Category Archives: Got My Cry On

The Wild Robot – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a stunningly beautiful film that hit me with a wave of emotions as if I were standing by the seaside watching them roll in.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit stinger.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Roz surrounded by butterflies.

The Wild Robot Review –

It is school holiday time here in Australia, and that usually means a web of family films gets unleashed into the cinemas. Many are quite average fare, just looking to entertain the little ones for an hour or two in air conditioning. However, every now and again, you find something exceptional, and this is what we will be looking at today.

So, to set the scene, in the potentially distant future, a bunch of otters find a very peculiar item washed up on shore. It is a box with some contraptions. After some exploration, they accidentally set it off to discover it was a ROZZUM unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o) personal assistance robot. She is now activated and is not looking for a task. The only problem is that she does not speak wild critter, and they are all afraid of her. But when a bear attacks, she accidentally crashes into a goose nest, leaving only a single egg behind. Roz has to look past her programming with the help of Fink (Pedro Pascal), a local fox who would be happy to eat the issue away and Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), an opossum who knows about motherhood. Because the little Brightbill (Kit Connor/Boone Storm) needs to eat, swim, and fly, all before winter sets in. Because if he doesn’t leave on migration, he will die.

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Touch (Snerting) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a stunningly beautiful portrait of a man’s life that feels both deeply personal and universal in what drives him. It is profoundly moving and full of narrative grace that could have been all melancholy but is instead full of heart and joy.   

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film.

Kristófer looks out over a city scape.

Touch Review –

I know this is only August, and there are many films I will see this month, let alone by the end of the year, but today, can I say that we are looking at one of my films of the year. If not, the film of the year. This is such a stunning work that it has sat with me the whole time since I first watched it. I mean, Touch is such a beautiful film that I am getting emotional from writing about it now.

So, to set the scene, Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson) is going through the motions of his life in Iceland at the start of the COVID pandemic. He is a famous restaurateur on the island, but he has now closed his restaurant and is spending time at a local choir and trying to invoke his past diaries. But as the world starts to close up, Kristófer sets on a mission to answer one of the great questions of his past when he (Palmi Kormakur) was a young student in London and one day, he walked into a Japanese restaurant and met Miko (Kōki).

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The Mountain – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An emotional roller coaster that can have you laughing, crying, and uplifting all in the space of 30 seconds.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Mount Taranaki in poster form.

The Mountain Review –

After a long and challenging week, I thought I would stop in at the movies on the way home from work on a Friday afternoon. I had a number of options, but then I noticed what looked like a fun kids flick out of New Zealand and thought that would be the perfect way to round out the week. I mean, it was, but it was also emotionally devastating on multiple occasions. While also being a delight at every turn. Well, let’s dive in and unpack Rachael House’s directing debut.

So, to set the scene, we open in a hospital as Sam (Elizabeth Atkinson) prepares a sneaky escape with the help of her friend Peachy (Sukena Shah). There is one thing that she wants to do in her life, and that is climb Mount Taranaki. On her way, she runs into Mallory Potts (Reuben Francis), a boy who has just moved to the area with their father Hugh (Bryan Coll), and Bronco (Terence Daniel), who is struggling with relating with his father Tux (Troy Kingi). Together, they decide to climb the mountain, no matter the obstacles in their way.

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X-Men ’97 – Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 3 & Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It perfectly sticks the landing, balancing emotion, narrative, and a cameo or 10 to create an episode that had an impact.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ Service that viewed this series.

End Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Bastion's eyes.

X-Men ’97 Review –

When I first started this series, I had this concern that maybe this new series would dent the old memories, or what if I was living in the world of rose-tinted glasses? The X-Men are the one side of the Marvel Universe that I have been the most connected to over the years, and the original X-Men: The Animated Series was the critical catalyst to that. This first season had its highs and lows, but I still wondered if it could stick the landing, so I needn’t have been concerned.    

So to set the scene, after Bastion (Theo James) lets loose his sentinels in Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1 leading to Magneto (Matthew Waterson) declares war on humanity. The X-Men joined together under newly returned Professor-X (Ross Marquand) to try and stop him in Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 2 while also attacking Bastion. But as Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale) was despatched by her own son Cable (Chris Potter) and Magneto decided to rip every atom of adamantium off Wolverine’s (Cal Dodd) bones, all looked lost. But never count the X-Men out, even in the face of complete failure. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While you can feel some tension in the script at times, this is still a solid entry into the franchise with characters you care about and a world you want to explore.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Noa rides through the ruins of the old world.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review –

Without a doubt, I have loved the Planet of the Apes reboot films. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a great foundation, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was this sad meditation on the legacy of trauma, all before ending the trilogy with this grand biblical epic of War of the Planet of the Apes that hit the big 5 out of 5 stars. So, there was a bit of hesitance to come back to this world after such a long time and a new creative team, but thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.

So to set the scene, we open with the final funeral of Caeser, a leader who brought his people out of danger and into a new promised land but was unable to enter himself. Led by Maurice (Karin Konoval), it is a solemn event, but it is the start of something, and you see that in the world several generations later. It is here where Noa (Owen Teague) and his friends Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) climb up through the ruins of the old world to find eagle eggs. They are a village of eagle trainers, and Noa’s dad, Koro (Neil Sandilands), is the leader who sings to the new eggs. However, when Noa sees an Echo (human), little does he know the carnage that is following in their wake and how his world is about to change forever.

