Aidan Erdahl Film Reviews

1-Gone Girl dir.David Fincher

2-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood dir.Quentin Tarantino

3-Mad Max Fury Road dir.George Miller

4-Baby Driver dir.Edgar Wright

5-Dunkirk dir.Christopher Nolan

6–Django Unchained dir.Quentin Tarantino

7-The Irishman dir.Martin Scorsese

8-Get Out dir.Jordan Peele

9-The Master dir.Paul Thomas Anderson

10-Logan dir.James Mangold

11-The Wolf of Wall Street dir.Martin Scorsese

12-Us dir.Jordan Peele

13-The Social Network dir.David Fincher

14-The VVitch dir.Robert Eggers

15-American Hustle dir.David O Rusell

Mike Flanigan’s Doctor Sleep is a great horror movie. The plot was great, the acting and the directing was too. It was one of the best horror movies of 2019, My second favorite horror movie of last year only to be topped by Jordan Peele’s Us. The movie tells the story of Dan Torrance. The grown up version of Danny from the Shining. While it is a sequel to the Shining it is its own thing not just The Shining 2. The film tells the story of a grown up version of Dan, Dealing with alcoholism and his trauma from the Overlook hotel. Eventually he goes to AA and works at a hospital and is becoming better. But a young girl who also has the shining is being hunted by a group of psychic vampires that steals the life force from those who shine. Dan and the young girl (Abra) begin to work together to stop the group from hurting more people. The film is one of the best Stephen King adaptations in years. Honestly is was way better than both the IT movies. It really sucks that while the film is fantastic. It didn’t get a whole lot of attention at the Box office and not a whole lot of people saw it. However it was a great horror film and one of the best representations of what good horror can do.

Guy Ritchie’s “The Gentlemen ” marks one of the first great movies of 2020. After a lot of not so great movies, Guy returns to his roots in crime movies to make a great one called The Gentlemen. The movie stars Matthew Mcconaughy as Mickey Pearson, A drug lord who runs a Marijuana Operation in the U.K., When he decides to leave the business to spend more time with his wife and live a more peaceful life, He is met with violence from those who want to get his empire and betrayal. However one of the most unique things about the film is its narrative structure. A little into the movie we see Fletcher played by Hugh Grant in a career defining performance as a private investigator who is black mailing Raymond, Mickeys Right Hand man, In a stroke of creativity Ritchie has this film have references involving filmmaking as Fletcher is blackmailing Raymond with a screenplay where he typed up all the dirt he has on him as a movie called Bush (Ha,Ha, Get it, Pot.). He makes a side reference about making it into a movie (Pretty much the movie you’re watching right now).  The movie is really about crime in this area and all the major players. The main conflict of the movie takes place when a group of criminals try to buy the empire but Mickey won’t sell it to them and they fight back. And many groups of criminals come into play, who’s allied with who? If one group comes out of nowhere and starts messing things up, The big criminals can get one of the groups they allied with to take them out. It’s a great movie with great characters, great writing, great directing and great acting. This movie is getting good reviews citing it Guy Ritchie’s return to making good movies and is a sign of what’s to come in 2020 in Film. This year is going to have a lot of great movies, Large names like Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet ” and David Fincher’s’ ‘Mank ”. So far this year there have been some good movies and a few flops but The Gentlemen marks a start for some of the movies this year that will stick around for a long time and be rewatched for decades. 

