Tag Archives: Drama

Movie Review – All the Money in the World

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TL;DR – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:10

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

All the money in the world

Review –

All the Money in the World is a fascinating film for three very different yet related reasons. First, the events and the family whose story it is telling, and the role money plays in it all. Then there are the powerful performances of the actors that are in many cases contenders for the next Oscars. Finally, there is no way that you can talk about this film without discussing the production behind the scenes because that is almost unprecedented in the industry. So in today’s review, we are going to look at all three of these points and why they all combine to create a work of art that will be studied for years to come.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: USS Callister

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TL;DR – This is a bleak dissection of fan culture and what would happen if you were given ultimate power, and it is a problem we need to talk about

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

USS Callister

Review –

So Black Mirror is one of those shows I have heard about and had full intentions to give it a watch, but whenever I went to take a look something else came up. Well, Season Four just came out on Netflix, so now is the best time to dive in. It does help that their first episode is examining the fan culture created around science fiction shows like Star Trek, a subject very dear to my heart. Now of course, just like I had been warned Black Mirror then took a knife and stabbed it in my heart and then held up a mirror to show me that I was the one doing it, so some complicated emotions happened during the watching of this episode. Look this is one of those episodes where it is best to go in knowing as little as possible and even my setting the scene is probably too much. So quickly before we move on, the acting is superb, they capture the essence of classic Trek warts and all, and it has something very important to say about how we relate to the media we consume, especially power fantasies. I do recommend.

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Movie Review – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

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TL;DR – It is a heart-breaking story of broken people trying to find hope, justice, belonging in a deeply broken world.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Image Credit: Fox Searchlight.

Review –

What would you do when your daughter is brutally murdered and the police either can’t or won’t find her killer? This is the question Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri askes. What do you do when the power structures that are there to protect you, instead fail over and over again? Add to this living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and people are not ready to question the power structure that they live in. All of this creates a powerful world to tell a story of broken people trying to do their best in a broken system and it was fascinating to watch. So today we are going to look at the acting and set the scene, though towards the end of the review we are going to talk about the film’s ending, so be prepared for some spoilers incoming. Also before I start, I’m not a big fan of warnings really, that’s what movie ratings are for, but I will say if you are someone who struggles with their physiological health, then you may want to read up on some of the content of this film before you go see it. This is because there are some things that are depicted quite graphically, and if you are concerned please talk to a trained professional.

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Movie Review – Detroit

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TL;DR – Brutal, heartbreaking, and unfortunately as relevant today as it was in the 1960s

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Detroit. Image Credit: Annapurna Pictures.

Review –

Oh wow, I had no idea what to expect going into Detroit, only that it was taking a snapshot of the past event in the city. This was good in some respects because I came into the film with no preconceptions, but also I came into the film with zero preparation for what was about to come. I walked out of Detroit being completely emotionally drained, and I don’t mean that as a criticism, where so many other films like mother! (see review) have mishandled the use of tension, Detroit had me on the edge of my seat waiting for the moment when everything falls apart.

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Movie Review – Suburbicon

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TL;DR – What a waste of time this film was, save yourself the trouble and go see something else like Thor

Score – 1 out of 5 stars

Suburbicon. Image Credit: Paramount.

Review –

To give you an overall impression of the film, at the end of the film as the screen faded to black I was stunned by how a film with such a talented cast could be so bad, so I wondered who could have directed that mess. It was at this point when ‘Directed by George Clooney’ popped up on the screen, and I was shocked, because from my experience George is a talented director. However, then I went, ok look no matter who the director is, if the original script was bad there might be not much they could have done to make it a workable film. Well, it was at this point that the writing credits appeared and when I saw Joel Coen, Ethan Coen & George Clooney’s names I audibly gasped in the cinema. I was completely not expecting a film of this level of disaster to be crafted by people that make masterpieces. So you can probably tell from just that what my feeling about Suburbicon was, but today we’ll go into detail about just what went wrong, and there are a lot of things.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Choose Your Pain

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TL;DR – Today we meet our final main cast member, and delve into the lives of some of the others, oh and maybe a new villain.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Choose Your Pain Banner

Review –

This was an interesting week for Star Trek Discovery, and not just because it is episode five and one of the main cast only just showed up. No, it was interesting because we got to see a deeper side as to what drives a number of the leading characters. So let’s dive in, and as per usual just a warning that there may be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Movie Review – The Foreigner

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TL;DR – This is a movie with a lot of moving parts, some which are simply amazing and others that don’t quite work as well.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

The Foreigner. Image Credit: STX Films.

