Barbie (2023) - Movie Review

After the dramatised kinda-sorta autobiography of Lady Bird, and the classic literary adaptation of Little Women, writer/director Greta Gerwig’s latest feature is… a curveball. A curveball I have had several months to adjust to (and we’re talking before all the actual marketing material and ‘Barbenheimer’ was a thing) but a curveball nonetheless. But that’s just in terms of this film existing in the first place; the actual film itself is something else entirely.

Spies In Disguise (2020) - Movie Review

After years of bewildering popularity and success, it seems like Blue Sky Studios has finally found their own lane in the modern animation market. Yeah, I easily would’ve just assumed that their raison d’etre was being entirely disposable, between the weak Ice Age films to the downright dreadful Rio films, but between this and their last feature Ferdinand, they seem to have found their niche that doesn’t involve boring the audience into a collective coma. If Disney is the standard, Dreamworks the alternative, Laika the retro haven and Illumination the home of all things villainous, then Blue Sky is the place to go for family-friendly treatises on pacifism.

Amy (2015) - Movie Review

As a human being who possesses the basic concept of empathy, I am sad that Amy Winehouse died as young as she did. Knowing her then-widely publicised struggles with substance abuse and alcoholism, regardless of the oft-repeated jokes that were made at the time of her death about how ironic Rehab sounds in hindsight (which, I regretfully admit, I indulged in a bit of myself), just adds another stitch to the tapestry of the tragedies of fame and the loss of human life to its vices. Hell, regardless of her fame, dying as she did to alcohol poisoning after all that had happened is kind of heartbreaking. Of course, as a human being who knows what he likes when it comes to music, I am really friggin’ sad that Amy Winehouse died as young as she did. Knowing how shite pop music has gotten over the last few years (or, rather, shite-er) and how she was one of a select few that stayed consistently good with their output, it makes me kick myself every so often for not giving her the attention I should have while she was alive. So, in keeping with the idea of crystal-clear hindsight, how does this documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse pan out, speaking as a major fan of her work?