Greetings programs! This week, we’re diving into the world of the Hunger Games with the new prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and then taking a look at Span’s entry for the Best International Feature award at this year’s Oscars, The Society of the Snow.
Join us!
Continue reading “Podcast: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes & The Society of the Snow”
.Greetings, programs! We’re back after a week away! Join us for a lively discussion of Air (now on Prime Video) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (now in cinemas). One of these movies we really liked, and the other, the opposite of that. Listen to find out which is which!
Join us!
Continue reading “Podcast: Air & Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
There is no question that prison is hard on a person, especially in countries like the United States, where the system is set up to be punitive rather than rehabilitative. A long stint can leave a person a shell of their former self unless they have something on the outside to hold on to. In The Unforgivable, that something is a younger sister that the main character isn’t allowed to see. In this circumstance, how do you go on?
Continue reading “Review: ‘The Unforgivable’ is at odds with itself but still works”
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).
Continue reading “Awesome Friday Movie Podcast Episode 4: ‘Vivo’ & ‘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.
Continue reading “Review: ‘The Suicide Squad’ is wacky, juvenile, committed, fun, and familiar”
When Chadwick Boseman passed away this summer, it cast a new light on all of his recent work. Not only did he work nearly constantly while also suffering from stage four cancer, but he also took the time to inhabit meaningful African American characters and to bring African American stories to the screen. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom has a hell of a lot of expectations, being both produced by Denzel Washington and adapted from the August Wilson play of the same name, and that’s before you consider that it is Boseman’s last film.
So it’s a good thing that its a good movie then.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ brings us powerful performances by Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis”
An jailed expert hacker is recruited to help find another hacker who is hacking the planet. In the bad way. Sounds like it might be… uh.. a thing. Except that Chris Hemsworth is starring and Michael Mann directed, so let’s watch!
Continue reading “‘Blackhat’ Trailer: Everything Is Vulnerable”
Have you ever seen that one movie? You know the one, it’s based on a young adult novel and it’s starring a hot young actor alongside a few veteran adults? The one where the trailer looked pretty cool but then when you saw it you realized that they had cut _so much_ of the actually important parts of the story that the movie ended up not being very good?
Yeah I saw that movie tonight. It’s called _Ender’s Game_.
_Ed. Note: I know this is really late, but I’m on holiday!_
You’ve already [seen the trailer](https://awesomefriday.ca/2013/06/prisoners-trailer-hugh-jackman-goes-crazy/) for Prisoners so you already know the basic set up. Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello are best friends with Terrance Howard and Viola Davis On thanksgiving they share the evening together and the couples youngest children go outside to find a lost toy and never return. Paul Dano plays a simpleton named Alex who is the best suspect and is arrested by Jake Gyllenhaal but it quickly turns out that Alex doesn’t have the faculties to have committed such a crime and is released. Angry, desperate and searching for answers, Hugh Jackman kidnaps Paul Dano and proceeds to torture him for answers.
Turns out though that there is more going on. I’m going to talk in more detail after the jump and while I’m not going to directly spoil anything this _is_ a mystery story so talking about it will give you clues. If you want to skip the review and know what I think? Yes, go see it. It’s good. It’s not perfect but it’s well thought out and incredibly well acted and beautifully shot. Details after the jump.
There is a new Ender’s Game Trailer. Let’s take a look.
Continue reading “Ender’s Game Trailer: I No Longer Know What To Think”
I feel like I’ve seen this movie before. Two children are missing and the desperate father will do anything to get them back.
However, Denis Villeneuve is a talented director (and Canadian!) and he’s made some pretty great films most of which tackle some pretty difficult subject matter (see: Incendies or Polytechnique).
He’s also managed to round up Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Terrance Howard, Viola Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano and Melissa Leo, a pretty all star cast of award winners and nominees.
Let’s watch!
Continue reading “Prisoners Trailer: Hugh Jackman Goes Crazy”
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