Beau is Afraid (2023)

Beau is Afraid is a look into a paranoid anxiety-ridden adult child staring Joaquin Phoenix.

Written and directed by Ari Aster, the man known for Hereditary, and Midsommar. I thought Hereditary was great and Midsommar could have used some producer input. This movie has the George Lucas effect, where Aster is left to do what he wants because of the fame that his name brings. The beginning of the movie is great, but the middle gets a little weird for an already weird movie. Then by the end, I'm just over it and ready for the climax.

Joaquin Phoenix is great in this film. I mean I totally lose him in this role. Beau could have been played by a lot of actors and I think Phoenix was lucky to be put here as it allows him to shine but we already have a movie where he shines as a mentally unstable person in The Joker. I think his best work is Gladiator and I really enjoyed Signs.

There is a supporting cast but they really are just that, support. Amy Ryan from The Office as Holly Flax has a small but memorable role with Nathan Lane. I normally don't enjoy Lane's movies as he plays the same character in each of them and here again, he's playing Max from The Producers.

Beau is Afraid starts off great and dies in pretending to be deep and hitting ourselves over the head with how unreal everything is for someone who is constantly afraid to the point his mind makes up stuff. Result: B- it's a little better than Midsommer but less than Hereditary.

Comments

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is directed by Aaron Horvath , Michael Jelenic , and Pierre Leduc , with a script by Matthew Fogel , who also worked on The Super Mario Bros. Movie . This sequel brings back the core cast while expanding the universe significantly, pulling in fan-favorite characters like Fox McCloud , Rosalina , Bowser Jr. , and Yoshi . The film leans heavily into spectacle, bouncing rapidly from one set piece to another. It often feels like a chain of “and then” moments, stitched together with references to the games rather than a tightly constructed narrative. Chris Pratt , known for Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World , returns as Mario and delivers a similar performance to the first film. He remains serviceable in the role, but the script doesn’t give him much room to grow this time around. Mario feels more like a vehicle to move the audience through the different worlds rather than a character with a meaningful arc. Anya Taylor-Joy , known for The Queen’s Ga...

Whistle (2026)

Whistle (2026) plays less like a finished horror film and more like a theater kid’s passion project that somehow made it to the screen. The script tries to build emotional investment in the main character but never succeeds, and the horror elements are almost nonexistent. The scares simply are not there, leaving the film feeling hollow for a genre that depends heavily on tension and payoff. The screenplay comes from Owen Egerton , whose work here feels more like a personal self insert than a fully realized character. The protagonist, played by Dafne Keen , comes across almost like a gender swapped version of the writer himself. Keen, known for Logan and His Dark Materials , tries to bring intensity to the role but the material gives her very little to work with. The direction from Corin Hardy , who previously directed The Nun , feels restrained by the script. It is hard not to feel a bit bad for him because there is only so much a director can do when the writing does not provi...

Civil War (2024)

Civil War is a journey across the eastern United States during a hypothetical civil war. Alex Garland wrote and directed the film. I was worried there would be too much of a political message in the film but really the message was so muted and delved into the story of Lee and Jessie. There are undertones of who is right and who is wrong in Garland's opinion but I was glad he kept it from being the story. It seems he's learned his lesson from his 2022 film Men. I'm glad to see him branching out from science fiction but Ex Machina and Annihilation were his best movies. Kirsten Dunst plays Lee the main character and the manifestation of jaded experience. She's seen war, suffering, and horrible things. She wants to protect Jessie just because of how polar opposite Jessie is as the manifestation of innocence. The makeup even shows how dead Lee looks in the eyes with the first close-up. You'll remember her as MJ from Spider-Man . Cailee Spaeny plays Jessie and despite...

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog