I have read, watched and generally taken in a great of fantasy storytelling in my time. And yet for all the wondrous tales I have read, the one that sticks with me, and many others, is the one that takes me far away from the everyday while still validating the Continue Reading
Movies
Weird promo hybrid #1: The Morning Show (TV) and Underwater (movies)
Pop culture is like a hydra, heads sprouting everywhere so often and in such profusion that finding the time and real estate on the blog to feature them all is next to near impossible. Hence, this new series which will throw two wholly different shows/books/movies/comics as a way of getting Continue Reading
Tom and Meg Film Festival: You’ve Got Mail (retro review)
They were heady days back in the late ’90s. Back before omnipresent ads that serve you up ads for products you only thought you might want seconds earlier or Twitter became a bonfire of shouted opinions or inboxes became a stressful hallmark of cubicle serfdom, receiving an email or chatting Continue Reading
The short and the short of it – the timeless poignancy of The Last Dance
SNAPSHOTThe Last Dance by Chris Keller is a starkly beautiful, powerful short film that tells the visceral story of an older man named Hugo (Richard Syms). To quell his utter loneliness, Hugo becomes obsessed with building a machine that might someday allow him to relive a specific moment in time Continue Reading
Taking it up a level: The making of Toy Story 4
SNAPSHOTThe fourth installment in the beloved Toy Story franchise achieves a level of detail and realism unseen in any Disney/Pixar project yet. See how it all came to life at the legendary Pixar studios, step by step: beginning with the story and artwork stage, onto 3D computer modeling, shading and Continue Reading
Movie review: Fast and Furious Presents – Hobbs & Shaw
There was once a time, a more innocently violent, popcorn-strewn time when action blockbusters were not just a lot of fun to watch but were well made, complete with richly-drawn characters (well, as richly-drawn as character exposition vs thrills and action would allow), reasonably complex plots and a visual panache Continue Reading
Is life wonderful? Last Christmas asks the festively big questions
SNAPSHOTThe romantic comedy stars Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Henry Golding (A Simple Favor) and Emma Thompson, and is directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) from a script written by Academy Award winner Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) and playwright Bryony Kimmings inspired by a George Michael beat. Kate (Clarke) Continue Reading
Movie review: Late Night
Dancing along the fine line that separates cliche and sclerotic trope-ism, and heartfelt, engaging storytelling, takes a deft way with words, an ability to give breath to fully-realised characters and someone who gets the contrary depths and heights of humanity. Not everybody possesses such a laudable grab bag of talents Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The escapist joy of Pups ‘n’ Planes
SNAPSHOTA boy with muscular dystrophy and his dog go on an adventure of discovery in an old spitfire plane. (synopsis via Vimeo (c) Wonderlust) Imagination is a powerful thing. It lifts us well and truly out of the banal and the everyday, the hopeless and the can’t-be-done to a place Continue Reading
Benjamin: “It’s about my inability to love, but I’m fine now.”
SNAPSHOTIn Simon Amstell’s affecting, bittersweet comedy, a rising young filmmaker is thrown into emotional turmoil by a burgeoning romance and the upcoming premiere of his second feature. (synopsis via IMDb) If you are to believe countless representations of falling love, all it takes is openness, a romantically fairy, god or Continue Reading