Category: Movies

Everything to do with films!

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Review: ‘Nine Days’ is a beautiful achievement

Nine Days

This year, it’s a common theme that the films I truly love have been ones I expected to like but –for whatever reason– did not expect to love. Films with high concepts that I did not expect to leave me with tears in my eyes or with a renewed urge to look inward and assess my life and being. Nine Days is the third such film this year. A beautiful achievement from director Edson Oda (in his debut feature, no less), Nine Days treads a unique path to an emotional catharsis that will leave you with a renewed sense of hope.

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Fantasia ’21 Review: ‘King Knight’ is a bore

King Knight / Fantasia

I don’t even know where to begin, so let’s start at the beginning. King Knight is the latest film by Richard Bates Jr. It follows Thorn (Matthew Gray Gubler), the leader of a coven of witches, and he goes on a journey to his high school reunion. Thorn has a secret, though, and that secret is that he was popular in high school and not bullied or put upon like the rest of his cohort.

It sounds on paper, but the resulting film is boring and unfunny, which sucks.

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Review: ‘Beckett’ is a paranoid thriller that works despite itself

Beckett

An interesting thing that happens –or perhaps more accurately doesn’t happen– in Beckett is that when it comes time to be an action star, the title character simply isn’t one. Neither superhuman nor particularly competent, Beckett, played by John David Washington in a role that asks him to carry an entire movie, is just a guy on the run and doesn’t have any dark past, specialized training, or even a penchant for 80s action movies. That, in and of itself, is a little refreshing.

The film itself, though –a stylistic throwback to the paranoid thrillers of the 1970s– only works despite itself. Gorgeously shot, decently acted, but overlong and simple to a fault, this is one on which your mileage will definitely vary.

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Awesome Friday Movie Podcast Episode 4: ‘Vivo’ & ‘The Suicide Squad’

Awesome Friday Podcast Vivo & The Suicide Squad

Greetings programs, it’s Awesome Friday on a Sunday, which means we’re back with another episode of the Awesome Friday Movie Podcast!

Join us this week as we discuss two new movies. First up is the new Sony Pictures Animation film Vivo, which features the voice, and songs, of Lin-Manuel Miranda and was released to Netflix this week. Second up is James Gunn’s triumphant return to superhero movies; the Warner Brothers and DC released The Suicide Squad, now in theatres (and on HBO Max in the United States).

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Fantasia ’21 Review: ‘Agnes’ isn’t the horror movie it claims to be, but is compelling nonetheless

Agnes / Fantasia

Agnes beings in a convent, with a young nun standing up at a dinner table and proclaiming all of her sisters whores, among other things. Naturally, the assumption is that she is possessed, and the church dispatches a disillusioned older priest with a young, idealistic (almost) priest to keep an eye on him. If this sounds like the setup for a million other possessed nun stories, that’s because it is, right down to how fast it becomes clear that the priests are in over their heads. This isn’t a million other possessed nun stories, though.

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Review: ‘The Suicide Squad’ is wacky, juvenile, committed, fun, and familiar

The Suicide Squad

James Gunn has a distinctive voice. It’s always been there, from his days at Troma through writing the Scooby-Doo films and the Dawn of the Dead remake, and from his early directorial efforts like Slither and Super all the way to the Guardians of the Galaxy and now, the Suicide Squad. That voice is juvenile, a little dark, and also –and this is most important– fun.

I say this because The Suicide Squad, the movie he signed on to make while briefly exiled from Marvel Studios, is a juvenile movie. And it’s a little dark. And it’s pretty fun. But while its R-rated excesses are probably the logical extension of his voice as a storyteller, it is also cobbled together from his greatest hits from other projects. Your mileage may vary on whether it feels repetitive or merely familiar, but it’s also enough fun that that probably doesn’t matter.

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Review: ‘Vivo’ starts strong, ends less strong, and lags in the middle

Vivo

The basic premise of Vivo is both simple and heartfelt: A kinkajou goes on a quest to deliver a love letter from his father figure to his father figures long lost love. That’s it, that’s the whole pitch, and if you pack the cast with talented actors and singers and hire a nearly-EGOT-winning songwriter to turn the whole thing into a musical, that’s a recipe for something special. Most of the time, anyway.

That’s not to say that Vivo is bad; exactly, it’s just fine. It opens with a toe-tapping duet that will stick in your head for ages and closes with a reprise of the same, but there’s a long stretch in the middle where the film takes no exactly no chances and suffers for it.

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Review: ’12 Mighty Orphans’ is a perfectly suitable underdog sports drama

12 Mighty Orphans

Think about a sports drama. You know the one: where the main team is somehow disadvantaged in life, but they have a coach who believes in them even when they don’t believe in themselves. Where through the sport and the self-confidence that comes with playing well and winning, the kids turn their lives around and inspire the community around them. 12 Mighty Orphans is not the first time this story has been told, and it won’t be the last, but it’s a pretty good version of that story.

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Home Video: Every DC Extended Universe Film and Where to Buy, Rent, or Stream them

The Suicide Squad

James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad will hit theatres this weekend, and it is one of the most highly anticipated DC films in ages. There are nine films in the DCEU so far, or ten depending on how you count the versions of Justice League, and here is where you can rent, buy, or stream each one.

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Review: ‘The Green Knight’ grapples with temptation and virtue, cowardice and courage, and ends up one of the best films of the year

The Green Knight

There’s no one moment that will let you know that The Green Knight is going to be something special. It is apparent from the beginning that you are about to watch something excellent, both the production design and casting tell you that, but it’s not until nearly in the second half that you may realize you’re watching something truly great.

A knightly quest, and a chivalric romance, The Green Knight is a film that has so many questions and diversions that it could have been a mess, but instead is one of the most purposeful and human films of the year, and one of the best, too.

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Review: ‘Old’ highlights M. Night Shyamalan’s weaknesses, but also his strengths

Old

I think a lot about M. Night Shyamalan. I don’t like all of his movies, but all of his movies are unmistakably his movies, and I love him for that. So what makes an M. Night Shyamalan movie? Janky dialogue delivered weirdly and a very straightforward understanding of human emotion and behaviour, but also a keen eye for visuals and a newly unparalleled ability to use the camera to tell a story. He is, in a word, a dichotomy. His latest film Old is no different.

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Review: ‘The Last Mercenary’ misses the mark

The Last Mercenary

Action movies aren’t a genre that has ever let the age of their stars get in the way of a good time. If you do things right, you can have aged men play all kinds of characters. The Last Mercenary seems intent on pushing that idea to the limit by casting a 60-year-old Jean-Claude Van Damme as a mysterious spy returned from the cold to rescue his wayward son.

It also seems intent on being as over the top silly as it can be, with Van Damme’s character –dubbed “The Mist” because it’s there, but you can’t touch it– being a master of disguise, a master of proverbs, and hyper-competent at basically everything while also making all the most ridiculous choices.

Does it work though? Well… no, not really.

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Review: ‘Jungle Cruise’ is fun!

Jungle Cruise

Given the state of the world, it might be a more interesting fact that Disney hasn’t made more films based on the rides at their theme parks. I know that’s a weird thing to think about, but the future is weird. Disney is a vast, money-making empire and can monetize its properties like no other vast, money-making empire, and many of the rides in its parks are iconic.

Now, I know what you might be thinking, that it’s maybe a little cynical to make a movie based on a theme park ride, but to that, I say two things. First: tell it to the Pirates of the Caribbean, and second you can make a good movie out of anything. Here to prove that second point is Jungle Cruise, a good movie based on a theme park ride.

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