Currently browsing the "Riz Ahmed" tag.

Review: Sound of Metal

At first, Sound of Metal reminded me of Whiplash. Then, A Quiet Place. And then, Children of a Lesser God. That’s quite a unique blend; and Sound of Metal is quite a unique film. It’s about a punk-metal drummer named Ruben (Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler) who loses his hearing, and with it, his sense of self. As a recovering heroin addict, four years clean, the experience threatens to send Ruben back down that dark path, so his girlfriend/bandmate Lou (Olivia Cooke, Me and Early and the Dying Girl) encourages him to check into a secluded rehab facility for deaf addicts. There, he meets Joe (Paul Racie), the program director and rules czar who assigns a scared and skeptical Ruben one job: to learn how to be deaf.

Review: Venom

I don’t think the trailer does this film any favors. It makes Venom look way worse than it is, at least for anyone (like me) who doesn’t have a clue about this Marvel Comics character that is part human, part superhero, part alien blob. Don’t get me wrong. The film is a hot mess if you try to add up the sum of its parts. But a few of the parts are surprisingly entertaining. Okay, one part is surprisingly entertaining: Tom Hardy as disgraced investigative reporter Eddie Brock and his parasitic alter-ego Venom. When the two chat internally amongst themselves, the film is downright funny. Is it supposed to be? No clue.

Review: The Sisters Brothers

It seems the western will never die. The allure of rugged men out there slinging guns and making their fortunes panning for gold was too much for French director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, The Prophet) to pass up. And he didn’t’ even have to come to the US of A to shoot this his adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s rambling, sometimes funny novel. Who knew Spain and Romania could stand in for the American West? What The Sisters Brothers has going for it mainly is a great cast — Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Riz Ahmed — and you’ll have to decide for yourself if that’s enough to make it worth your while.