Tag Archives: Drama

Movie Review – American Made

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TL;DR – This is a movie banking on the pull of its lead star, and in some respects it works, but also it leaves you wondering what was the point of it all.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

American Made. Image Credit: Universal.

Review –

Ah the Cold War, once a time that we tried to ignore, that time when blowhards with nuclear weapons almost brought us all to ruin because of politics or ideology. We like to forget about it, but a lot of the problems of the world today can be traced right back to it, but still many don’t have a good understanding of the world that was. American Made is looking to change that, maybe, sort of, by shedding the light on some of the dirty dealings the Americans embroiled themselves in Central America, told through the story of Barry Seal (Tom Cruise).

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Movie Review – Hampstead

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TL;DR – Beautiful and charming, a fun look into that quirkiness that is classic Britannia, a great date night film

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Hampstead. Image Credit: Entertainment One.

Review –

What happens when your life is falling into a hole of others making, what happens when the world is against you and you just want to be left in peace, what happens when worlds collide, this is the story of Hampstead. Hampstead is part romantic comedy, part comment of the class divisions in Brittan, and part legal drama, but it is all heart.

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Movie Review – The Big Sick

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TL;DR – Emotional, yet funny, Completely relatable, yet deeply personal, a look into what makes us who we are.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Big Sick. Image Credit: Amazon Studios.

Review –

So The Big Sick was one of those delightful films where I knew nothing about it before I went to see it, which is rare in a time where not only are movie trailers plastered everywhere, but they routinely spoil the films they are promoting. To be fair I had seen one clip, the Thanksgiving Day parade, and you could infer things from the poster, but in this day and age that’s as close to not knowing as you can get. Also, I was going to give this one a pass because I’ve not found the Rom-Com genre to be anything but rehashes of the same material, for years now. So I was completely surprised, because The Big Sick turned out to be nothing like the film I was expecting to see, I’ve not been this surprised since The Dressmaker (review).

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Movie Review – Dunkirk

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TL;DR – Beautiful and haunting, spectacular yet emotional, a must see film.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Dunkirk. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review –

Wow, just wow, I had high expectations walking in to see Dunkirk because I have always enjoyed Christopher Nolan’s films, to this day I think Inception would fit squarely in my Top 10 films of all time. Indeed, even when I don’t like a particular Nolan film like Interstellar, they are still technically brilliant. But nothing prepared me for Dunkirk, and now I know I am writing this after just seeing it, and that in time things might change, but as I sit here, I can’t help but feel that this is Nolan’s best film to date.

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TV Review – Cleverman: Revival

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TL;DR – Season 2 opens with a bang, leaves you wanting more, and fearing the worst.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Cleverman

Review –

Wow what an opener, I mean we loved Season One of Cleverman, but I don’t think anything prepared us for how this first episode of Season Two was going to play out. So to remind everyone of where we left off last season, Koen (Hunter Page-Lochard) had rallied all the remaining residents of The Zone to fight the coming Containment Authority. His brother Waruu (Rob Collins) rejected his family and his people to stand with Jarrod Slade (Iain Glen) who is trying to unlock Hairy DNA and the power it possesses and that creep probably did something to his wife Charlotte’s (Frances O’Connor) pregnancy. Finally, Araluen (Tasma Walton) was able to escape the brothel she had been imprisoned in after killing the minister in charge. All through the season we were building up to the conflict, Koen was understanding and accepting his role as the Cleverman, and then bang season two opens and Koen is dead in a body bag, and you know nothing is safe anymore. So in our review today we are going to be covering all the aspects of the first episode of Season Two, so there will be [SPOILERS] for those who have not seen it yet. If you have not seen Revival yet, you can watch it easily on ABC IView, or SundanceTV, and you should go do that right now.
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Movie Review – Okja

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TL;DR – Beautiful, moving, devastating, unsettling, emotional, heart-breaking & powerful

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a post-credit scene

Okja. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Wow, just wow, for a long time Netflix has been moving into the movie distribution industry, but so far they really have not put out anything truly remarkable, focusing more on Adam Sandler type movies, when they actually get around to promoting them. So when some friends in the industry mentioned that Okja was the real thing, I was surprised, then I found out that it was made by Bong Joon-ho, whose Snowpiercer was a fascinating film, even if I did have a couple of issues with it. So I loaded up Netflix, put out my lunch, and wondered what we were going to see, and I can honestly say I was not prepared for the feels, in any way shape and form.