Review –

The Foreigner is a really interesting film, because it is a film with a lot of moving parts, and it is delving into an area and setting you don’t see very often these days. However, while some parts of this film are simply amazing, others just don’t work at all, which creates a kind of juxtaposition. You’ll be sitting there during these moments of high intensity, or fascinating filmmaking, but then something from the story will just rip you out of it. So today what we will do after setting the scene is break down this juxtaposition.

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Season 3

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TL;DR – This season elevates the show to heights I couldn’t imagine, the strongest season so far.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – Of course there are post-credit scenes

Rick and Morty banner

Review –

I can remember the first time I watch Rick and Morty, my brother had said I had to watch this weird cartoon that he had stumbled across. So the first episode I ever watched was Anatomy Park, which was this odd sci-fi romp with Hepatitis C being the good guy. It was a weird mess, which is to be expected when you jump in for one episode midway throughout a season. However, a couple of months later the whole season dropped on Netflix, and I thought I’d give it another go, and boy was it worth it. So today we are going to take a look at its third season which finished up over the weekend.

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Movie Review – Blade Runner 2049

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TL;DR – Visually stunning, and a wonderful follow up to a true Sci-fi classic.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Blade Runner 2049. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review –

Besides Star Wars later in the year, I don’t think there has been a film as anticipated in the sci-fi world more than Blade Runner 2049. As I mentioned in my retrospective of Blade Runner (see retrospective) the first time I watched the original was just the other day so I came into 2049 with that whole story being very fresh in my mind. Which turns out was a good thing, because Blade Runner 2049 is not just a sequel in name only. So without getting into spoilers here, you may want to go watch the first film in preparation of seeing it here, not that you should need an excuse to see one of the most transformative science fiction films of the last century. I do have to say from the start that I went see Blade Runner 2049 at a premium showing (Gold Class for those in Australia) which I paid for, and I went during the middle of the day when there is usually fewer people. However, still with all this, I was in a session with a couple that loud talked throughout the film, in the quiet contemplative moments, and even answered an unmuted phone at some point. So while I am professional, I can’t put aside the possibility that this might have impacted my perception of the film. Now overall I really liked Blade Runner 2049 but it is hard to talk about it without hitting spoilers, hell even the cast list is a spoiler at this point. So just for the sake of precautions be prepared for [SPOILERS] ahead if you have not seen the film, which you should.

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Exploring the Past – Blade Runner (1982)

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TL;DR – The legacy of Blade Runner is not overstated, even if parts of the film have not aged well.

Blade Runner. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review –

I continue my look into the gems of films from the past that I missed the first time round by today looking at the most topical of films Blade Runner. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey (see review), Blade Runner is one of those films that came out before I was born, so I missed it the first time around, and due to its content it didn’t get a lot replay on TV as I was growing up. Now while I haven’t seen the film before today, I have read the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? As well as this, Blade Runner has appeared in so many countdown and best of lists, and multiple parodies and had homages have been made of it over the years. So even though I have never see the film, I have seen so many separate bits that I have probably seen a decent chunk of the film over the years. So with all of this I was a bit apprehensive before sitting down and watching it, would it live up to the huge cultural impact it has had, well could anything really, let’s find out. Now before we go on just a moment of clarification, the version I saw was The Final Cut, which as far as I can tell is the cut that Ridley Scott prefers, so there is likely to be differences between this and the theatrical release.

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