Belfast (2022) - Movie Review

After how well our last look at the work of Kenneth Branagh turned out with All Is True, and considering how self-reflective that film was, I was quite looking forward to this new feature. Where All Is True showed Branagh contemplating his future and his place as an older thespian that was becoming more known for gun-for-hire work than his more theatrical fare, Belfast is primarily about his past. It’s a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about young Buddy (Jude Hill) growing up in the midst of The Troubles, although it’s not as overtly dramatic as that may make it sound.

Extra Ordinary (2019) - Movie Review

Well, this is an odd one. Not just because this is an Irish horror-comedy that makes for one of the weirder entries in that genre hybrid I’ve seen in years, but because of the reception this film has already garnered. It is one of the many films of 2019 that has managed to snag a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a notion only made weirder when it sets in that there have been zero 0% ratings this year.

As someone who in the last couple years has actually started being listed on the website proper (not for these reviews, but for the ones on FilmInk… for now, at least), and who occasionally wonders if I like too many movies to be considered a credible critic (feel free to decide amongst yourselves which part of that statement is the most ridiculous), this seems off for one of the bigger touchstones of the industry I work in, not to mention intimidating to be looking at a movie that everyone else seems to like without caveat. Thankfully, while I don’t think it’s out-and-out brilliant, I can at least get how it would garner that much positive buzz.

Brooklyn (2016) - Movie Review

Along with the better appreciations for the names of directors attached to a film, which has led me to go back through their filmographies in prep for their latest as you’ve probably noticed on this blog already, I have also taken note of specific writers as well. While last year got me to really take note of Mr. Alex Garland, whom I can only hope continues his ride in the director’s chair, it also gave me my first proper exposure to that footy-loving music junkie Nick Hornby. His penned film Wild mainly made my best of the year list thanks to the amazing production qualities of the overall film, but I’d be lying if I said that this guy’s spellbindingly warm writing didn’t factor into it as well. As such, when the posters came in for his latest write-up, it became one of those situations where I knew I’d check it out regardless of my current compulsions. But, even though I fixate on the writing of films far more than I probably should if I want to keep my film buff membership ID card, I still admit that that is only one part of a larger process that is filmmaking. So, even with my affinity for the writer’s work aside, how does today’s film fare?