An American Pickle (2020) - Movie Review

 

I’ve made it no secret that I am a serious fanboy of Point Grey Pictures, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s production studio. I await every new release from them with bated breath, and every time I expect the bottom to fall out from their enviable track record over the 2010s… well, between The Interview and Game Over, Man!, it hasn’t been spotless but it has kept me entertained for a very long time by now. Their latest is something of a torch-passing moment for solo debut director Brandon Trost, who worked as DOP on some of PG’s bigger successes like The Night Before and The Disaster Artist. And honestly, even removing my own biases from the equation, this is one hell of an opening sprint.

Winchester (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren), after the death of her husband, has inherited his firearms company. She has become convinced that the victims of her husband's weapons are now haunting her, building expansions to her already-illustrious estate house in order to capture them. As her fellow employers start to wonder about her sanity, they send in doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) to assess her mental state and whether she is fit to continue running the company. However, soon after arriving, it seems that things aren't so simple as just declaring her insane.

The Glass Castle (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Jeannette Walls (Brie Larson), now a successful businesswoman, reminisces about her childhood. Specifically, being raised alongside her sisters Lori (Sarah Snook) and Maureen (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and her brother Brian (Josh Caras) by their mother Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) and Rex (Woody Harrelson). As she recollects her family’s secluded and rather destitute living conditions, and sees her parents’ current living conditions, she has to come to terms with what they did to her and her siblings, both the good and the bad.

Not Suitable For Children (2012) - Movie Review

We’re dipping into the Sarah Snook pool again, and since looking at her American productions last time didn’t turn out so well, I figure we should head back to the home land this time around. And since we’re already talking about an Aussie actor that I sincerely hope gets more work internationally, it looks like we’re heading for a trifecta with today’s subject. Alongside Snook, we also have Ryan Corr who long(er)-time readers will remember as having tremendously impressed in Holding The Man and emerging from the muddied Water Diviner as the best part of the entire film. And then there’s Ryan Kwanten, whom I’ve also discussed before but not exactly in the most prime circumstances. I mean, I seem to be in the minority when it comes to Blinky Bill: The Movie, and Kidnapping Mr. Heineken didn’t seem to do anyone any favours on either side of the screen. Another minority opinion though, but I thought he was alright in Dead Silence, so we’re three-for-three in terms of people I want to succeed. But when they’re all together, do they actually succeed?

Jessabelle (2014) - Movie Review

Since I’m at that stage where I am sick of just waiting for Sarah Snook to prove herself to me once again, I figure I might as well start digging into her backlogs to see if there’s anything worth salvaging. This is seriously something that I hope works out and I find some other hidden gem because, after the phenomenal performance she gave in Predestination, I refuse to believe that she is just a flash in the pan. As such, we’re delving into the horror annals this time around, and hopefully that’s in terms of the genre and not the overall product.

Steve Jobs (2016) - Movie Review

I hate Apple. That’s probably a statement that is both echoed frequently and also usually done as a means of drawing aggro, but I stand by it: I hate Apple. And yes, as I type this, I am also checking my emails on my iPhone, so trust me when I say that I understand the hypocrisy that can come with such a statement. From their addition to the effort of homogenizing the entire world, rivalling Starbucks in their ubiquity, to just the sheer audacity of their business model that ultimately only serves to fatten wallets and landfills in equal measure and velocity. But, that’s not to say that I’m going to let any of this filter my opinion of today’s film. I just want to reiterate a point I made back in Citizenfour, where hatred for the original subject shouldn’t translate to insta-hate on part of the film. I may have a real issue with the company that hipsters rally under like beige Lemmings, but I have enough faith in director Danny Boyle and writing legend Aaron Sorkin to portray one of its key figures in a compelling enough fashion. This is Steve Jobs.

Holding The Man (2015) - Movie Review

 

On June 26^th of this year, a legal decision shook the majority of the Western world when it was decided that same-sex marriage would be made legally recognized for the entirety of the United States. In the ensuing months, the debate for similar legislation here in Australia has constantly being brought up and shot back down again with equal vigour. It would eventually reach the point where, even without having officially solved anything, the matter would fall away from the public eye like so many other “important” issues of the past. Given how much of an impact this had on how the rest of the year would shape up, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up as we come to a close on what was a particularly interesting and eventful year. As such, we come to the last film in my list of releases that slipped by me the first time through. This is Holding The Man.

The Dressmaker (2015) - Movie Review

I hate the term ‘chick flick’. Like, really hate the term. Not only does it bank on the idea that women only want a very select number of elements in their entertainment, which is pretty damn regressive, but it is also primarily used as a put-down by critics, as if what women presumably want to watch is something to inherently be ashamed of. I’ve discussed films that fit into this category before, specifically romantic shlock like The Best Of Me, but it seems like the term really doesn’t have much reason to be used nowadays. I’ll wait until the release of the Expendabelles before I feel the need for any official eulogy for the term, but gender shouldn’t qualify as a defining factor when it comes to what film is meant to interest a person. Or maybe this is just my fence-sitting naivety shining through once again, I don’t know. Anyway, I bring this all up because this film supposedly counts as a chick flick. I say "supposedly" because I’m still not entirely sure who this film is meant to appeal to, if anyone at all.

Oddball (2015) - Movie Review

Even as someone who has a dog, I have never really understood the appeal of films starring dogs. Whether it’s the Underdog adaptation, the numerous Air Bud sequels, the numerous Beethoven sequels… actually, that’s another thing: I have never understood why these films spawn franchises that last for that damn long. Anyway, while it may be the archetype of the 'a child and their pet' subgenre, unless your name is Disney, chances are you won’t be able to bring anything new to the proceedings. As such, probably the only way that this could be done any more, and make it to the big screen no less, is if it was based on a true story. Thankfully, we have another entry in the stranger than fiction files where in south-western Victoria early last year, a sheepdog saved a colony of penguins from predators like wolves and foxes. Well, anything for something potentially interesting to come out of Australian cinema, I say, but how well did this story translate to film?