Paul Thomas Anderson There Will Be Blood is his Masterpeice. The film tells the story of Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day Lewis in a career defining performance) An Oil Prospector who is facing problems with gaining oil from a land. However Plainview is a psychotic man who will do anything to succeed. He manages to get the land from almost all the people living there but is facing conflict from Eli, A local preacher played by Paul Dano. The film jumps around four times. The beginning in 1898 where we meet Daniel for the first time mining. We don’t know much about him but we are getting to know him. The film jumps again to 1902. Daniel is running an Oil company currently drilling oil in California. This sequence almost acts as an origin story for him. We see who he is and how far he is willing to go. He also adopt the son of a worker who died. From there he makes his adopted son named H.W. his partner to present himself as a family man and sets out to expand. The film jumps to 1911 and where we meet Daniel and H.W. Oil drilling partners. They are approached by Paul. A man who lets them know about a potential Oil drilling location. From there Daniel and H.W. begin drilling the oil but begin facing many problems including Eli, Paul’s twin brother. this is really the main part of the movie. We see Daniel for who he is. His intensity and his conflict. The movie jumps again one last time near the end to 1927 where the finale happens and the final confrontation between Daniel and Eli. The performances in this film are some of the best of the 21st century. Daniel Day Lewis’s performance in the movie is probably my favorite of his and ranks pretty high on my list of favorite performances. Dano’s also great because he purposely overacts since he’s an unstable preacher which is exactly what he needed to do. This is my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film. Boogie Nights is a close second. It took a lot to replace Boogie Nights since I love the 70’s, The vibrant color of the film and a lot of other stuff but to me, There Will Be Blood was a better film. Paul Thomas Anderson is =one of the most gifted directors working today. His writing and Directing are both pure art. Along with There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights I loved The Master, To me Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in that movie is his best and I liked Hard Eight a lot too. There Will Be Blood is both a masterpiece and pure art that deserves to be remembered as a piece of amazing cinema for years to come.

Hey I wrote this Poem for my Creative Writing Class and figured why not share it here.

Gimme Shelter he said. For a storm is threatening. After all, it was just a shot away.

He was no Fortunate Son. Some folks are born to wave the flag. And he would always say It Ain’t Me.

What was he Though? A Rider on The Storm, Some Killer on the road that would kill you if you gave that man a ride.

To navigate through this life. He followed the teachings of great ones like Baba O’Riley.  But no matter what he was stuck in this teenage wasteland.

There was a woman he liked. He would told her that he needed The

Sunshine of Your Love. He had been waiting so long.

It was long ago though. Just a Purple Haze.  Is it tomorrow or the end of time?

But he was lacking meaning.  Going through Life Like a Rolling Stone. With No Direction Home.

But like anyone else. He had Good Times, Bad Times. But he would always say no Matter how hard I try, I find my way into the same old jam.

But he was looking for something. A House of The Rising Sun

He walked into such a sad time at the station, In a White Room with Black Curtains

But, For What It’s Worth, It’s time we stop and look what’s going down

Following, The first film of legendary Director Christopher Nolan. The film tells the story of a Young Man who is a writer who follows people. Eventually he follows a thief named Cobb, Who teaches him how to be a thief. The film has betrayal, crime and an intricate plot. The plot is very intricate which shows of what was to come in his career. Now to cite the Kubrick-Nolan comparison, What this film was to Nolan was what The Killing was to Kubrick’s career. An early piece of crime noir in their career that have intricate plots that shows what to come in their career. In Nolan’s Case Inception, The Prestige or in Kubrick’s Case 2001 or The Shining. Now in Nolans career this belongs in the more modest character/plot driven work like The Prestige or Memento rather than the big budget sci fi like Inception or Interstellar. I like both but the plot driven work is what I am more attracted to in his filmography. Dunkirk to me is his Masterpiece. Dunkirk is my favorite of all his films for the intricate plot and timeline and how he is able to pull that off in a War movie will always blow me mind. I like the sci fi too, I liked Inception and am excited to see Tenet which at the time I am writing this has not come out but I am very excited to see it. But this film definalty is more character driven which I find that he can focus a lot more on character in the more modest of his work. He still can fit a lot of character into Inception or Interstellar but he can bring more into this kinds. The movie shows whats to come in his career and peak into his early filmmaking style and compare it of the amazing work of whats to come.

