Tag Archives: American Cinema

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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Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Moments of interest in the middle of a sea of mess.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

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

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

Gas Giant.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire Review –

Before we begin our best of 2023 list, there are a handful of movies that I want to catch up on, one of them being this new Science Fiction magnum opus from Zack Snyder. Snyder has always been at least an interesting director because he has a clear visual style, and that has worked for him in the past. The question is if this will work for him today?

So to set the scene, there is a large empire that spans across space, reaching out and conquering all they could find from the Motherworld. That is until assassins kill the King (Cary Elwes) and Queen (Rhian Rees) in a coup d’etat. There is a power vacuum filled by a Regent (Fra Fee) who sent his ships out to the edge of his domain to make sure no plant picks this moment to rebel against them. On the backwater moon of Veldt, things are proceeding as they always do until the ship commanded by Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) appears in orbit over their settlement. While some in the town see an opportunity, Kora (Sofia Boutella) knows the reality: they are here to take, and take, and take.

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Anyone But You – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that is based entirely on the chemistry of the two leading cast members. Thank goodness they have some.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Sydney.

Anyone But You Review –

There is a considerable risk when you base the entire foundation of your film on the charisma of your two leads. There are multiple examples, like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, where that mistake has caused the film to fall flat on its face. It is a dangerous proposition … but what happens when you get it right?

So to set the scene, it is a typical day in a coffee shop when Bea (Sydney Sweeney) runs into Ben (Glen Powell) while trying to get the key to the bathroom. Some shenanigans occur but sparks fly, and soon they are spending the night together. But the following day contrives a situation where both parties think the other was in the wrong, and they part ways with an odd story of a creep to tell their respective friend groups. Until we discover that those respective friend groups are the same because Bea’s sister Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) is the new finance of Halle (Hadley Robinson), whose brother Pete (GaTa) is best friends with Ben. That animosity gets heightened when both of them end up on a plane to Sydney, Australia, to attend the wedding, only to find both of their exes are there. So they fake being in a relationship. What is the worst that could happen?

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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While Aquaman is quite fun in places (the whole volcano fight), you could feel that they struggled to find the right tone, so it bounces all over the place and never settles into its rhythm. Also, it can’t escape the fact that it feels fruitless watching it because you know it is about to get hit by a big re-do button.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

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

Whales.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Review –

Oh my, look, a lot is going on with this film that is not its fault. It did not go into production knowing that it would be the final entry of the DCEU, and much like The New Mutants, it does not deserve that kind of legacy. But we can’t go into it ignoring all the stuff around it because I brought that baggage in, and I don’t think I am alone here.

So to set the scene, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is now living two lives. By day, he is the King of Atlantis with all the responsibilities and limitations that come with it. But at night, he is a father to a son they had with Mera (Amber Heard). This is not an excellent combination for a sustainable life. All it would take is one issue to torpedo everything. Enter Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who has had Dr Stephen Shin (Randall Park) search the globe for Atlantean tech so he can repair his suit when he discovers an even greater power lurking in the ice.   

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The Boys in the Boat – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A perfectly okay film that refuses to integrate any of the themes it proports to be exploring.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

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

The boys lined up with their oars.

The Boys in the Boat Review –

Today, we look at an interesting biographical film because, at its core, it is more interesting for what it does not do than what it is that we see in the final product. This creates a film that, by all metrics, is perfectly okay from a technical perspective, but the moment you integrate any of the narrative, you find it to have the solidity of balsa wood.  

So to set the scene, it is 1936 in Washington state, at the height of the Great Depression. Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) has spent most of his life sleeping rough but still managed to get into the University of Washington. But when financing becomes tight, he decides to take up an opportunity with the University rowing team because it comes with a room and a small financial compensation. The Washington University rowing team has not won a race in a long time, and coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) is starting to feel the pressure from above to place or get replaced. But could this new batch of rowers be the best crew he ever taught? And in an Olympic year, no less?

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The Family Plan – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An interesting idea and solid family dynamics, that unfortunately gets dragged out past its strong point.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this film.

The back of the minivan with family stickers.

The Family Plan Review –

There are some actors that play themselves in every film they are in, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the movie. If there is a perfect example of this, it is Mark Wahlberg, who I can keep or take depending on the outing. Today’s film looks like it will be something right my alley, but I have been burnt before.    

So to set the scene, Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) is a mild-mannered family man who is friends with the whole neighbourhood, does a good job selling cars, has a slightly dysfunctional family life, and does not like his photo taken. Which makes it most surprising when he is at the shops, an assassin attacks because it looks like someone has been burnt, and a whole world of pain is about to come to suburban Buffalo.

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Man of Steel (2013) Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR –. It’s a generally sound foundation, even if it falls apart a bit at the end.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Superman floating in the water.

Man of Steel Review –

As the DCEU came to an end, I found myself with some unfinished business. I had watched and reviewed every movie in the franchise, bar one, the film that started it all. Well, it is time to fix that oversight as we jump back into the opening salvo of the Snyderverse, a foundation that might not have ever reached its intended zenith but is still worth exploring.

So to set the scene, we open with Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) in hard labour as her husband, Jor-El (Russell Crowe), looks on. It is a healthy child, something to celebrate if it was not so dyer. For you see, Kypton is falling apart, and just when things are at their worst, Zod (Michael Shannon) makes a move on the throne. But while there is still hope, Jor-El makes his escape and makes it home just in time to launch his lifeboat and save his only son. It was a fraught trip, but the pod managed to make it to Earth and land in a little town called Smallville, Kansas, USA.

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Leave the World Behind – Movie Review

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TL;DR – What happens when the world slips away from you but only fragments at a time until you don’t even realise you ran off a ledge?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

An Oil tanker crashes into the beach.

Leave the World Behind Review –

The disaster film is such an intriguing genre, especially when you are not sure what disaster you are in or even if there is one going on. For me, it is not the disasters themselves that bring the core of the work, but how people respond to the crisis. This week, we look at a film that focuses mainly on that, and I found it to be deeply compelling.  

So to set the scene, Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) have had a long, stressful year, and one morning, as Amanda was up not sleeping, she decided to randomly book the family for a trip away in a hamlet by the beach. The aim is to leave the world behind for a time, and the house absolutely provides all of that. All is going well until an oil tanker crashes into the beach, and the TV and Wi-Fi stops working. Which is when late at night, there is a knock on the door when the purported owners of the house, G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la), arrive and decide to stay.   

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Silent Night (2023) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – I respect this film for trying something new, even if they don’t actually pull it off.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Silent Night Review –

There are some directors that you have to watch when you hear they are attached to a project, and if you are a fan of action, then you know that John Woo is one to get yourself into a cinema. Add to this is a hook that I have not seen played like this before, and I was intrigued, well, at least I was when I walked in.  

So to set the scene, we open with a man running, hands covered in blood, as tires screech and bullets fly. Two cars are in battle as bullets fly around, and the man is chasing them down. You think he might be succeeding as he flings a metal bar into the window, crashing the car. That is until Playa (Harold Torres) gets out of the crashed car and shoots Brian (Joel Kinnaman) right in the neck. Brian can speak, but that is only the start of his trauma, and he decides that he has to do something about this.

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