness, you feel like they skip a lot of things in the middle--like how he is in the jungle one minute and docking back in Britain the next. And I hated how accurately British everyone was--the white man's burden is infuriating. Now for what I did like, the visuals in the rainforest. It is a beautifully shot film. And it is well acted. Charlie Hunnam plays obsessed in a way that's not overdoing it.