The film is titled Both Sides of the Blade, it is also formerly titled Fire. Fire is its English title. In my point-of-view, I see it as Both Sides of the Blade. With all the gut-wrenching and dramatic material, Both Sides of the Blade is like a boxing match that is does not have victory or defeat. The match just continues. The unsettling subject matter reminded me of all those dark productions I have experienced at Steppenwolf Theatre in downtown Chicago. The ones that gear on relationships falling apart or characters in harsh terms with themselves or reality. In both sides of the blade, the boxing match of the problems is one where the tensions and anger are hidden. From that, the film juggles many underlying issues that are faithful to dealing with reality.

With Juliette Binoche as one of the lead characters, she always can act as a woman that is brave, open-minded, and display a charming personality. The director is Claire Denis, and Binoche has worked on several films with her. What I have realized is that with all the films that Binoche has worked on with Denis is that Binoche can display many personalities. She can play a happily divorced mother seeking adventure in Let the Sunshine In (2017), a lady with a twisted space operation in High Life (2018), and someone that is not afraid to have a relationship with her husband and ex-boyfriend in Both Sides of the Blade. Binoche has many lovely trademarks which makes her to be an energetic, brilliant, and one of the most wonderful French actresses in today’s world. Despite some of her films not displaying much light, she always has wonderful personalities to offer them, and she does so also with Both Sides of the Blade.

In Both Sides of the Blade Binoche plays Sara. She is married to her husband Jean, and he is played by Vincent Lindon. The film starts out with them to be a happily married couple living in France with a few insecurities. Sara works in radio. Jean use to be a rugby player, but his downfall is he has a criminal record. His main priority is his son Marcus. Marcus is played by Issa Perica. Jean though is rather oblivious to his son and more focused on his wife Sara. The lovebird life for Sara and Jean begin to take a downfall as Sara’s ex-boyfriend Francois shows up in her life. Francois is played by Gregoire Colin. Sara begins to feel she wants to be in Francois’s company. As she begins to make time for Francois more frequently, Jean’s attitude spirals into confusion and anger. With Francois back in Sara’s life her mindset changes on if she is happy or not. As for Jean, his mindset changes to that pattern as well. Both Sides of the Blade will have personalities clash in many perplexing arguments with Sara, Jean, and Francois also.

I will say though, even though the likeliness of infidelity is the big nailbiter of drama for the film, that the film is redundant in many moments. This comes more in terms of Jean and his son Marcus. That subject is revisited several times, and Marcus does have problems. but nothing gets resolved for Marcus or for Jean. Despite the redundancy, I believe still it helped play into the big conflict between Jean and Sara. That is because Jean going trying to help his son shows he wants to have his mind in other places instead of what his wife may be up to. That does not mean that Jean is laid-back about Francois though.

Any time there is a new Marvel hero having their own film and then linking to other Marvel characters, superhero fans assume they have reason to be excited. I love superhero movies, and I’ve always been a big Marvel fan. But I have a love/hate relationship at best with the newest Marvel offering, Thor: Love and Thunder.

The best part of Thor: Love and Thunder is the humor of Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor. There is also some fun to be had in the silly scenarios with jamming music, quirky action situations, and some unexpected humor. Unfortunately, though, this one relies too much on humor, with very little of the interspersed seriousness we’ve come to expect from the Marvel cinematic universe. It also goes off on way too many tangents.

The backstory in Thor: Love and Thunder is quirky and not very in-depth. The plot is that Thor returns from a long retirement because Gorr the God Butcher, played by Christian Bale, is on the hunt to destroy all of the gods. To stop him, Thor teams up with Valkyrie, played by Tessa Thompson, Korg, played by Taika Waititi, and his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, aka Mighty Thor, played by Natalie Portman. The film also includes much of the team from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

The quirkiness that is a hallmark of Marvel characters is present in Thor: Love and Thunder, and there are a few classic moments. But the film comes off as ridiculous at times, and the writing is just silly throughout the film. The narration is lacking and it goes on these obscure tangents that just don’t make sense.

Probably my biggest issue with the film, though, is Russell Crowe as Zeus. Crowe looks awful. He is obnoxious, out of shape, and just seems out of sorts. His role and performance only adds to the errors of the film.

Trying to be positive here, but it’s not coming easy. Thor: Love and Thunder is by far the least spectacular of the four Thor films. It will likely sell well at the box office, as most Marvel films do. But it lacks originality and a consistent story line, and it’s just not much fun. Just two stars for Thor: Love and Thunder.

As a cinema enthusiast, critic, and an advocate for arts, culture, and theatricals throughout the Chicagoland area, I was lucky enough to have the privilege to do coverage on The Renaissance Award virtual event. The event took place at the Gene SiskelFilm Center on Saturday June 25th. The winner of the Renaissance award was Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr. ledthe discussion. Matt was the winner because of all his accomplishments through the years including many successful films. The program was virtual, and it was one of the most mesmerizing and in-depth conversations I have ever attended. Also, seeing Matt and Robert discuss Matt’s catalog of work, I felt there was a generous amount of mutual respect between the two actors which extended to the audience in attendance. It was a special night of appreciation and honor.

As Robert and Matt entered the livestream in front of the virtualaudience, one could feel the positive impact of the event. Thedeeper meaning of Matt’s accomplishments was explored through highlighting the roles throughout Matt’s career. The program included clips from Matt’s performances, especially ones that have always stuck with him. These moments felt deep and invigorating because I love all the films they discussed. Clips were shown from films ranging from Good Will Hunting (1997) to Syriana (2005) to The Departed (2006), and many more. Hearing Matt’s responses to why many of the key moments of his life happened during his films was very inspiring. Matt’s insights made me realize that there is a feeling of empowerment from doing interesting projects. Robert’s insights and upbeat sense of humor also added to the positive vibes of the event.

The Renaissance Award at the Gene Siskel Film Centerdemonstrated that following your passion can lead to bigger accomplishments. The conversation between Robert and Matt was wonderful. Another special element of the event was a pre-recorded congratulations to Matt from many celebrities including Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and more. The night was full of amazing, unexpected surprises and was pure cinema appreciation at its finest.