Tetris (2023) - Movie Review

I have pretty much given up trying to anticipate anything that Jon S. Baird does. With each new release, he not only creates something that stands out wholly from anything else that’s released next to it, but even from the previous production Baird worked on. He's gone from the psychological dark comedy of Filth to the vaudeville tragedy of Stan & Ollie… to a Cold War-era political thriller wearing the skin of a corporate biopic in Tetris.

The Lady In The Van (2016) - Movie Review

Maggie Smith is one of a cavalcade of British actors that, thanks to a pop culture phenomenon that the original creator keeps bringing back in public consciousness every few weeks or so, everyone should be at least partially familiar with. Of course, just calling her Professor McGonagall would be a massive disservice to a very prominent actor, having done numerous Shakespeare adaptations as well creeping into the collective consciousness through the side door thanks to her portrayal of Wendy in Spielberg’s Hook. However, even with her storied history behind her, the last few years haven’t been kind to Dame Smith. Don’t get me wrong, I hear good things about Quartet and My Old Lady, but in the space of 4 years since Deathly Hallows Part 2 was released, she has appeared in the mindfrag Shakespeare pissing-on-grave that is Gnomeo & Juliet as well as the previously reviewed death knells that are the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films. I can be forgiven, even considering her definite skill in the craft, for being a little hesitant with this one.

A Royal Night Out (2015) - Movie Review

I have a serious problem with the term 'first world problems' for a number of reasons, one of the main ones being that people mostly use it to negate whenever someone who is better off than they are has something go wrong. Nowadays, it comes package-delivered with all the "at least you aren’t starving in a third-world country" clichéd phrases, which then begins a slippery slope that means that literally no-one can ever say that they are going through hard times. Homeless and living on the street? At least you have a street to live on unlike most kids in Ethiopia; that kind of thing. The reason why this annoys me like it does is that I get that those in the higher ranks of society go through issues as well; not the same issues as the rest of us, but they have to deal with problems same as the rest of us. Sure, someone complaining about a scratch on his Mercedes kind of has what’s coming to him, but more income brings on a different variety of things that need to be handled and not everyone is cut out for it despite where they are. For the record, this isn’t me looking down from a castle wall and telling people to get over it; I’m just a middle-class guy who’s seen enough Disney Princess movies to get the general idea of why living in regal luxury can get a bit too much for some people.

The Book Thief (2014) - Movie Review

Of all the films to have come out of the big YA adaptation boom of late, I can safely say that I would never have expected this one. However, I can at least semi-understand the decision behind this on two fronts. Firstly, the third-wave of YA adaptations has been largely focused on dark, totalitarian and/or post-apocalyptic settings, so it only stands to reason that a setting from our own history that unfortunately fits into that category would be considered. Secondly, films set in Nazi Germany are easy Oscar bait. So, given this criteria, today’s film was one designed not only to appease the Academy crowd but also as a sleeper agent to get the attention of teens who likely would have read or are currently reading the source material for school… what could possibly go wrong? This is The Book Thief.