Tag Archives: American Cinema

Movie Review – Enter the Anime

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – This is a film that blends the idea of an advertisement with the presentation of a documentary and works about as well as you would expect    

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

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

Enter the Anime. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Growing up, one of the touchstones in my early cinematic life was anime, you would get it in the morning on TV, which I had to tape on VCR for watching later. Indeed, I think every one of my generations loathed those opening sounds of the first episode of Pokémon because it meant that Cheez TV had run out of new episodes and was starting it from the beginning again. As I grew up, it was a part of my cinematic world that I just couldn’t keep up with, and every time I go to conventions I see an array of cosplayers showing my just how many shows I have missed. Well when I saw that there was a new documentary about anime on Netflix, I was really interested because it would be nice to walk down memory lane and to explore the future again. Unfortunately, that is not quite what we got.

The premise for this documentary is that Netflix set the director Alex Burunova of working out the answer to a question ‘What is Anime’? Alex, having no experience with the genre other than a tangential understanding of its influence decided to throw herself into the world of anime and manga and the sub-cultures that consume and make it. This, of course, meant going straight to the source and talking with the directors and animators where it is all made in Japan. It is good that right from the start, they make it clear where the genesis of this project came from, it was a Netflix project and Alex was hired to make it. So when the documentary goes to Adi Shankar the creator of the Castlevania Netflix series as its first interview it feels like the right jumping-off point for the show. Well instead of jumping off from there, this is where the show stayed.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Otherhood

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A strong cast, dealing with important issues, even if not all of it works.

 Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Otherhood. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

To be honest, motherhood is not something I have a lot of experience with, so there is a little disconnect coming into a film all about that. But loneliness and frustration at your life choices, well that’s my jam. This all means that I am coming into this film with some interesting overlap. Well, let’s dive into a world of really, really, awkward conversations.  

So to set the scene, for years three women have grown up as friends brought together because their sons were best friends. However, as life has moved on all their boys Matt (Sinqua Walls), Daniel (Jake Hoffman), and Paul (Jake Lacy) have left home and now live in New York City. While they move on with their lives, their mothers Helen (Felicity Huffman), Gillian (Patricia Arquette), and Carol (Angela Bassett) feel left behind especially on mother’s day when no one calls. Well on that day, they have an annual tradition of getting together to catch up and talk about their lives over a lot of bourbon. Well, this time, they decide that enough is enough, and get in a car and drive down to the city to surprise the boys … and well that goes about as well as you can expect.    

Continue reading →

Movie Review – The Red Sea Diving Resort

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A really ambitious film that unfortunately falls into the same traps as a lot of Hollywood films do when depicting Africa’s history.    

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene but some pictures of the resort during the credits

The Red Sea Diving Resort. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Tonight we take a look at a film that attempts to discover a part of our history that has not been explored at all. However, Hollywood has a very poor history in exploring Africa’s history with film after film glossing over the complexities for hero moments of usually a white protagonist saving the day. While The Red Sea Diving Resort attempts to step away from this past it can’t help but fall into the same traps.

So to set the scene, in the 1980s Ethiopia was tearing itself apart during a bloody civil war, a lot of the innocents were being caught in the crossfire, especially minority groups. One of those groups that were targeted was Ethiopia’s Jewish community. However, there is some hope with Israel’s Mossad sending agents like Ari Levinson (Chris Evans) in to help them get to refugee camps in Sudan. However, this is just a temporary measure, they need a way to get them out of the country. So a plan is set in motion to set up a fake resort on the coast of Sudan as a front to help them smuggle them out to waiting boats. However, this is not something that you can do forever without attracting notice, made worse when actual tourists arrive at the fake resort.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Hobbs & Shaw (Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw)

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – A film that soars when it is in the banter/action grove but falters when it needs to move the story forward.     

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There are multiple mid-credit scenes as well as an end credit scene

Hobbs & Shaw. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Review –


 To be honest, if I have a blind spot in modern cinema it is the Fast and Furious franchise. When the films started to come out, I didn’t really jell with the super-serious machismo in what was an inherently silly premise. This looked to be the way for all the films but when The Fate of the Furious came out two years ago, I thought I would give it another watch. Well about the time they used a car to take out a submarine I realised that they had finally realised just how silly it all was and had leaned into it, and that is something I can get behind. That being said, a spin-off the film is still a bit of a gamble, but given how well the director and cinematographer are at actions filmmaking, I walked in being quietly optimistic and with the action, I was not let down.

So to set the scene, two years since the last adventure and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is enjoying his life as a DSS agent and a father to his daughter Sam (Eliana Su’a). However, at that moment in London, an MI6 team is taking out a band of mercenaries that have a manufactured virus and who are about to sell it on the black market. After a clinical takedown of the gang, all is right but then a mysterious figure (Idris Elba) arrives and single handily kills all of the MI6 bar Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) the lead agent. Fearing the virus would get into the hands of evil people Hattie injects herself with the virus to hold on to it while she escapes. The MI6 think she has turned rogue and the CIA, MI6, and the criminal organisation are now hunting her. The only chance she has is if Luke teams up with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) and well that has disaster written all over it.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Booksmart

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – While it follows a lot of the plot beats of similar films, it stands out on its own by focusing on the characters that are the heart of the movie.      

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

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

Booksmart. Image Credit: Annapurna Pictures.

Review –

There are some scenarios that you see get plaid out in cinema over and over again. Indeed, one of the most popular scenarios is looking at that last few days before you graduate high school. I think it is so popular because it is something that nearly every person in the target audience has or will go through. So it becomes a nexus of past nostalgia and future promise. Either way, it is a scenario that I have seen put to film over and over again, especially in the R-rated comedy genre. However, in all the scenarios, I have never seen a film quite like this.

