Tag Archives: Kaitlyn Dever

A House of Dynamite – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – As divisive as it is fascinating, anchored on understandable tension, and character performances that rocked me at times.

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.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Sun rising behind the Washington Monument.

A House of Dynamite Review Introduction –

We are getting to the pointy end of the year, and that means it is time to start catching up with a bunch of the films that I missed this year. This is made more apparent because I just spent a month away in Japan, and there are a bunch of films that I missed while I was away. The first cab off that rack is a political thriller that explores the calamity of nuclear weapons, which means that this is already 100% my jam.

So, to set the scene, it is just a typical day for people around the world, including those in the missile defence systems in Fort Greely, Alaska and those in the Situation Room in Washington DC. But tensions have slowly been growing around the world, and when you have a fuel around, all it takes is one match for it all to explode, which is when a ballistic launch is detected over the Pacific Ocean, heading right to the USA. A nuclear event that everyone has feared is now a reality.   

Continue reading →

The Last of Us: Convergence & Season 2 – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A slightly odd finale that has me ruminating about the strength of the season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Max service that viewed this show.

End Credit Scene – There is a behind-the-scenes making-of.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Last of Us Review –

Well, we have come to the end of Season Two, and I was not ready, and I don’t mean that from a more existential way, though there is a bit of that in there. But more, the fact that this season only being seven episodes long caught me entirely off guard. Now, our final episode of the season has to do a lot of heavy lifting to stick the landing, and I am concerned going in, that this might be too much of a task to ask of it.  

So, to set the scene, at the end of Feel Her Love, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) becomes separated from Dina (Isabela Merced) and Jesse (Young Mazino) in the park, which leads to her discovering that there are places where the cordyceps have built up enough that it can affect people with their spores, but also where she enacted the first part of her revenge. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

The Last of Us: Through the Valley – TV Review

Posted on by
4

TL;DR – It shows the strength of the production team that even when you know how the narrative will go, yet you are still sitting on the edge of your chair.    

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Max service that viewed this show.

End Credit Scene – There is a trailer and behind-the-scenes making off.

Abby looks out over the town of Jackson.

The Last of Us Review –

Look, I have to speak very vaguely here because we are on the wrong side of the spoiler zone, but when I said during our review of Future Days that I came into this season with a bit of apprehension, today’s episode was at the forefront of my mind. Could this adaptation pull off multiple story points that will echo not just throughout the show but out into general pop culture? Well, let’s have a look.  

So, to set the scene, while the New Year Party was meant to be a fount of joy for the community of Jackson, Wyoming, it ended in a confrontation that confirmed the fault lines that have grown between Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the five years since Season One. Ellie might not know what Joel lied about, but that lie has slowly soured their relationship. But things are difficult for Jackson at the moment. It is the deep of winter, but the Infected have also been acting in different ways, and now you don’t know if you should be more concerned with things walking above or crawling below the snowline. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

The Last of Us: Future Days – TV Review

Posted on by
4

TL;DR – This first episode lets us catch up with the cast and world and catch our breath before the world turns.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Max service that viewed this show.

End Credit Scene – There is a trailer and behind-the-scenes making off.

A group standing around some newly dug graves.

The Last of Us Review –

While the First Season of The Last of Us was a triumph, not just for Video Game adaptations but for adaptations in general, it was one of the rare works that fundamentally understood the source material, sometimes down to a shot-for-shot recreation. But also knew when some aspects needed to be refreshed or, in the case of Long Long Time, completely rewritten from the ground up. Yet, still, I came into Season Two with more than a bit of trepidation. The adaptation of the source material is going to require some hard choices, which is not going to be popular. I was there when it was released the first time and lived through that moment of ‘less than stellar’ online discourse. Yet still, I knew I had to sit down and watch, and here we are today.   

