Tag Archives: American Cinema

The Dog Stars – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating exploration of what it means to be human.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

A ruined Denver City Hall.

The Dog Stars Review Introduction

In recent years we have seen a large rise in post-apocalyptic stories, especially around viruses, making their way onto the screen. Some of these are incredibly thought-provoking works of art, such as Earth Abides, Station Eleven, PLUR1BUS, and season 1 of The Last of Us. But others still have not hit the mark, such as Greenland 2, Silent Zone, In the Lost Lands, and season 2 of The Last of Us. At their core, these stories work best when they are interrogating humanity once all the niceness has been stripped away, and I hope this is what we get today.        

So, to set the scene, the world ended. A flu pandemic ripped through the world before we knew what was happening; most of humanity was dead. Hig (Jacob Elordi) was a commercial pilot in the old world, a world where his wife and child once lived. Now, he is mostly alone, using his plane to go out and hunt for supplies for himself and Bangley (Josh Brolin). They are surviving, but they are not living. Can you move on after such a tragedy, when there are human raiders or worse waiting out there? Can you find hope in a humanity that has been brought to the precipice of extinction? Now, before we jump into the review proper, I want to make clear that I have not read the book this is based on, so my review will not be covering the adaptation, but I have added the book to my reading list after watching the film.  

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Tuner – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating exploration of a man at the precipice of a bad decision for good reasons.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The locking mechanism of a safe.

Tuner Review Introduction

There are some people you know that when they give a film recommendation, you need to check it out, because whether you vibe with a film or not, their recommendations are always interesting. Today is just such a film, one that has intrigued me from afar, but even more so now that I have seen it up close.

So, to set the scene, deep in New York City lives famed piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), who is training his apprentice, Niki White (Leo Woodall). Harry has progressive dementia, and Niki has perfect pitch but lives with hyperacusis, a sensitivity to sound, which means that he must wear hearing protection for most of his life, especially around loud noises. After being forced to come back to a house late at night to tune a piano when all the tradespeople have gone, he may have helped some criminals crack a safe. It is something that he would entertain, until Harry is hospitalised, money is needed, and maybe this is his way out.  

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Normal – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A perfectly serviceable action film, competently constructed but with nothing remarkable to make it stand out.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Town of Normal welcome sign.

Normal Review Introduction

I decided today that I wanted to go on a bit of an action kick as this tends to be the time of year when they drop. However, today’s movie has the odd distinction of being both technically quite good, while also being an almost bland, if at best unremarkable experience.
 
So, to set the scene, we open in Normal, Minnesota, a very nice town … well, the parts that were not abandoned. Temporary Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) has arrived to fill in for the eight weeks before the town votes for a permanent replacement. The only odd thing is that this poor town does seem to have a lot of money for a town in a rural downturn, something that pulls on a thread for Ulysses that he can’t quite place. It was a perfect set-up, until some nobodies try to rob the bank and Ulysses’ life just got turned around.  

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Super Troopers 3 [Super Troopers 3: Farva’s Wedding] – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is an incredible juvenile film, but goodness, do they commit to the bit.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid- and post-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The gang lined up in their uniforms.

Super Troopers 3 Review Introduction

Look, it might be nostalgia talking, but I do have a soft spot for the Broken Lizard gang, because even though a lot of their comedy is quite juvenile, they commit to it with all their will. The first Super Troopers is this odd encapsulation of the post-millennium world and became a cult classic for a reason, and the sequel Super Troopers 2 recaptured some of that fun. But is third time the charm?  

So, to set the scene, life has continued for the Vermont Highway Patrol; only time has aged them, and now there are electric cars everywhere. But what no one could expect is that when Thorny’s (Jay Chandrasekhar) sister Sarita (Hannah Simone) is run off the road, it would be Farva (Kevin Heffernan) who would be there to rescue her from the wreckage and save her life. One whirlwind romance later, the pair are due to be married, much to Carl (Paul Soter), Mac (Steve Lemme), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske), and new rookie Burns’ (Andrew Dismukes) merriment. But with Thorny and Sarita’s parents, Dr. (Iqbal Theba) and Mehta Makundan (Sakina Jaffrey) coming into town, Thorny has a mission: show Farva’s real side to his conservative parents and break up the marriage.    

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Stop! That! Train! – Movie Review

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TL;DR – The idea of Airplane! reimagined through the lens of Drag is an interesting concept, but unfortunately, everything about this film is so one-note that it is not enough to hide the many issues.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Many faces of RuPaul.

Stop! That! Train! Review Introduction

I had the afternoon off, and it is cheap Tuesday at my local cinemas, so I decided to go in blind and see what movies were available that I have not watched before. Today’s review was the first of those possibilities, which started strong, but I am not sure it ever delivered.

So, to set the scene, Tess (Ginger Minj) and DeeDee (Jujubee) are working on Stank Rail as train stewardesses when suddenly the train line is shut down. Not wanting to get broken up, they hear that the luxurious Glamazonian Express, the only high-speed railway in the USA, needs two fill-in stewardesses. Well, they jump at the opportunity. But what they don’t know is that in the United States Train Command Center, Donna Dusk (Rachel Bloom) has discovered that the Glamazonian Express is heading straight towards a rare Stormaganza, a weather event that few have lived to talk about.   