Uncut Gems-The beginning of a new phase in the 

Career of Adam Sandler

Uncut Gems is about chaos, How the universe is unpredictable and how it can give so much and take away so much too. The story is about Adam Sandler’s Howard Ratner, A jewel dealer with a large gambling debt. The movie definitely benefits from The Safdie Brothers direction. The Safdie Brothers are some of the best directors working today with their whole career ahead of them. Their first feature Good Time definitely provided a lot of the chaos that Uncut Gems was able to take even further. And the performances of this movie are incredible but the spotlight of this is of course Adam Sandler. He was incredible in this movie as the character. His performance definitely seemed to be channeling Al Pacino while putting his own spin on it. He has proved himself as a great actor before in movies like Punch Drunk Love and Murder Mystery. While being known for more comedies, When given a great script and a great character he can fly and give some great performances. Of course another part of this movie that made this film great was of course the editing. The pure chaos some scenes delivered were incredible. You felt it in the theater, you got an uneasy feeling in your stomach. Even a scene taking place at a child’s school play is one of the most uneasy in the film. Adam Sandler gave a career best performance and The Safdie Brothers are going to be filmmakers to pay attention to. The antiheroes they have created are amazing and echo great ones created by Filmmakers like Scorsese and Tarantino. Their characters you wouldn’t lile if you saw but you start to follow their journey. and they seem to be in the same NewYork. You could imagine Howard and Connie running into each other on the street. Everything in this film is great, The Directing, The Acting, The Editing, the Soundtrack It is certainly one of the best of 2019 and will be remembered for a long time. 

