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Felicità (2020)
A fun film
Put simply - I really enjoyed this film. A novel comedy/drama. Well worth a watch. The chemistry between the family and the storyline are excellent.
Greenland (2020)
Trump went ahead and bought Greenland
The idea that the USA could build a enormous 'secret' bunker in a foreign country to save only Americans in the event of a global disaster is lip-bitingly difficult to get past. If you can though, enjoy the rest of this " I love you Daddy, I love you Son", comedy-drama, which beats Armageddon hands-down for tongue-in-cheek end of the world humanity scenarios.
Up on the Glass (2020)
The Not So Talented Mr. Ripley
It's basically a budget 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'. A bit slow and a disappointing ending. Not really worth watching.
Dogman (2018)
Have I seen something that didn't exist?
While watching this film, which is very good by the way, I kept asking myself - why does Marcello help and take so much punishment from Simone. Then during the last scene I has a revelation (this may be a spoiler - alert!) They're the same person - the good and the bad (remember Fight Club anyone?). When he does something bad, Simone appears - the apartment robbery, taking coke, stealing from his shop neighbour. No? He sees himself as a good father, but he takes drugs, steals, and lies to people - like Simone, his personal nemesis. It also explains the last seen when he is alone (spoiler alert! - he committed suicide when he killed Simone - he's dead - everyone in the town is gone). Or maybe I'm wrong, but this idea sure does help to explain everything about this great movie.
Babai (2015)
A Very Nice Film
If you want to watch a very nice film; this is it. Well directed, well acted, no B.S., just a good solid story, with some original scenes. The director avoids any unnecessary images, and the boy is a joy to watch. The question is, who acts the father and who acts the child? What else can I say? Oh yes; the music is good too.
God's Not Dead (2014)
Kitsch's Not Dead
The producers of this film have created a new super hero for the silver screen for its version of the battle between good and evil – introducing - 'Christianman'.
The film follows the story of our good hero, Christianman Josh Wheaten (played by Shane Harper) in his struggle against his evil enemy, the Atheist, philosophy Professor Radisson (played by Kevin Sorbo).
The director (Harold Kronk) does a standard TV movie job here; as do the cast. The story is basically a white, middle-America Christian fiction (cri-fi) fantasy , where one isolated young man of faith (tall, handsome, and white) fights for his beliefs against a tide of non-believers (all selfish, immoral, and greedy), and convincingly wins. In the space of a few days Josh manages to convert an Ark full of Muslims, atheists and agnostics to the one true faith of Christianity. There are also several sub-plots; one including the wacky Christian comedy duo, the reverend Dave (played by David A.R. White – and he is) and the reverend Jude (played by Benjamin Ochiemin – he's black), with 'the car that won't start routine'. It's hilarious!
So, you can approach this film in two ways: 1. Seriously – then you're probably going to either love (Christian viewers) or hate (non-Christian viewers) it, or 2. Light-heartedly – then you're going to find it quite entertaining – I did. You decide.
Cloud Atlas (2012)
'Find Wally' – The Movie
This film is based on the book game where you have to find a small character (Wally) hidden among a complex picture of similar people and objects. Each page of the book is set in a different scene –the seaside, a park, etc. In this film you have to find famous, and not so famous, actors (male and female), who play different parts in six different time-lines. It does sound a bit easy, but the actors are helped by a large make-up and special effects team.
The majority of the actors in this film are of Anglo Saxon origins, so the directors Tom Tykwer, and Andy & Lana Wachowski make it easy for you to find Halle Berry, Keith David, and Xun Zhou, for obvious cultural reasons, despite their acting skills. Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, and Jim Sturgess are more difficult to find in some scenes, as they do some quite decent acting. Tom Hanks on the other hand, is very easy to find in each story, as in all his films, he plays himself with the addition of the props department.
