Tag Archives: Portland

Wildwood – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A stunning work of art that moved my soul.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Cherry blossoms in Portland by the river.

Wildwood Review Introduction

Today I get to talk about one of the most interesting films I have seen in an age. A film brimming with artistic talent, emotion, and an impact that with me long after the credits rolled. It is a movie that reminds me why film exists: to delight, to confront, to uplift, and to bring the tears.

So, to set the scene, Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is at that teenage age where she is trying to isolate herself from those things that seem childish because now, she is an adult, apparently. While also simultaneously rebelling against her parents’ wisdom, a juxtaposition that is only found in teenagers. Her parents (Jake Johnson & Maya Erskine) get Prue to watch her baby brother Mac (Arthur Knight), but he can not go outside. Fast-forward to Prue taking Mac on a tour around Portland, Oregon. It is a delightful day, bar the unfortunate appearance of Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), oh and a murder of crows stealing Mac from the playground and taking him into the Impassable Wilderness, the one place her parents told her not to go.

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Pig – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that has so many disparate parts that it threatens to come apart at every turn, but they hold it together into this heartfelt journey.     

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Pig. Image Credit: Madman Films.

Pig Review –

There is this phrase that gets used today: that things can be a ‘mood’. It is one of those concepts that is difficult to define, but you instantly recognise it when you see it. Today, we have a film that is a mood from the moment it starts till the moment it ends.

So to set the scene, we open in a forest by a river where Robin “Rob” Feld (Nicolas Cage) lives with his pig Pig and spends his days rummaging for truffles. He trades his truffles for supplies once a week with Amir (Alex Wolff), who is concerned that he lives up here all alone without even a phone. But one night, Pig is upset. Rob thinks it is coyotes right up until someone kicks down the door and knocks him out, and steals Pig away.               

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Movie Review – Zilla and Zoe

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TL;DR – While there are some good ideas here, what we have is a film of two halves that don’t quite work well with each other.    

 Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

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

Zilla and Zoe. Image Credit: Indican Pictures.

Review –

Today I have an interesting task in reviewing someone’s first ever feature film which actually puts me in an odd position. That is because while there are some really good ideas here in places and the core concepts are sound, a lot of this film does not quite come together. We need more creatives taking those first new steps because that is where all of our greatest filmmakers started. With that in mind explore the world of a horror aficionado and the chaos they leave in their wake.

So to set the scene, we open in on Zoe (Aida Valentine) as she is preparing for her last day at school for the term and by preparing I mean setting up a horror scene of a wedding, including an exploding bride. This is a frustration to her father Sal (Greg James) who is trying to raise her and run a business as a single dad. All of this comes to a head when Zoe’s older sister Zilla (Sam Kamerman) returns home to announce that she is getting married, oh married to a women Lu (Mia Allen), oh and all of Lu’s family have made the trip from New York to Portland to come over for dinner, oh they are all super conservative, and oh the wedding is in a couple of weeks.

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