The Duke (2022) - Movie Review

A little over a year ago, I found myself in the midst of quarantine brain and, in a desperate attempt to return things to what can charitably be called ‘normality’ as we know it around here, decided to pick out a random film that was showing at the time and just… get the hell out of the house for a bit. Said film was Blackbird, an ensemble film that, while I honestly haven’t thought much about it since publishing my initial review of it, I can at least look back on with some fondness for not totally wasting my time.

And here I am again, in need of getting myself out of a static rut I have found myself in of late, and once again deciding to essentially throw a dart at the Now Showing list as an excuse to get back to work and (more importantly) get back into a stable routine. And once again, I find myself looking at a film by Roger Michell, who also made Blackbird, and… well, let’s just say that my previous criticisms about not feeling as strongly about the material don’t apply here. Hell, if I’m being honest, there’s a lot about this that I like.

The Justice Of Bunny King (2021) - Movie Review

This one seems like a no-brainer: Get one of Australia’s best working actresses, and one of, if not the, best young New Zealand actress, and put them in a movie together. Besides both Essie Davis and Thomasin McKenzie being in some absolute winners this year already, they’ve been putting in a lot of strong work over the last few years. And this film adds another notch to their respective belts, to the point where this might be my single favourite Essie Davis performance yet. As the titular Bunny King, she is mama bear personified as a hard-done-by squeegee woman who just wants to go to her daughter’s birthday party. The sheer conviction she gives with this role is incredible, perfectly portraying someone trying to make the best out of a terrible situation. Well, several terrible situations that have piled on top of each other.

Tammy's Always Dying (2020) - Movie Review

Depictions of the lower class in media, particularly television and cinema, need the right framing to truly work. Too far in one direction, it devolves into tragedy porn meant to appeal to those in moderately-better living conditions to reassure them that, don’t worry, you’re doing better than some people out there. Too far in the other direction, it generates apathy towards the subject, turning what should be a wake-up call for a prospective audience into a reason to continue not caring about such things. This film, the sophomore feature from budding Canadian director and original Pink Power Ranger Amy Jo Johnson deftly avoids the latter, due in part to how readily she skewers the former.

23 Walks (2020) - Movie Review

Gonna keep this one nice and short, since I don’t really have much to add to a film like this. It’s a romantic drama about a couple who meet and get to know each other over the course of the titular 23 walks in the park with their dogs. It’s rather minor-key and pleasant, almost tranquillisingly so, but in that lies its charm.