One of the apps I use on almost a day to day basis is Just Watch. It shows which movies have been added to Netflix (and other services) each day. It keeps me up to date and makes me aware of titles I wouldn’t normally notice. Recently this movie was in the list and I had never heard of it, even though it has an Oscar nomination for best female supporting role. With Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in the leading roles, I was interested in seeing it. Continue reading
“Film is life without the boring bits” is one of the lines from Their Finest and an important reason why we love movies so much. If they are good, they offer a world for one and a half to three hours in which something is constantly happening, whether it is a lot of action or small personal moments. It is a period in which you do not have to do anything yourself and yet experience a great deal. Really good films are able to move you or give you a different view of something that you normally do not think about. And that all starts with someone who has a good idea and knows how to turn that into a fascinating script. That is partly what this film is all about. Continue reading
The Incredible Jessica James is a Netflix movie which premiered in January at the Sundance festival, when Netflix bought the rights for distribution (one of several titles for which this happened). Only a few months later, the film was already available on the popular VOD platform. How good is this “indie” film? Continue reading
It is actually bizarre that it has taken me this long to see this 1991 film. It is a very famous title, which until recently I had never taken the time to see it. Something I should have done much earlier. This film, directed by Ridley Scott, not only works well, but also made me think of a different time when films could only be shot on film. A time when projection in the cinema was still analogue and you could see if a movie had already been screened before. Not that I would want that in the cinemas again, but it evoked a bit of nostalgia. Continue reading
“A picture is worth a thousand words”, which also is the case with movie posters. When this movie was playing in the cinemas over here I regularly saw the one made for this movie and it’s a bad one. It’s a poster which really doesn’t seel the movie. Firstly the design looks like something made by a fan who cut out the heads of the main characters and after that didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about a font and applying inner and outer shadows in Photoshop. It’s also a very dark poster, which isn’t pleasing to the eyes. The clock shows the same time as the title of the film, but what that means isn’t clear. Basically a poster which doesn’t make you want to see the film, which at least looks a lot better than its promotional material. Continue reading
While Marvel Studios keeps making record-breaking movies with their superhero movies, their biggest competitor (DC) can’t seem to hit the same highs. After Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy their titles have almost all received negative scores on Rotten Tomatoes and their attempt at creating their own DC Cinematic Universe seem to fail. Although Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot) appeared in Batman v Superman, it was time to show her origin story. Is this the movie with which DC finally succeeds in creating something which is generally loved? Continue reading
Each year I organise a filmblog get together in the Netherlands during which I rent out a cinema screen so movie bloggers can meet each other, watch a movie together, battle each other during a movie quiz and basically have a great day. Last year I decided to show this movie. Like last year’s title, It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong, it’s a movie which wasn’t released in the Netherlands so it was a first showing. This wasn’t the only similarity, as this movie also is about two people meeting and getting to know each other while they are struggling with some issues. But why did I like this movie so much and chose to show it? Continue reading
When news initially broke that after Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield another actor would be portraying Spider-Man, the reaction mostly was that people weren’t really looking forward to it. The movies with Andrew Garfield told the “origin” story again and most didn’t think it was necessary to go through all of that a third time. But after seeing Tom Holland in the role during Captain America: Civil War, many concluded that his take was refreshing and wanted more. It was cool to see Tony Stark take him under his wings but also fun to see him fanboying when he first met the Avengers. It is quite an achievement that Spider-Man: Homecoming has been realised so quickly after that movie and actually closely fits with that film. Does Holland’s portrayal of the webslinger also work in a two hour long movie? Continue reading
After seeing Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second, I was really looking forward to seeing his latest film, which received a lot of glowing reviews. I was already impressed by his style, but wanted to find out if the story in this movie would be stronger and how much he had grown as a storyteller in then ten years between the films. Continue reading
Soemtimes there are movie genres or movies form a specific country you are interested in watching, but where you don’t know where to start. To me that’s the feeling I have with anime. It is such a wide genre that’s its possible to check out so many different directions and where I’ve seen so little. Yes, I did see a lot of Ghibli films and some random other films, but that’s about it. This title is one which I added to my to watch list years ago and was my first introduction to the work of director Makoto Shinkai. Continue reading