Now the most difficult things to find are the plot and the point of the film. The story line jumps around from the 19th to the 23rd century, through 1930's Cambridge, and 1970' New York. And the idea of the film seems to be about whether or not we should open or close connected doors through time, on the 'journey of life'. The music is the standard 'four violins and a piano'; extra violin for intense scenes.
So, if you want to play this game - have fun, but for almost 3 hours, you may need to swap the XL cola for an XXL Red Bull. And don't worry, if you don't manage to find all the actors, all their characters are revealed at the end of the movie. You'll be aghast!
One Chance (2013)
A 103 minute phone company advert covertly veils itself as a real life drama film.
I think the idea of this movie was to keep the audience in the cinema by firstly completely bemusing them before sending them to sleep in their seats.
Directed by David Frankel, 'One Chance' follows the life of a dull, nervous, young boy, Paul (played by James Corden) who likes opera music, to becoming a dull, nervous, young adult, who sings opera music for a living.
Firstly the title suggests that Paul only has one chance at something, when in fact he has at least five chances at several things. 1. He has the chance to progress from his choir to study music at a music but he blows this chance and chooses to leave school early and work as a mobile phone shop assistant, as this is obviously less difficult. 2. As a young adult in the word's capital of opera, Venice, he is heavily proposition by a very attractive, talented, educated, enthusiastic, rich young lady, who is also an opera singer, but he blows this chance because he's save a shop assistant girl back home in Port Talbot, the world capital of steel. 3. Also in Venice, he gets the chance to audition in front of his hero Pavarotti, but he blows this great chance by getting stage fright and drying up. 4. Back home he's offered the lead in a major production of Aida by his old music teacher – another big chance, but he falls ill on opening night, and is unable to perform, and looses that chance. 5. Although he was born and raised in Port Talbot, South Wales, and had no choice, when he comes into a lot of money later, he blow the chance of getting out of this depressive steel works town, by buying a house there to live. 6. He also enters a TV talent show. I won't spoil the ending, but just to say, it's another chance! Secondly, is this a film or an extremely long (and boring) advert for The Carphone Warehouse? We must have seen the shop at least 10 times, and had it mentioned at least twice this. The acting is competent from all, but a little caricatured: macho dad; batty mother; bully boy; wacky friend ('I'm positive this character was made up, and put in the film to counter the greyness of everyone else).
Thirdly, and this will probably go amiss to non-UK residents, but Paul was born and raised in Port Talbot, Wales, but he has a Bristol, English accent! It's like a man born and raised in New York having a Texas accent. It's a little weird.
Finally, and only because the list is almost infinite, light rock-pop dominates the soundtrack, and confusingly conflicts with the operatic theme of the film.
So, if you want to spend 103 minutes watching a lot of uncharismatic 'non-steely' people simply 'milling' around all day, in an overly long mobile phone advert (and listen to 'Nessun Dorma' one more time), this is the film for you.
Philomena (2013)
A naive young girl becomes an ignorant old woman.
The two main characters of this film are Philomena, the old woman, and Martin, the journalist, which are both exquisitely played by Judi Dench and Steve Coogan. The direction is competent, the script is clever and witty, but the musical score has the unnecessary traditional swirling 'four violins and a piano'. The story follows the single teenager, Philomena who ends up pregnant and in an Irish workhouse convent. Later while there, her two year old son is taken from her and sold to a rich American couple. Forty-eight years later, her daughter accidentally finds out about her unknown brother. She then arranges for her mother to be taken by Martin from the UK to the US to find her long lost son. While there Philomena watches TV, reads trash novels and patronises local ethnic groups. Martin on the other hand, talks to people, investigates news articles, and tries to look for her son. Having completed their quest, they return to Philomena's home in Ireland to confront her past. There, she challenges Martin about his morals by demonstrating to him she prefers liars and unpunished 'religious forgiveness' of unrepentant criminals to the truth and law enforced justice for victims. While he wants to expose the wrong doings of church individuals, she would rather bury her head in the ground along with those poor innocents in the convent's cemetery.