Napoleon

While most of Scott's historical pictures feel like they were conceived by a fifteen-year-old cheating on a test, only the two that star Joaquin Phoenix made me feel embarrassed that I bought a ticket. Phoenix is an actor with a wealth of emotion but zero technique. That's not to say he hasn’t given some beautiful performances when he's well-directed in movies that suit his screen persona, but under Scott's direction in a period movie, he soils a canvas that’s covered in shit to start with.

Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa make some ludicrous choices regarding what to focus on and what to leave out in their exploration of Bonaparte's many glorious battles, rise to power, and relationship with Empress Joséphine. Were it not for some new and inventive ways of depicting cannon-based warfare, I'd say this picture was a total bust. But even with its few well-staged moments, Napoleon is an utter failure. Ugly, tedious, adolescent, shameful.