SNAPSHOT The film stars Franco as a servant in the Middle Ages who flees the clutches of his oppressive master (Nick Offerman), ultimately taking up residence with a convent of wild nuns (Plaza, Shannon, Brie, Micucci) in the campy interpretation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century work The Decameron (synopsis via Continue Reading
Movies
Avast ye scurvy Jack Sparrow-loving scoundrels! Here’s the emoji Pirates of the Caribbean
I am a huge fan of emojis. Unlike most 51 year olds, my texts, tweets and Facebook posts are littered with a profusion of the very cute pictograms, and frankly, if I could have them pop up around me while I walked and talked, I would. So it makes Continue Reading
Movie review: Kedi
Much like the cats who form its physical and emotional centrepiece, it is all too easy to underestimate the power of Kedi, a film which provides us with an unexpectedly moving account of the stray cats of Istanbul and the many people who interact with them on a daily Continue Reading
Landline: When people were harder to reach
SNAPSHOT In 1995, a teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan discovers that her father is having an affair. (synopsis via IMDb) Wouldn’t it be lovely if life worked out exactly as we imagined it would? Well the good bits anyway … In Landline, Jenny Slate’s character Continue Reading
James Corden presents … Crosswalk the Musical: Mary Poppins
No matter how you slice it, James Corden is a joy. An actor, singer and host of The Late Late Show With James Corden, he is an imaginatively talented man who is responsible for the viral-happy Carpool Karaoke, very funny skits and interviews, and the subject of this post, Continue Reading
We were once humanity: Rakka, the first of the short films from Neill Blomkamp’s Oats Studios
SNAPSHOT RAKKA is the story of broken humanity following the invasion of a technologically superior alien species. Bleak harrowing and unrelenting, the humans we meet must find enough courage to go on fighting. (official synopsis via Laughing Squid) There is something deeply, viscerally confronting about Rakka (Japanese 落下 meaning “fall”), Continue Reading
Watch happiness come pouring out: Goodbye Christopher Robin
SNAPSHOT “Goodbye Christopher Robin” gives a rare glimpse into the relationship between beloved children’s author A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) and his son Christopher Robin (Will TIlston), whose toys inspired the magical world of Winnie the Pooh. Along with his mother Daphne (Margot Robbie), and his nanny Olive (Kelly Continue Reading
Can horror be adorable? Oh yes, says Mary & Marsha in The Manor of Madness
SNAPSHOT Sinister secrets await as Mary helps her girlfriend Marsha escape from her parent’s gothic mansion one dark and eldritch night in a film which features a blend of hand-drawn art and 3D assets and takes us on a Lovecraftian escapade through the Manor of Madness. (synopsis via Vimeo) Continue Reading
The only Batman for me: RIP Adam West
One of my fondest memories growing up was watching Adam West and Burt Ward fight the bad guys with a BIFF! a BAM! and a POWWW! in ABC’s three season-long TV series Batman. Camp, colourful and endlessly entertaining, it was the gloriously trippy Caped Crusader’s yin to Christian Bale’s Continue Reading
Movie review: Wild Mouse
If you ever get the feeling that life is a messy business, guessed at imprecisely, executed randomly and full of uncertainty and self-recrimination, then there’s a good chance you’ll find a lot to identify with in Josef Hader’s comedy Wild Mouse (Wilde Maus). Leveraging the general sense of current Continue Reading