You know that old classic Christmas song “O Christmas Tree” which contains the very appreciative line – “How lovely are your branches”? It’s a lovely sentiment, and as a piece of lauding nature, pretty damn exultant, but what it misses, and yet even with all the gushing positivity it misses Continue Reading
Movies
Forget phoning home! ET comes back to see Elliott and the result is magical
SNAPSHOTDuring this [year’s] Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Xfinity dropped an incredibly nostalgic commercial reuniting Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster alien with his former co-star Henry Thomas. It’s a moving commercial, all things considered, mostly due to all the callbacks and the use of John Williams’ iconic score. Die-hard fans will no doubt Continue Reading
Movie review: Frozen 2
You have to applaud the bravery of directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (the latter also wrote the screenplay) who took on the challenge of crafting a sequel to arguably the biggest animated hit of the last decade, Frozen. Bestriding the cultural landscape in late 2014 and well into 2015 Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The bright lights and dedication of Mr #Christmas
SNAPSHOTAn offbeat, touching portrait by director/editor/producer Nick Palmer of a man who has spent three decades turning his small Northern California home into a beautiful, towering Christmas display people travel across the country to see. (synopsis courtesy Vimeo) As someone who adores, lives and breathes Christmas – now, I think Continue Reading
Movie review: Knives Out
If you think you have seen every possible cinematic permutation of classic whodunnit storytelling, then Knives Out is here to show you that there’s some mileage left yet in this classic genre. Sporting an exuberantly zestful approach to its narrative that is in evidence even in the more nuanced parts Continue Reading
Is there still magic out there? Two brothers find out in the fantastically real Onward
SNAPSHOTThe story is set in a world with no humans, only elves, trolls and sprites. The film centers on two teenage elf brothers whose father died when they were too young to remember him. But thanks to the little magic still left in the world, the boys embark on a Continue Reading
Alexa with a mo’? Blade Runner parody gets to the heart of the real techno issue of 2019
SNAPSHOTCan an Alexa feel? Can it experience emotion? Can an Alexa pass the Voight Kampff test? Those are the sort of questions this version of Blade Runner is interested in, and it quickly devolves into various forms of slapstick as Deckard and his compatriots try to interrogate and interact with Continue Reading
Movie review: The Aeronauts
There is something inspiring about watching people realise their dreams. It’s not simply being party to the material fulfilment of something that has often just existed in the intangible reaches of the heart and the mind; it’s the look on a person’s face when the hoped-for being the lived-out and Continue Reading
Let’s sneak away: The muscular supernatural whimsy of Wendy
SNAPSHOTIn this wildly reimagined ragtag epic, Wendy is lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued. She must fight to save her family, her freedom, and the joyous spirit of youth from the deadly peril of growing up. The movie stars Shay Walker, Tommie Lynn Milazzo, Continue Reading
Movie review: Charlie’s Angels
There is nothing really remarkable about the 2019 iteration of ’70s classic TV staple Charlie’s Angels. In overly-intimate trope-embracing fashion, it ticks all the boxes audiences either expect or have given up trying to expect a change from – expansive worldwide locations, mysterious bad guys (or women?), large-scale action pieces Continue Reading