Nomadland

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Craig M

Viewed – 04 May 2021 Disney+

The movie that has had the most praise at this year’s Oscars, nabbing best picture, best director and best actress for Frances McDormand. This drama based on a book follows the character of Fern (McDormand) who after the closure of a mining pit and the downfall of the town where she lived, chooses to journey into the American wilderness and become a nomad. She meets with like-minded people and becomes part of a community of travellers, whilst staying as far away from society as she can.

Shot in a very fly-on-the-wall, semi-documentary style this offers up a snapshot of a lifestyle I’d imagine many don’t know about. I certainly felt swept up in the idea of getting away from it all, and with how crazy the world can get it certainly has an appeal. Director Chloe Zhao has delivered a highly authentic movie, filled with real-life nomads that added a lot of realism, and celebrates the wonder of the American landscape beautifully with some eye-catching cinematography. McDormand is good and you do get a strong sense of a woman who has given up on society and is trying to find her place in everything. I was only disappointed that her character doesn’t exactly grow or have much of an ark, seeming to end the movie just the same as she began.

That’s what really let’s this down. It’s very much just ‘is’ and lacks drama or anything that enables the story to develop. As an insight into a lifestyle and of the human experience, it’s interesting but as anything else it ultimately falls flat.

Verdict: Poor

A-Z Challenge – conclusion

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Craig M

Starting this challenge on May 1st, I guessed there would be times it would get quite challenging (duh), as in order to keep on track I would sometimes have to watch a movie from my Blu-ray collection that I wasn’t in the mood for. As the weeks went by, I would swap and change titles to better support what mood I found myself in, and to explore a variety of genres and sometimes titles from different countries.

I think on a whole the final list of 26 movies is a nice and varied one. Below you can take a look at the list in full (complete with my verdicts) and draw your own conclusions … and maybe feel inspired to attempt something similar yourself?

Arietty – Recommended

Betty Blue – Good

Carlito’s Way – Recommended

Die Hard 2 – Recommended

Edge of Tomorrow – Recommended

Frenzy – Good

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Essential

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Poor

Interstellar – Recommended

Jurassic Park – Essential

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang – Good

La La Land – Recommended

Mission Impossible: Fallout – Recommended

North By Northwest – Good

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood – Good

Parasite – Recommended

Quantum of Solace – Good

[REC] – Recommended

Sympathy For Mr Vengeance – Recommended

Time Bandits – Recommended

Unforgiven – Good

Vertigo – Good

The World Is Not Enough – Good

X-Men Days of Future Past – Recommended

Your Name – Essential

Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain – Poor

I’m really proud to have completed this challenge in the time frame i gave myself (ending on June 30th) and hope to attempt something similar again in the future. If I was to pick a highlight from the movies I saw, it’d probably be Parasite, although watching Time Bandits again was great fun too. I also enjoyed discovering some Hitchcock movies. Disappointments? Unforgiven, which I found quite boring, and Zu Warriors of the Magic Mountain which wasn’t as good as I remembered. Otherwise I had a good time with the majority of my choices. Now though it’s back to normal and high-time I got onto checking out some newer movies that I can review.

Craig.

The A-Z challenge (revisited)

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Craig M

Announcement!

A few years ago I attempted and later abandoned a self imposed challenge to watch and review Netflix movies from A-Z. I may actually revisit that challenge one day, picking up where I left off. But for now I’ve come up with the idea of revisiting my collection of Blu-ray movies and picking one movie each for every letter of the alphabet. I have given myself a 2 month parameter to achieve this starting May 1 and ending June 30. It may end before that date, we’ll see how I go.

During this time I’ll be watching 26 movies (obviously) and occasionally giving some movies full reviews, whilst others I’ll compile in semi-regular blog posts with brief opinions. Should be fun. There will be no restriction to what movies I see, and will include a wide variety of styles and genres from thriller, horror, action, comedy to martial arts, animation and world cinema.

Watch this space.

Craig.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Craig M

Viewed – 24 September 2019. Online rental

I only mildly got into Pokémon last Christmas when I had Pokémon Let’s Go for the Nintendo Switch. The world and all the creatures within certainly fascinated me and so a live action movie definitely appealed. This somewhat weirdly has Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Pikachu, and follows a story set in the fictional Rome City (clearly influenced by many of the worlds cities) where a twenty something guy investigates the mysterious disappearance of his father, aided by his father’s former Pokémon. However as a strange gas begins to send Pokémon crazy the guy teams up with a plucky wannabe reporter girl to discover what’s going on.

Yeah this wafer-thin, at times confused plot is mostly an excuse for Reynolds to deliver his brand of one-liner wise-crackery and also showcase the endless varieties of Pokémon. It fails to truly delve into what Pokémon is and its intricacies, so newcomers should instead take this as simply high fantasy science fiction. Justice Smith playing the main guy is only passable and next to Reynolds razor-sharp (if family friendly) line delivery … comes off poorly. Kathryn Newton as the sort-of love interest is pretty and reminiscent of the games and anime but generally not much better. Veteran actor Bill Nighy lends a bit of personality as the head of a corporation that may or may not be sinister, and the fact the movie only hints at the inclusion of Pokémon baddies Team Rocket feels like a missed opportunity.

The CGI for the creatures, the city and various sequences on the other hand, is top notch and brought everything to eye-catching life, and as a casual fan this still ticked many boxes for how I’d imagine this sort of movie to turn out. Good fun, but ultimately a bit forgettable.

Verdict: 3 /5