Darren Allanson

Favorite films

  • The Neon Demon
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
  • La La Land
  • Whiplash

All
  • Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

    ★★★★

  • Hurry Up Tomorrow

    ★★½

  • Final Destination Bloodlines

    ★★★½

  • The Surfer

    ★★★★

More
Black Mirror: Demon 79

2023

★★★★ Watched

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Pig

2021

★★½ Watched

An irable film with plenty to recommend it, but I didn't engage with it like I wanted to. I just didn't really 'get it'. The whole milieu and the world in which they inhabit feels weird; kind of like if the world of haute cuisine were run like the mafia. And what was that underground bare-knuckle nonsense about? Cage gets battered and bloodied but lumbers around quietly with an understated sense of resolve that is impressive but doesn't manifest into…

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Joker

2019

★★★★½ Liked Watched

An amazingly strong central performance from Joaquin Phoenix combined with one of the most grounded 'comic book' film portrayals ever, makes this pretty special. Phoenix' Joker is haunting almost to the point of nausea, in a story that takes an angry swing at society's indifference to mental illness and acts as a cautionary tale that we ignore at our peril. At heart it's an examination of a disenfranchised section of society; the poor, the ignored, and those unable to find…

The Favourite

2018

★★★★½ Liked Watched

As hoped, this is absolutely enormous fun and another win for Greek nutter Yorgos Lanthimos. Took a little time to find its groove (for me) but once the story gets going its a right royal epic of 18th Century bitchiness and debauchery; with deliciously fruity roles for the three leading ladies. Of those, Olivia Colman is the clear stand out as the insecure, gout-stricken and surprisingly sympathetic Queen Anne; but is almost matched by the wonderful Rachel Weisz and Emma…

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