Las Vegas is a very popular setting for movies. Although you could probably name quite a few movies set there, if you had to guess how many titles on IMDb were shot there, your guess would probably be way too low. It’s a stunning 8,817! But how come Las Vegas is such a popular place? And what’s the history of this city that is known for it’s casinos, bright lights and an atmosphere where almost anything seems to go. Time to have a look! Continue reading
Nothing is as magical as seeing a movie on the big screen. Because of its size and sound, it is an environment in which you forget everything around you and where you are pulled into the screen. During the running time of the film you are in a place where anything is possible. I thought it would be a good idea to see Mary Poppins Returns at the cinema, because the original Mary Poppins was pure magic. The wonderful role of Julie Andrews, the songs of the Sherman brothers, which stayed on your mind for a long time and of course the fantastic worlds that the nanny took the kids to. It was a pity that after a little over two hours watching this new film, I had not left my chair for a second, looked at my watch regularly wondering when it would be over and questioning why this Mary Poppins movie does not work. Continue reading
When Netflix released the first interactive show on Netflix last year, Puss in Book: Trapped in Epic Tale, I was very curious about the concept. But when I played this short film, I did not get any interactive options. I did not investigate it any further, but the concept (which incidentally has also been used for some movies in the cinema) of leaving making choices about what happens to the viewer, is fascinating. Is it still a movie? Or is it more a game? Last Friday, Netflix released the first Black Mirror film, Bandersnatch, which also uses this concept. Again I did not get it working. Since Black Mirror is one of my favorite series and I had to see it, I decided to find out how you can watch it. My phone did not work (probably because it does not have a standard Android version), a Samsung tablet did not offer the option either. Apple TV, Chromecast and a Samsung smart TV were all the same story and the Netflix site does not offer an extensive list of supported devices. Eventually it worked on another smart TV from Samsung and after a lot of frustration I finally managed to enter the world of real interactive TV. Continue reading
2018 is behind us, which of course means the moment to look back at it. A year which was a bit different for me as a blogger since I decided to take a break from it, which ended up lasting for a couple of months. It gave me the time to do other things, like gaming and reading, but I decided to continue after a while. It got me in a new groove just writing whenever I feel like it. But time to get to the good stuff. What were my favourite movies this past year, what were the worst ones I saw? Continue reading
Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.
Sometimes there are those movies that you forget about almost immediately after seeing them because they are so bad, but there are also good movies that you would love to forget so that you can experience them again for the first time. That is certainly the case for, for example, the films from my personal top 100, but there are also films that fall outside of it and where I wish for the same. Rounders is an example of this and since it is a film that I have not seen for at least 15 years. The only things I remembered about it was that Matt Damon is in it and that John Malkovich has a bizarre Russian accent. A nice moment to revisit this poker film again to find out if I still are able to enjoy it as as when it was just released. Continue reading
When I did a “Ten best Christmas movies relay race” last year on the Dutch version of my site, there was one blogger who added this movie, which was a movie no one heard about and it remained in the list. It was a good reason for me to add this film noir from the sixties in my blindspot list for 2018 and watch it around Christmas time to make up my mind about it. Is Blast of Silence a Christmas movie and should you have seen it? Continue reading
Thanks to Gravity, one of my favorite movies, director Alfonso Cuarón is someone whose work I always look forward to. Of course he made great movies before this film, like Children of Men and he’s someone who is able to realize his vision in an almost magical way. Just think of the long shots in Children of Men and where you wonder how they have been madeor the system that was developed to project the light of the CGI environment onto the helmets and faces of the actors in Gravity. He’s a director who is able to make the most technically difficult shot seem effortless and make you wonder how he does it. When watching Roma, you might think that he keeps things simple here, but if you look closer you realise this isn’t the case. Continue reading
Bill Murray is an actor who, thanks to various iconic roles (eg. Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day or Lost in Translation) has succeeded in conquering a place in the hearts of many film fans. But even outside his filmography he has managed to create kind of a legend around him. How? By simply appearing suddenly at everyday moments and being himself. Thanks to the internet this is shared with the world and you can read how he suddenly appeared on the wedding photos of a wedding couple, did the dishes at a party or sang Happy Birthday for a grandmother. But why do we like to read about it? That is the question that director Tommy Avallone tries to answer. Continue reading
The chance that during one year two movies are released, which are both about a man whose relationship comes to an end, where his body is taken over by an intelligent entity and the main characters both look like Tom Hardy (and one actually is Tom Hardy), is extremely small. But it happened this year. After the fantastic Upgrade was released earlier this year, Venom is the one after. The big enemy of Spider-Man, who now has his own standalone movie where there’s no sight of Peter Parker. Continue reading
You only have one time to make a first impression and when DC, inspired by the success of Marvel and their “shared universe” of films, tried the same thing, it was not really successful. Batman vs. Superman disappointed and the same was true for Justice League. Where the Marvel films were mainly light-hearted and entertaining, that was not the case in the DC universe. That does not have to be a problem, as the Batman films of Christopher Nolan have proven that a realistic, dark atmosphere can work, but the general public doesn’t seem to look forward to the films of the studio as much. Wonder Woman might have been the exception, but that also succeeded because it had a different tone. Aquaman was introduced in the In Justice League film and Jason Mamoa gave the character both a serious as a lighthearted feel by for example joking about Batman. Now the character gets his own movie. Is this another disappointing DC movie or has the company finally found the right balance? Continue reading