So to set the scene, high school is drawing to a close and class valedictorian Molly Davidson (Beanie Feldstein) and her best friend Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are getting ready to survive the final day of classes. Molly is going to Yale and spent all her time at school making that happen, and Amy is getting ready to spend a summer in Botswana as an aid worker. However, Molly’s certainty about her past is shaken when she discovers that all the kids that partied throughout high school also got into top universities. Well, there is only one night left before graduation and Molly know just what to do, she needs to go to Nick’s (Mason Gooding) party so she can have the full high school experience and she is dragging Amy along with her.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – The Lion King (2019)

Posted on by
6

TL;DR – An animated marvel that unfortunately comes off as a disjointed mess at times   

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

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

The Lion King. Image Credit: Disney.

Review –

I’m going to be honest right from the start here, I had some real trepidation on walking into The Lion King today. I consider the original animated film to be one of my all-time top animated films. In the 25 years since I first watched it, it still holds a special place in my heart, even though those 25 years were filled with hot takes about authoritarianism and plagiarism accusations. However, something about this remake just was not jiving with me. Well now that I have seen the full film I am happy to say that it was not the disaster I thought it would be, but wow does it have issues.

So to set the scene, and if you have seen the original film you can probably skip this section. We open with dawn breaking on a very special day in Pride Rock. Because this is the day that the new prince Simba (JD McCrary) is being presented to the animal kingdom. As Rafiki (John Kani) raised the young cub up in front of all the animals that have gathered Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Sarabi (Alfre Woodard) watch on with pride, but someone is missing. Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) the brother of the king is absent and his absence is notable. He wants the throne for himself and he will stop at nothing to make that happen. Well, one day when young Simba and Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph) escape their watcher Zazu (John Oliver) and take a trip to the elephant’s graveyard an opportunity lands in Scar’s lap.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – Absurdist and silly, and while the mockumentary is fun at the start it does feel like it never quite came together.     

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene

Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Well let me tell you a story, we have a famous actor creating a mockumentary of a fictional ancestor that he also plays, and we are going to jump back and forth between him finding out things today and a pretend performance of a televised play in the 60s. This is a truly bonkers scenario, but that is the one we have with us today as we explore Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Point Blank (2019)

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A solid, if not very imaginative action flick   

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Point Blank. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

It has been a while since I have sat down and watched a solid action flick, the kind where you can get out some popcorn, sit back and not think that hard about what is going on. Well, today we have an example of just that with Point Blank which is a reimaging of À Bout Portant, a French film from a couple of years ago.

So to set the scene, we open with Abe (Frank Grillo) smashing his way out of a window leaving a dead District Attorney in his wake. On the run, with a gunshot wound, he texts his brother Mateo (Christian Cooke) for a pickup, but just when he arrives Abe is hit by a car. Later that night Paul (Anthony Mackie) is doing his rounds as a nurse at the local hospital leaving his very pregnant wife Taryn (Teyonah Parris) at home resting when he comes to examine the John Doe. Only to be ambushed by a masked figure, dramatically changing his life.  

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Spider-Man: Far From Home

Posted on by
9

TL;DR – As the swan song for the Phase 3 it delivers of nearly every front but mostly in heaping amounts of charm

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene (you 100% need to stay for the mid-credit at least)

Spider-Man: Far From Home. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –

To be a bit honest I had some concerns about this film before I walked into the cinemas. I quite liked the first Spider-Man and the films since has showed that Tom Holland was one of Marvel’s best casting choices. However, this film was coming off the double whammy of being the follow up to both Endgame and also the first film since the revolutionary Into the Spider-Verse, and they are tough acts to follow. However, literally five minutes into the movie I knew I was in for a good time, but I didn’t know was how much of an impact this film would have on the greater landscape.

So to set the scene, we open with a quick recap of everyone who dies in Endgame, so if you have not seen it yet get ready for that band aid to get ripped off real quick. It also gives a little perspective as to how the world adapted to what they now call the blip with half of the people disappearing then reappearing 5 years later. It looks like most of Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) friends got snapped and have to suffer through doing the school year all over again. Well after all the stress of Endgame, Peter is happy that he is able to take a break because he and his friends MJ (Zendaya), Jacob (Jacob Batalon), Betty (Angourie Rice) and unfortunately Flash (Tony Revolori) are going to Europe on a school trip. However, before he leaves Happy (Jon Favreau) arrives at his aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei) charity dinner to let Peter know that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is looking for him and Peter does the only normal thing and ghosts Nick Fury. Well you can guess how well that went.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Silent Panic

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – While there is a kernel of a really good idea here, all the moving parts never quite connect    

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

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

Silent Panic. Image Credit: Indie Rights.

Review –

When reviewing films, I really like when I come across a scenario that intrigues me. Well today we have just such a scenario where people’s lives become unravelled through no fault of their own, okay maybe a little fault of their own. However, while an interesting idea is a good start, it is not the end of the equation and unfortunately that is the case here.

So to set the scene, three friends Eagle (Sean Nateghi), Bobby (Joseph Martinez), and Dominic (Jay Habre), are out one weekend camping in the hills. They are catching up and talking about their past and future as Eagle is just out of jail after being set up in a break and enter. The weekend was great but when they get back to their car they discover that while they were gone someone had dumped a body in the back of their car. Immediately the question of what to do splits the group and things spiral out from there.

Continue reading →