Monthly Archives: February 2018

The 90th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees Ranked from Best to Last

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 The 90th Academy Awards is coming quickly and for the first time, I have seen all the films nominated for the Best Picture award. So today I will be ranking all the films in order from best to last (though to note, because this is the Academy Awards even last is an interesting film). Now, this won’t just be a ranking of 1-9, it will be ordered into categories where films will be listed alphabetically.

As well as that, this list is based on my own personal feelings as to which films connected with me or not, if you are looking for a list about whether or not they are likely to win this is probably not the list for you. If you are looking for that kind of list can I instead recommend Matt Neglia’s and the team’s Oscar Predictions over at Next Best Picture. So let us dive into 2017 which was a fantastic year for cinema, and let me know in the comments below how you would have ranked this year’s Best Picture nominees.

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Movie Review – Mute (Moon II)

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TL;DR – Compelling, brutal, it charts a world of extremes crashing together and the damage that it can do to people.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Mute banner

Review –

Because of who you are, you live almost apart from the world. However, one day you meet someone who completes you, helps you to live your life, it is pure joy. Then one day that gets taken away from you, what would you do? Where would you go? Is there any length that you would not go to get her back? These are just some of the questions that Mute askes among the tapestry of future Germany. Today we will be exploring this fascinating film from Duncan Jones, a gritty neo-noir film of mystery and deception, but also a film dealing with some very real and present issues in the world today.

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Movie Review – Hibiscus and Ruthless

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TL;DR – A beautiful, funny film of charting family expectations

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit sequence as the credits roll

Hibiscus & Ruthless. Image Credit: M2S1 Films.

Review –

‘Families are complicated’, I think that is a phrase that just about anyone in the world can relate to. There is pressure to conform to your parents wants, and there is pressure to try and help the next generation succeed more than you did, and sometimes those two drives crash into each other in explosive fashion. Today we will be looking at a film that deals with just this very issue, as we explore this fascinating film from New Zealand from the same creative team behind Three Wise Cousins. There will be laughter, there will be tears, and there will be bread rolls on people’s heads for some reason.

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Movie Review – Lady Bird

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TL;DR – A coming of age story with a strong emotional centre, and an amazing cast

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Lady Bird

Review –

Last year I missed seeing Moonlight in the cinemas, due to its very limited release near me. Well, Moonlight went on to win the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards, and I felt a bit foolish for missing it. Well this year I made sure that this would not happen again and the last film on that list is Lady Bird and it has finally been released here in Australia. So today we are going to look at this magnificent insight into families under stress, yet still being resolute in the face of it all.

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Movie Review – Phantom Thread

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TL;DR – A film of two halves, beautiful direction and action, with a story that just didn’t work for me

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No Post-credit scene

phantom thread

Review –

Well this is an odd duck of a film, in some aspects it is exquisite and yet in others is it feels distant, and that disconnect is fascinating. So today we are going to explore the highs and lows of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film and from all accounts Daniel Day-Lewis’s last film, though I believe that like I believe John Farnham every time he says this tour is his last.

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Movie Review – Black Panther

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TL;DR – Wow, just wow, every part of this film comes together to make something people will be talking for years to come.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end credit sequence

Black Panther banner

Review –

I was expecting Black Panther to be good, all the Marvel films so far have been at least ok and this was tracking to be better than average. However, nothing prepared me for just how good the film was going to be, and also just how challenging it was going to be, it does not hold back, not one single bit. So today we will explore the world of Wakanda, the people, history, and locations. But before we do that, can I suggest if you have not seen the film to go do that right now, without reading on, you will be much better to go into Black Panther with as little pre-knowledge as possible, well other than it is really good.

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Movie Review – Molly’s Game

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TL;DR – Exploring the interplay of power and greed, and how lives can change in an instant, also you got Aaron Sorkin walk and talks, so what’s not to like?

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

Molly's Game

Review –

Today is an interesting week because we are looking at a film that is both from a first-time director but also one of the industries long-time greats, Aaron Sorkin. So today we will see if his walk and talk dialogue works when he is the one behind the camera? Now before we start, because of the way the film is structured it is hard to talk about it at all without getting into [SPOILER] territory almost immediately, so if you have not seen the film probably be careful when proceeding.

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Article – Why I Love Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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TL;DR – From the setting to the characters to the story and themes, Deep Space Nine stands as one of the high points of science fiction

DS9 banner

Article –

This week we have the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery (see review) and it has been such a strong first outing for the new series. Because of this, I have been thinking back over the history of the entire Star Trek franchise and when I do that I can’t help but focus on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9). Now DS9 was always the odd one out of the Star Trek spin-offs for some. It aired at the same time as both The Next Generation and Voyager, so it never stood apart. It dealt with issues that the other shows either avoided or ignored altogether, and some felt started to walk away from the vision Gene Roddenberry established. Indeed, it was the first series where he didn’t have a direct control over the creation and direction of, though from all accounts he did approve of its creation. So what I want to do today is talk about the reasons that I love DS9, the setting, the characters, the themes, and the stories. But just before we move on DS9 has been off air for almost 20 years, but all that being said, I will be talking about the series as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] going forward, however, I will also provide links to the Memory Alpha Wiki when introducing characters and races so you can explore it more if you are new to the show.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Will You Take My Hand?  

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TL;DR – In the end, we started with a group of people on a ship in space, and over the season, as adversity after adversity piled up, we ended with a crew.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Will You Take My Hand?

Review –

Oh wow, we have reached the end of Season One and what a season it was, there were jumps in time and space, war with the Klingons, even a sojourn in the Mirror Universe. Now all of this was like a freight train barrelling towards tonight’s finale and here we are. So today we are going to take some time to look at how the episode worked on its own, before looking at how the whole season worked as a while in an article a bit later this week.

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Movie Review – The 15:17 to Paris (Clint Eastwood’s The 15:17 to Paris)

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TL;DR – It has a rocky start, but it sucks you in and hits you with an emotional punch at the end.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a Mid-Credit sequence.

The 15 17 to Paris

Review –

What would you do if a terrorist, or any gunman, to be honest, started shooting at people while you were on a train? This is a question I have had to ask myself today as I walked out of the cinemas. Would you run? Would you hide? Would you confront them and try to stop it? While I may want to think I would do that latter, deep down I know I would likely freeze not knowing what to do, which was an interesting thing to ponder about your life. Well, there are some people out there in the world who know what they would do because it happened to them one day in August in 2015. So today we are going to look at a film that is both a testament to courage under fire and also one of the most fascinating casting choices I have seen in a very long time. It is also the most Clint Eastwood film I have seen in quite a while.

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