Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) - Movie Review

In the realms of modern comedy, there really only seem to be two groups that are holding the charge in terms of white guys doing funny but still well composed comedic hip hop: Epic Rap Battles Of History and The Lonely Island. One of the few properly consistent acts to spawn from the current era of Saturday Night Live, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone have entered the realms of meme legend on numerous occasions with hits like Jizz In My Pants, I Just Had Sex and their Yuletide slow jam Dick In A Box. Their music, while not exactly the most consistent on an album basis, combined a keen eye for poking fun at pop music trends with an actual ear for beats and music to create some seriously funny songs.

Naturally, when news hit that they would be bringing a full-length cinematic production this year, you better believe that I was anxious for it… until, for some reason, it was pulled from Australian cinemas. Luckily, this did get a DVD release so I could include it in this year’s list of films, but how is the film itself? Is it a gem that our screwed-up priorities just let slip through the cracks, or should we be thankful that this didn’t get a wide release?

Office Christmas Party (2016) - Movie Review

I mentioned our current morbid take on the festive season earlier this month, but I think it’s now that I should bring up why that has taken hold of the collective mindset. In lieu of a dry and lengthy ramble about human evolution and how it is both a blessing and a curse, I’ll just say that with how complex our lives continue to get, things like actually having time every year to relax and let go of all the year’s grievances aren’t realistic. Christmas may be recognized as a time of goodwill toward men but anyone who has recently attempted a family Christmas dinner will know that that isn’t even close to the case. Add to that how this has been a particularly mournful year in terms of beloved icons, and we’re less likely to sing Joy To The World than we are to just roar The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York before drowning our sorrows in hard liquor. The world sucks and it only seems to make people even more stressed out during the holidays. So, with all that in mind, maybe this hedonistic Christmas party movie is just what we need right now. This is Office Christmas Party.

Your Name (2016) - Movie Review

Makoto Shinkai is, in no uncertain terms, a genuine underdog story in the annals of anime history. Starting out by essentially going for broke in more ways than one, just to bring his first short film Voices Of A Distant Star into fruition, he has since gone on to become one of the most celebrated anime filmmakers of the modern era. That may not mean much to those outside of the fandom, but just to be clear, this guy’s work is so incredibly lauded that he has often drawn comparisons to Hayao friggin’ Miyazaki. Even if Makoto himself doesn’t take much credence to those comparisons, that’s pretty high praise and, even with the little of his work that I’ve seen thus far, I can’t help but feel that it is entirely warranted. Voices Of A Distant Star is easily one of the most emotionally potent works of fiction, let alone anime, ever conceived, and the fact that it’s only 25 minutes in length makes that feat even more astounding. And now, he has a new feature-length production out that is also gaining high praise. Time to dig in.

Criminal (2016) - Movie Review

Memories are rather curious things. For as terrible and brilliant as they can be, both in the moment and the lasting effect they can have, every one of them ends up shaping who we are as people. Even those that end up being repressed because they are too traumatising to recollect end up shaping crucial elements of our own personal makeup. As such, whenever sci-fi or otherwise fantastical storytellers end up discussing the concept of memory, it usually ends up highlighting just how important memories are when it comes to who we are as people. So, with today’s film taking a similar focus, maybe it will bring a certain poignancy along those same lines. Somehow, though, I highly doubt it.

ARQ (2016) - Movie Review

In the annals of speculative fiction, the very idea of time travel is one that seems to fascinate people the most. Like, to the point where even filmmakers and audiences that want nothing to do with the deeper implications of sci-fi are willing to go along with it; on paper, Groundhog Day shouldn’t have gotten as widely popular as it did. However, in spite of that, it is also one of the most problematic and fiddly sub-genres in the entirety of fiction, let alone speculative fiction. The reason for this is one of basic logic, and how most storytellers fail to take into account the extremely complex logic behind time travel, paradoxes, timelines, parallel timelines among many, many others. As such, even with the better time twisting tales that have come out recently like Looper, Edge Of Tomorrow and even (by some accounts) Predestination, plot holes make themselves quite prominent and end up tearing away at the work’s structural integrity. Will this film fall into that same trap?

The Red Turtle (2016) - Movie Review

I’m not going to say that, back when I reviewed When Marnie Was There, I called it when I said that Studio Ghibli shutting down just wasn’t going to happen… not yet, at any rate. And it seems that that wound up being accurate, between Miyazaki himself announcing that he was working on one last film and the film I’m talking about today. However, the need to voice that is outweighed by the basic gratitude I have that one of the true titans of the industry is still going. With companies like nWave and Splash Entertainment showing us in this year alone that they were capable of producing absolute garbage to our screens, that thought is invaluable to someone who compulsively watches as many films as I do. So, with that out of the way, how does this Ghibli and French animation collaboration turn out?

Fifty Shades Of Black (2016) - Movie Review

Since starting my month-long movie marathon, have to admit, the results have been a lot more positive than I was expecting. Sure, not all of them have good but, at worst, we’ve only really touched the realms of lame instead of outright bad. Well, time to change all that. I’ve talking before about watching movies as a form of emotional therapy, and as masochistic as it is, that involves bad movies as well. If there is one thing that cinema has taught me when it comes to the emotional condition of humanity, it’s that even anger has its place in the output. As such, it’s time for me to delve into Fifty Shades territory again, which once again means that I’ll discuss indulging in painful acts under my own volition, as well as revisiting the spoof movie. Let the airing of grievances begin! This is Fifty Shades Of Black… ugh, even the title of this thing makes me cringe.