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Turtles All the Way Down – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Come for the interesting exploration of mental health and the bond of teenagers in the face of tragedy. Stay tuned for the exciting trivia about Indianapolis.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Yellow microbes on a black banner.

Turtles All the Way Down Review –

Today, we look at a film in which I had some deep trepidation before pressing play. I generally like the author’s work and have read all of his other novels; however, when I sat down to read the Turtles book, I hit a wall. There was this moment early in the book when it went from being a fictional story to being too real and personal, and I had to put the book down. And I am sorry to say, I never picked it back up again. So today, what we have is almost a second attempt for me to find a new first impression and see if I can make it further into the work than last time. Well, I have a packet of Wagon Wheels in front of me and the house smells of roast potatoes, and there is no time like the present.  

So to set the scene, we open with Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced) lamenting or musing about how 50% of the human body mass is made up of microbial entities and what that means on a philosophical level with her therapist Dr. Kira Singh (Poorna Jagannathan). Aza has OCD, which relates to how she perceives the microbial world, both within and without. When she goes to have lunch with her best friend Daisy Ramirez (Cree), they discover that Aza’s old friend Davis Pickett’s (Felix Mallard) father has gone missing, and there is a $100,000 reward.

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Halo: Reach – TV Review

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TL;DR – The Halo series has done something I never thought it would or even could do. It made me care.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Warning – This episode contains scenes that may cause distress.

The fall of Reach.

Halo Review –

When I think back to the first season, sure, there were the significant changes everyone talked about, Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) taking off his mask and all that. But that never bothered me because adaptation to a new medium necessitates making changes. After all, it is a new context. My biggest problem was that the story, while satisfactory, did not make me care all that much about the characters in the show. Well, if nothing else, Season Two has fixed that problem.  

So to set the scene, in last week’s Visegrad, we discovered that not only does The Covenant know where Reach is, and that the authorities know that The Covenant knows where Reach is, but they are already on the planet and their main invasion is imminent. Queue the explosions. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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The Holdovers – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It was a wonderful, moving, sad, delightful, and wild ride, unlike anything I have seen before, and it has been sitting in the back of my mind since I watched it. 

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A failed exam paper.

The Holdovers Review –

When you are watching a film, there are times when you have an experience where you become completely absorbed into the narrative. Taken back 50 years to a place you have never been before, to a place that you have no connection with, but you are taken there wholly. These cases are where the narrative, the direction, and the acting all come together for a perfect work. Today, we look at just such a film that focuses on three actors who give their all to the proceedings.

So to set the scene, it is coming to the end of the year in 1970 as we come to Barton Academy in New England. The term is coming to an end, and everyone is getting ready to go home to their families for Christmas, well, almost everyone. Every year, there is a handful of students who can’t make it back home for the break and stay over at the school, the titular holdovers. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) teaches ancient civilizations and is hated by most of the students, does not want to be the one stuck with the holdovers but gets out manoeuvred by another staff member. Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) wants to go home for the holidays, but his mother is spending it with her new husband, and Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) lives on campus but is facing her first Christmas alone. They make an odd bunch as the snow comes in.     

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Joy Ride – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that is both crass, hilarious, and heartfelt, all in equal measure.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film.

The gang on a motorbike.

Joy Ride Review –

In the last run, before we do our best of 2023 lists, I wanted to try films that I knew I would enjoy and just missed, but also those that don’t fit into his category. There was a point in the year when it looked like everyone was putting out mature comedies again. Some were great, others not so much. So, I didn’t give much thought to Joy Ride during its short theatrical ride in Australia, and I think that might have been a mistake.

So to set the scene, it is 1998, and the Chen family has just moved into a new and very white neighbourhood called White Hills. But when Lolo Chen (Ashley Park) found Audrey Sullivan (Sherry Cola), there was an instant connection, a best friend connection that stayed with them all their lives, well up to this point. Audrey is going back to China for the first time, and she is taking Lolo with her as a translator. Lolo wants to see if they can find Audrey’s birth mother while they are there, but Audrey is just focused on her job because if she nails it, she will be moving out of White Hills. But throw in the complications of Lolo’s cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Audrey’s college roommate Kat Huang (Stephanie Hsu), and her business meeting with Chao (Ronny Chieng) happening in a club, and things soon start falling apart.  

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Musings on The Leftovers (or did Nora Lie?)

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TL;DR – In which I wax lyrical or ramble about the series The Leftovers and its exploration of faith and truth.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this series.

Two men on a roof after an apocalypse that didn't happen.

The Leftovers Review –

Today, we will do something a little different than usual in that we will be less of a review and more of a retrospective on a series. Well, it’s not quite a retrospective, but more some musings that have been rumbling around in my head for months and that I better put down on paper somewhere so I can let them go rather than pondering on them all the time. With that in mind, we delve into the world of guilt, trauma, religion, faith, and crisis.

So to set the scene, three years before the start of the series on October 14th, 2011, two per cent of the world’s population vanished instantly. One hundred forty million people were gone in a moment of time, with no rhyme or reason as to why they were chosen. A child was screaming one second, gone the next. A family was eating breakfast one moment and gone the next. The person you were holding hands with during a science experiment, the person you were making love with, all gone. How do you move on after an event like this? Can you? Can society? Can the town of Mapleton and the Garvey family? Now from here, we will be looking at the whole series as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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