The profession of investigative journalist is a challenging one. You have to get information that others want to keep a secret and you run a lot of risk to get it and publish it. When your research has to do with the government, who then does everything possible to make sure it isn’t published, it is a battle of interests. The government is ultimately elected by the people, but on the other hand there may be secrets that are of national importance. On the other hand there is the freedom of the press, which should be able to write about anything. We saw the collision of interests in the past few months, for example in America, where the president rejected certain news organizations because they had written about him in a way that did not fit him. That is, however, of all times, as The Post shows. Continue reading
Category Archives: Drama
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – Review
Although I never was into comics, I have been watching the Marvel movies ever since the first one came out. They are always something I look forward to as they offer great entertainment with their usual mix of action and humour. Through the years the Marvel movies introduced audiences to both characters which everyone knew (The Hulk, Iron Man), but also some which only hardcore comic book fans knew (Guardians of the Galaxy). The fact that almost every movie has been successful has meant that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has grown immensely and that fans (including myself) can’t afford to miss any of them. Although most of the movies are stories on their own, they do have a greater arc in them, which has slowly been building towards something big. A movie which has (almost) each and every character from the MCU in it, but also in which the stakes are extremely high: Avengers: Infinity War. Continue reading
Rampage (2018) – Review
Here we go again, another videogame movie! The track record this genre of movies has is extremely poor and naming great movies is almost impossible. There have been enjoyable ones (still got a soft spot for the original Mortal Kombat), but usually they end up being very disappointing. There are various reasons for this, but usually you don’t play videogames for their stories. Videogames were never that cinematic and although that has been slowly changing it has always been about a player having fun executing the action which is happening on screen. Rampage was a game which basically had no story at all, except that you could control a giant monster which could smash buildings and eat people. It was all about the action, so the makers of this film only needed to do that right in order to stay true to the game. But as showing all action doesn’t work (I’m looking at you Michael Bay), some story is needed as well. Continue reading
Downsizing (2017) – Review
The environment remains a hot topic, which of course also makes its way into movies. As the world gets more crowded, temperatures rise and we still do too little to change it all you might wonder how we could solve it. In Downsizing a brilliant solution has been invented: To make people smaller (roughly the size of a finger). That way a community of small people will create only one bag of trash in four years, which would take an average family only two weeks. Small people use less energy, don’t need as much food and it seems to be the perfect way to do something about the environment issues. Director Alexander Payne (Nebraska, The Descendants, Sideways) tries to turn that idea into an interesting movie, but unfortunately doesn’t completely succeed. Continue reading
Tomb Raider (2018) – Review
Two months ago I decided to take a break from blogging on my Dutch site. I did this for various reasons and have not returned writing and it has given me a lot of time to spend on other things which aren’t movie related, including gaming. If you’ve been reading this blog for a longer time you might know I’ve been gaming since Pong machines, but during the last couple of years I didn’t play as much anymore. With my newly found “extra time” though I decided to play some games I had bought and once started (probably something like three years ago).
One of them was 2013’s Tomb Raider, an very good looking game which was a reboot for the franchise. It made the character a more realistic person, both physically and in her reactions to what she was going through. She was very vulnerable. The game quickly got me hooked and I finished it within two weeks and found out there was a sequel available (Rise of the Tomb Raider), which I immediately ordered. It was even better and I finished that yesterday. Wanting to head to the cinema I asked my oldest daughter pick out a movie she wanted to see, which happened to be Tomb Raider. With both games really fresh in my mind I was interested in seeing if it would follow the same storyline and portray the character in a similar way. Continue reading
Gifted (2017) – Review
Although the director of (500) Days of Summer had a lot of success with this film, his two Spider-man movies starring Andy Garfield weren’t what a lot of people were expecting. Webb returned to his roots with this smaller film, Gifted starring Chris Evans. Continue reading
Detroit (2017) – Review
If history has taught us something, it probably is that humanity has hardly learned anything from it. One way or another we all like to think that we are different compared to the people who lived fifty or two hundred years ago. Of course we are partly different, but the basics, the emotions and needs have not changed. You still see that some people who are in a position of power abuse it and sometimes can get away with it as well. Detroit shows events which you can imagine having happened just a week ago. Continue reading
The Big Sick (2017) – Review
In general, romantic comedies have a huge issue. They are very predictable and often too “sugary”. That is also the main reason that they often don’t appeal to me. Nevertheless, The Big Sick got a lot of positive reactions last year and the title also appeared on many top 10 lists. If that happens, that is enough reason to give a film a chance. And it delivered an entertaining and surprising two hours. Continue reading
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) – Review
If you go by the title, you might wonder why you should watch a movie that is about three billboards in a place you have never heard of. If you look a bit further and see that Martin McDonagh is the writer and director, it becomes more interesting. He made the highly valued In Bruges in the past and was also responsible for Seven Psychopaths. And with a star cast including Francis McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and four Golden Globes (for best actress in a drama, best film (drama), best male supporting role in film and best script) is this one of the first must-sees of the year. Continue reading
Black Mirror – Season 4 review: Black Museum
By creating the world of Black Mirror, writer Charlie Brooker shows in each episode how technology can influence our lives. It shows how it can solve problems, but at the same time also how it can make people suffer by it, even if this wasn’t the purpose of that technology. That’s also the case with the final episode of season 4, which just like the episode White Christmas, consists of short stories set against a bigger backdrop. Continue reading