So, to set the scene, it has been five years since Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) walked away from the Firefly facility in Salt Lake City to return to Jackson. But the legacies of what Joel did, and very much lied about, live large in those who made it out of the massacre. Jackson is one of the rare places in the old America that has survived the Cordyceps Apocalypse without being under the thumb of FEDRA. But there are more than a few stragglers out there, and there are more people than construction can keep up with. Tensions remain everywhere, and the echoes of the lies we tell have started to reverberate. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

Next Goal Wins – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A fun time that gets held back by some wooden acting and forced storytelling.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Team v the Coach.

Next Goal Wins Review –

I have been enjoying my time at the Brisbane International Film Festival, but as always, things must come to an end. But if you are going to pick a film to end it on, Taika Waititi’s romp about the American Samoa Football Team is an excellent place to do it. This is a sports story that is so infamous that even I have heard about it. With that in mind, let’s play some soccer and see how a team can come back from abject embarrassment.

So to set the scene, American Samoa has been at the bottom of FIFA’s rankings for an age and reached an even lower level in 2001 World Cup qualifiers when, during a game with Australia, they lost 31-0. Tavita (Oscar Kightley) tries to manage the club, but he has become a laughingstock in the soccer community. After some pushing from his wife, Ruth (Rachel House), he applies to the American Soccer Federation for a new coach. Well, this might be a Hail Mary, but at that moment, they have a coach who is about to get fired, and Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) has only one option: take a plane into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Continue reading →

Ticket to Paradise – Movie Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – It shows why casting is so important because if you cast a divorced couple, picking good friends that swing for the fences helps sell everything.      

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Love in the seaweed fields

Ticket to Paradise Review –

Many components go into making a film. Might you need to dress up one location to look like another? You might need to manage a large crowd in the background. Maybe make a set look like it is outside while filming it on a soundstage. Yet you could have the locations, script, and crew, but if you get the chemistry with the cast wrong, it could all fall apart. Today we look at a film that nails all of those factors you need when your main protagonists high-key hate each other.    

So to set the scene, there was one time when David (George Clooney) and Georgia (Julia Roberts) were deeply in love, but that was a long time ago, and unfortunately not in a galaxy far, far away when they had to come into contact with each other at their daughter Lily’s (Kaitlyn Dever) graduation. Wanting to get away from the stress of the upcoming job in a law firm in Chicago, Lily and her friend Wren (Billie Lourd) head out to Bali to chill for a couple of weeks. But when they get left behind by the boat in the middle of the ocean and get rescued by the charming Gede (Maxime Bouttier), Lily thinks there may be more for her here in the country. Hearing of the pending nuptials, David and Georgia dash out to the country and put aside their differences for their daughter’s sake, but it is hard to let bygones be bygones.  

Continue reading →

Dear Evan Hansen – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A film with equal parts frustrating and problematic, but when the emotions hit, you can’t help but be caught up with it.     

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

Warning – Deals with themes regarding suicide

Dear Evan Hansen. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Dear Evan Hansen Review –

Dear Evan Hansen is one of those films you have never heard of before or a film you have been listening to on repeat for years. For me, my first introduction to the film came from that first trailer that dropped this year, and that was a lot. But I go into this without the legacy of the musical to either help or hinder my experience with the film. However, now that I have seen the movie, well, ‘a lot’ was an understatement.

So to set the scene, Evan (Ben Platt) is struggling because he is about to start high school back after a long, difficult summer, and social interactions were not easy for him before. On the instructions of his psychiatrist, Evan starts writing letters to himself. However, when Evan goes to print one of the letters out at school, one of the troublemakers in the school Connor (Colton Ryan), intercepts it and takes it with him. Evan is expecting the worst but is surprised that Connor does not plaster it all over the internet. The reason becomes apparent when Connor’s parents Cynthia (Amy Adams) and Larry (Danny Pino), ask to speak to him. For Connor had taken his own life, but they had found Evan’s note. The only problem is that they think Connor was the one to write 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 – Detroit

Posted on by
1

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.

Continue reading →