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Movie Review – The Case For Christ

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TL;DR – This is a very well crafted film, it’s clear on its message, and a relatively good explanation of Apologetics, but it fails to understand who its audience is, and who the more compelling characters are.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Case for Christ. Image Credit: Triple Horse Studios.

Review –

So in today’s review, we will be looking at the quite interesting The Case For Christ, which as the title would suggest falls into the Christian film genre. Now, this is a genre of films that can be very polarising for some people, some praise every film regardless of whether they are good or not, and some do the very opposite. It is also a genre that can be so sickly sweet to the point of being nauseating, or just really vindictive.  So The Case For Christ is a film with an agenda but it is also being very clear and open about what that agenda is. So given this is a genre with growing clout in America it’s a good time to look at the latest film to so how the movie is.

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Movie Review – Beauty and the Beast (2017)

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TL;DR – It is a beautiful recreation of the original film with a great cast and music, but while it is good, it does not do enough to separate itself from its animated inspiration.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Beauty and the Beast. Image Credit: Disney.

Review –

Beauty and the Beast was the crown jewel of the Disney Renaissance in the 1990s and were one of the few animated films to ever be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. As a film, it is as majestic today as it was when it was released, and that’s a testament to the original songs and animation. So for any movie that adapts the classic La Belle et la Bête is going to have the issue of being compared to one of the greatest films that have been made, so how do you compete with such a legacy, how do you set your work apart from that classic film … well, how about you do a mostly shot by shot remake of the original. So not only is this the 3rd remake we have had in the row (see Power Rangers & Ghost in the Shell), it is also the next in this long line of live-action remakes of classic Disney films (see The Jungle Book) which only Pete’s Dragon has really worked for me. So with all these remakes floating around how does Beauty and the Beast compare with its past as well as the current cinematic landscape, well that is the question that we will be exploring today. Now since this is a movie based off a 1991 movie based on a story written in 1740 there may be some spoilers here, but the movie has been out for quite a while.

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Movie Review – Jasper Jones

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TL;DR – It is an uncomfortable snapshot of Australian society, and it is a movie I highly recommend you watch.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Jasper Jones. Image Credit: Madman.

Review –

So to set the scene, it is 1960s Australia, the war is raging on in Vietnam, and we are dropped into the town of Corrigan a small town in Western Australia. It is the end of summer and Charlie (Levi Miller) and his friend Jeffrey (Kevin Long) are debating whether or not Batman is a ‘super’ hero or not whilst eating watermelon and spitting the seeds at everything they can, this could be any street in suburban Australia at any time. However, that night Jasper Jones (Aaron L. McGrath) appears at Charlie’s window and leads him across town to find Laura Wishart, the daughter of the local Shire President hanging from a tree. Jasper is the only Indigenous person in town and fears that the police will blame him for the murder, and thus the story is propelled into motion, as Jasper has to find the killer, which is complicated by Laura’s sister Eliza (Angourie Rice) becoming friendly all of a sudden.

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Movie Review – Hidden Figures

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TL;DR – Hidden Figures is an amazing film about our past and very much relevant in our present, that when you oppress people it holds everyone back.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Hidden Figures. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

Straight from the start, I should say I love movies about space, the history, NASA, the satellites, probes, and rockets, I watched the Curiosity landing even though it was very early in the morning here. So what I am saying is Hidden Figures, much like The Martian & The Dish, is a film that automatically peaks my interest before I make it to the cinema. This means that I have to be really careful when reviewing these films to make sure I am being objective and not just getting caught up in my joy of the subject material, but even with a cautious approach Hidden Figures still knocks it out of the park, or knocks it into orbit, or, wait no I think I am starting to mix metaphors here.

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