A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (2019)
It’s curious praise to note that a film makes you want to book a therapist’s appointment, but this is a curious film.
Double Feature: Toy Story 4 and Child’s Play
Toy Story and Child’s Play were both defining films of my childhood. In very different ways, of course.
Sully (2016)
Your dad’s favourite movie of 2016.
Spielberg and Hanks Bridge the Incompatible Tensions of Nationalism
In 1962, Bronx lawyer and ex-Navy officer James B. Donovan negotiated a tense prisoner transfer between the United States of America, the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic. The negotiation required Donovan to enter East Germany at the behest of his country, but without any official recognition from America. Rather, Donovan was operating on…
The Martian is the Anti-Alien – an Optimistic Paean to Science and Nerddom
Three-and-a-half decades ago, Alien established Ridley Scott as a director to watch. Drawing on the conventions of the increasingly-popular slasher film and rejecting the Star-Trek-esque optimism of the sci-fi films of that era, he created a chilling classic. But his potential as a director has dribbled away somewhat in the years since; while I don’t…
Run All Night (2015)
My expectations for Run All Night were probably set higher than your average punter. It’s not that I’m a big proponent of the ubiquitous Liam-Neeson-Is-An-Alcoholic-Who-Shoots-People pseudo-franchise of the last decade or so – I couldn’t bring myself to watch Taken 3 – but that I was simply excited to see another picture from director Jaume…
A Hijacking (2012)
It’s hard to talk about A Hijacking without comparing it to Captain Phillips so, fuck it, here we go. The two cover similar content, both narratively – focusing on commercial ships hijacked by pirates – and thematically, with each film drawing implicit links between their events and the damage wrought by modern commercialism/capitalism. Where Captain…
Captain Phillips (2013)
Captain Phillips approaches greatness. Tom Hanks has received as much praise as criticism for his work in the film as the eponymous captain, taken hostage after an aborted pirate raid on his commercial shipping vessel, with critics acclaiming the last few minutes of the film and deriding earlier scenes. I was actually impressed at how…
Toy Story (1995)
Some films are just impossible to evaluate with any kind of objectivity. For me, Toy Story is one of those movies; when that Randy Newman theme kicks in I’m transported back to my youth in a nostalgic rush. Even when trying to view the film with a critical eye, it holds up pretty damn well.…
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