For this blog I wanted my first review to be of my favorite movie in the history of cinema, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.  Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver is my favorite film . I love everything about this film. It’s directing, acting, writing. All of it. What I love about the direction of the film is how Scorsese sucks you into this guy’s world, And whose world is it? A Psychotic Taxi Driver living in New York Since the first shots, You are captivated. The gas and the Taxi emerges through. It places you in this world, Travis world of a very cynical New York. You see the film through his eyes. If he’s disgusted by someone, You are disgusted by them, If something bad happens to him and he’s feeling sad, you feel sad, you emphasize with him. All of this was through Scorsese’s direction. Scorsese already proved himself as a great director in Mean Streets but his skill was proven in this movie. Today he’s one of the best filmmakers of all time but when this was made he was just some director who needed to prove himself and he did. But with Travis,  You feel for this guy, You empathize with him. In this film Scorsese made you empathize with him, You empathize with a psychotic Taxi Driver in New York. Only a great director can do that, And that is Scorsese. When I first saw this movie I was at an especially lonely place in my life. And I understood Travis, I almost related to him, But then after you really start to understand and feel for this guy, Scorsese and De Niro start to show who he really is. As the movie progresses you see his running narration and it keeps getting crazier. And you start to wonder do I really feel for this guy, Do I really like him but you continue to feel for him until he becomes completely unhinged and sets out to kill Palatine and start the rampage.And then you think fuck I emphasized with this psychotic guy. That’s how Scorsese uses this movie to connect to you on an emotional level and then shock the audience. Now the Acting in this film is phenomenal. I mean Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster are both Fantastic, But Robert De Niro in this movie, holy shit. To me this is the greatest performance in the history of cinema. From the first scene, Travis is an iceberg. You know some things up with him, some things wrong with his head by the way he’s acting but you only see the top of the iceberg, but you know there’s something beneath you can sense it. Throughout the entire movie life continues to fuck Travis over. Things go to shit with A women he met at a political campaign office named. Betsy, (Which is his fault because a Porn Theater isn’t really the ideal dating spot) But he tries so hard to gain it back but it doesn’t work. But for some reason you still feel bad for the guy. You want him to get better. But throughout the movie his anger, his resentment builds up through his running narration. The iceberg underneath is building up. He’s getting crazier. Through the film you he’s constantly looking at the street with disgust and he’s wishing for someone to clean up the street. Then when a customer is talking to him in his cab. (Played by Scorsese) is talking to Travis about killing his wife. He’s a very psychotic guy but so is Travis so in a sick way he inspires Travis. He directs Travis into taking cleaning up the street into his own hands. And the guy who directs him into this decision is the director of the film. So Travis decides to take the law into his own hands. He buys guns and sets out on a rampage. He also sets his sights on Iris (A teenage prostitute) who he met earlier and couldn’t get her out of his head. He meets her and tries to talk her out of that life but she won’t go. And after everything continues to fuck him over, He shaves his head into a mohawk and sets out, Unhinged, angry and full of Resentment. But still, You don’t see the entire iceberg. The idea goes into his head about killing Charles Palantine, The politician Betsy worked for. It seems he wants to do this to get back at Betsy for what she did to him. Take away what’s important to her. He finally views himself as someone who can change things and wants to start by killing Palatine and then show the world who he is. But it doesn’t work out. He fails and starts to think about what he has left, Iris. He focuses all his attention on getting her out, And that night, He sets out to The Brothel where Iris works, To free her. And that scene, The Brothel Shootout. He releases all his anger and resentment that he has built up and you no longer see the tip of the iceberg. You see the iceberg as a whole. You see Travis for who he is. And who he is is an unhinged psychotic man who drives a Taxi. He took it all out on the people in the Brothel and when he tries to kill himself, He’s out of bullets and survives the encounter. The ending is almost ironic. This villainous character who is a psychotic killer is the hero.He rescues Betsy from that horrible life. And he’s praised for that by the entire city and Betsy’s family. He’s finally the somebody that he’s wanted to be the entire movie. And after that, He seems okay. He is happier. He is working and he drives Betsy to her apartment. And he is friendly towards her and he ends up giving her a free ride, A completely different attitude from earlier when he wanted to kill Palatine. As he’s driving away, In the final shots something grabs Travis’s attention and you see his eyes. You see they are full of rage and you know what else you see.? The tip of the iceberg. He is still angry, he still has rage. But the question begs, When will his violence strike again? And he probably won’t be the hero next time. And that character we see through the entire movie. We would not have had that performance without Robert De Niro in the role. That’s why this is my favorite performance in the cinema and De Niro is my favorite actor.  During this period Robert De Niro was hotshit in Hollywood in terms of Talent. He and Al Pacino were the biggest stars of the day and were both completley different. But The Godfather series launched both of them. They both did great stuff before for example Mean Streets, But they became the two biggest actors of the day. And De Niro definitely represented the strong silent type where Pacino was the loud angry one. And this film definitely played on his strengths the same way something like Scarface would play on Al Pacino’s Strengths. It’s because he didn’t need to speak to show his rage. He could show it all through his eyes. Like what I was talking about earlier throughout the movie and when you’re understanding Travis, And feeling for him and then you are shocked when you find out his real nature. Of course Scorsese’s Direction and the camera were big parts of that but without De Niro it would not have been possible. Taxi Driver is what I consider to be the greatest movie of all time. Now that’s just me. But to me it is. The purpose of a story is to see another type of life, someone else’s experiences and attitudes. Now if we like that character we become attached to them. Relate to their struggles sometimes. It’s to see an experience from someone else’s life and sympathize, become attached, maybe even relate. And in this movie you see the story through the main characters eyes. You feel the same ways he does and you see his worldview. And you start to sympathize with the guy. And who is that guy. A psychotic Taxi Driver who goes on a murderous rampage. If you saw Travis Bickle in your life, In the world you live in, He’d be a terrible person because he is. He’d be in prison on the news. You would hate the guy you would despise him. But in this movie, when you see the world through his eyes and start to emphasize with him. You are emphasizing with the same terrible person you would hate if you saw on the news. The very fact this movie does that to you with this piece of shit villainous guy is astounding and shows the power of cinema. If you saw the movie through the eyes of someone the viewer personally relates to it would be way easier to emphasize or become attached to them but this movie makes you work and it works really hard to do that to you. That’s the power of cinema this movie has. It takes first person movie experience to an entirely new level and crushes it. It makes you emphasize with someone you wouldn’t like. That truly shows the power of cinema and the power this movie has. To me it is the greatest film ever made and my favorite film of all time.