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GOAT – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While not a revolutionary story, the gorgeous animation and heartwarming fun make it a lovely watch.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

the Glasshouse, the home court of the Thorns in Vinetown.

GOAT Review Introduction

It is the time of year when you feel a bit reflective and need to catch up with everything you might have missed throughout the year. There is one film from earlier this year that a lot of people have recommended that I needed to give a watch. It doesn’t hurt that my current sports team is also at the bottom of the ladder fighting for it all, which means it is a perfect window for today’s film.  

So, to set the scene, in a world filled with sentient animals, there is one sport that unites the world: roarball [basketball]. However, it is a sport only played by bigs; the smalls have to watch. Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin) is a goat who has always dreamed of playing, but he is a small. It doesn’t help that the local team, the Thorns under Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), are at the bottom of the ladder. But when opposition player Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre) starts dissing the local team in Vinetown, their own home, Will steps up and scores on him. This creates a viral moment that team owner Flo (Jenifer Lewis) uses to get more people in seats, but no one was expecting them to do well. The team had other ideas.

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Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A beautifully animated entry into a series steeped in friendship and a sheer optimism that you need now and again.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ subscription used to watch this film.

An old Air bending temple.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender Review Introduction

Well, it is time to jump back into the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It has been a long time since I dabbled in this universe, but I remember it being a fun time. While it was very much focused on a younger audience, the themes of working together, finding yourself, and building a better future rang true. Now it is time to see if this world can still have an impact in the current world.
 
So, to set the scene, it has been a while since the events of The Last Airbender, and Aang (Eric Nam) has been collecting any remnant of the Air Nomads that he could find. While returning the artefacts to an ancient temple, Aang is attacked by an insurgent group known as the Denied. They were looking for a map to an ancient staff, from a time even before the oldest Avatars Aang can reach. The one clue that he can find leads him to the top of Mount Baihu, where Aang finds not a staff but something potentially more powerful.  

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The End of Oak Street – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This 80s homage film triumphs on one important facet: Anne Hathaway fighting dinosaurs.  

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.

A dog looks up to see a weird light.

The End of Oak Street Review Introduction

Now, if you know me, I make absolutely no apologies that I am a dinosaur fiend when it comes to media. Give me your Jurassic Parks, your Dinotopias, heck, you want to add dinosaurs to Star Trek, I am here for it. But if you are going to add dinosaurs to a film, they can’t just be a token addition; they need to mean something, and thankfully that is not an issue today.

So, to set the scene, in 1982 there is a quintessential suburb in America called Flowervale that does all the stereotypical things. They have block parties, the kids ride around on their bikes, and neighbours get upset with dogs pooping in their yards. On Oak Street in this suburb lives the Platt family: wife Denise (Anne Hathaway), husband Greg (Ewan McGregor), daughter Audrey (Maisy Stella), and son Brian (Christian Convery). They are the perfect nuclear family on the surface, but in private the cracks in Denise and Greg’s relationship are threatening to become a gorge. But all of that changes one night when the lights start to flicker, everyone’s ears pop, and odd noises start coming from the forest. That’s when the screams start.

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Greenland 2: Migration – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A quasi-religious themed sequel doesn’t live up to the first film, unfortunately.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

John escapes from a radiation storm.

Greenland 2: Migration Review Introduction

Back in 2021, I was entirely surprised by a film. Greenland took what could have been a run-of-the-mill disaster/apocalypse film and filled it with real emotional weight. It even made it onto my best film list for that year. Since then, I have been wondering if they would go back to that world, and while we didn’t get an Australian release, I am glad to finally be getting a look at it today.  

So, to set the scene, in the five years since the Clarke devastation, fragments still impact the Earth, causing all sorts of radiation issues. John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his family, Allison (Morena Baccarin), and Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis) are still living in the bunker under Thule Airbase in Greenland. But things have stretched on longer than anyone expected, and they are now surviving by salvaging the ruins of humanity that wash up. The hope was to wait for the radiation levels to drop, but already large areas of North America have been made uninhabitable due to it. But when the tectonic plates shift and the base is destroyed, the Garrity family and the handful of survivors must make a mad dash across a waring Europe to reach the Clarke creator, the one place potentially free of radiation.  

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Solo Mio – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It has a level of heartwarming charm I was not expecting but was grateful to experience out in the Italian countryside.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Being left at the altar.

Solo Mio Review Introduction

Well, it is the middle of the year, well more than the middle, and it is at this point and time that I start to get a bit reflective on the time that has passed and the coming storm that is the end of the year. It is the time of year when you want something that is just full of charm, and I think that will be the type of film we will look at today.

So, to set the scene, it was the perfect romance right up until Matt (Kevin James) was left at the altar by Heather (Julie Ann Emery) at their Italian destination wedding. As you can imagine, that is the perfect kind of embarrassment at any time and place, but there is an extra level of disaster when you are in a foreign country. Even worse, when your entire honeymoon package is 100% non-refundable. What is Matt to do? Well, it is paid for, and you can’t get your money back; well, you might as well enjoy it.  

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