Kung Fu Panda 4

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Kung Fu Panda 4!

Original image located here. Accessed 21st February 2025

I didn't have plans on watching this, but this turned out to be one of the situations where Kiera chose the movie. Still, I am willing to be surprised. And I have had some glowing things about the other three Kung Fu Panda movies so can that winning streak continue?

Well allow me to resort to bullet points:

• The first three had their fair share of solemn moments but this does not. This was a mistake.
• The Furious Five are also absent. This is also a mistake. 
• Viola Davis was great as the antagonist. 
• Seems to be some hostility towards Zhen. Is it the character? Or Awkwafina's voice? If that is the case of the latter, I have to wonder this hostility came from as she was great in Crazy Rich Asians 
• I did enjoy the dynamic Po and Zhen as clearly the latter was written in a way reminiscent of the former in the first movie. 
• The idea of Po being a state of wisdom is a compelling one given the journey he had taken to get here. 
• The action is still as solid as ever
• The end credits theme is hilarious
• Ultimately there is some enjoyable moments but the end result is indeed removed from what the first Kung Fu Panda movies so great.

When Harry Met Sally

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... When Harry Met Sally!

Original image located here. Accessed 14th February 2025

Well it's Valentine's Day so here's one I've been saving for such an occasion. 

Seems to me that this movie is remembered for three reasons: Firstly, it defined rom-coms for the next couple of decades. Secondly, it made Meg Ryan the go-to actress for rom-coms. And thirdly, the diner scene. But I however came to this movie to judge on it's own, without these three factors in play.

And honestly, it's still really funny. There are some great gags and some razor-sharp writing, exploring the mindset of both genders. And it's interesting to note that whereas this movie became a benchmark of rom-coms it doesn't really follow the tropes associated with the genre (as dictated by It Happened One Night) and is all the better for it. 

It's also nice to see Carrie Fisher in a non-Star Wars role. 

The Boy and the Heron

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Boy and the Heron!

Original image located here. Accessed 7th February 2025

So when was it that I discovered the works of Studio Ghibli? The year 2000. And much like any other movie connoisseur/anime nerd, it didn't take much to win me over: Stunning animation, boundless imagination, a distinct brand of humanism and a fearlessness when talking about big ideas. How could I help myself but jump on that particular bandwagon.
But I did so at an interesting time. For the years that would follow would prove fascinating for Ghibli figurehead/genius Hayao Miyazaki: Releasing Spirited Away. Achieving worldwide success with said movie. Scoring anime's first Oscar. Going back and forth on retirement. Growing outspoken to the point of becoming a curmudgeon. Losing his friend/colleague/sempai Isao Takahata.
In fact, I think that the success of Spirited Away may have been something of a turning point: Whereas Miyazaki's movies prior were unique in their own way, what has followed Spirited Away (Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo) seemed to be following the same template of throwing whatever weirdness his imagination can come up with. However one could make the argument that said weirdness can be relied upon too much and can be used as a smokescreen to cover up a weak script. 
Granted it is foolish of me to draw comparisons to previous Ghibli works but given the factors of the uniqueness of each work, the high quality of the studio's output and Miyazaki's advancing years, any instances of repeating one's self becomes hard not to notice. 

As for the movie itself it is extraordinary. The animation is of the typical Ghibli high quality and the afore-mentioned weirdness is at play. And the imagery is inventive and the imagination is, as ever, wondrous. 
But the real heart of this movie is this is a personal work for Miyazaki. All the pieces are in place to explain where he come from: The experiences of his youth, the building of the empire that is Ghibli, the musings of moving on and building something with one's own hands. Big themes to be sure but the movie does address them with flair.

Mind you, watching this movie however I can't help but draw comparisons to The Tale of the Princess Kaguya: The bombing sequence is animated in the same way and both films share a sense of finality running throughout. Makes me wonder just how hard Miyazaki took the passing of Takahata (seriously, watch him give the eulogy at Takahata's funeral: the poor guy is barely getting through it). Still, much like Kaguya, this is an effective way to say goodbye.

Also, props to the English dub for having Robert Pattinson playing the Heron as he seems to be having the time of his life.

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl!

Original image located here. Accessed 31st January 2025

As an IP, Wallace and Gromit's output is small: One feature film and a handful of shorts. Granted the quality of animation demands a lot of time and effort, but what there is, is never dull. And when a new entrant emerges, it is difficult to avoid.

No idea why you'd want to: The humour is near non-stop, the visuals are inventive and there are some surprising use of mood that would be suited to a horror movie. Also pleasing is the jabs at the increasing influencing devices and tech have in our lives. Okay sure there are more than a few allusions to The Wrong Trousers (perhaps to the point of reliance?) and Wallace makes for an exasperating character but this was a lot of fun. 

I recall watching Wallace and Gromit when I was in High School. And I'm glad to report this IP is still delightful three decades later.

Dark Star

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Dark Star!

Original image located here. Accessed 24th January 2025

Here's a question: Can anyone tell me, without looking it up, who created the Alien franchise?
My experience with sci-fi nerds - or any nerds for that matter - is that they tend to venerate creators who come up with successful IP. By way of example: George Lucas gave us Star Wars, Gene Roddenberry gave us Star Trek, J. Michael Straczynski gave us Babylon 5 and Joss Whedon gave us Firefly.
All recognisable names to be sure - so who created Alien?

The answer is two people: Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The former wrote a movie called Dark Star and it impressed the latter to a point that they joined forces, worked on some of the ideas from said movie and gave us the horror/sci-fi hybrid that we all know.
And if that isn't enough, this movie was the directorial debut of one John Carpenter. It was originally a student film but, with some additional funds, it was expanded upon.
Quite a pedigree one would think.....

Let's get this out of the way: This is a B-Movie. The sets look shoddy, the sfx are cheap, the premises are ludicrous and there is no attempt to hide it. The monster in this movie is a beachball and the cast act like they're stoned. Certainly there are some elements that will crop up again in Alien - blue-collar space-farers working for a faceless corporation - but both films are so removed from each other it's hard to make the connection both came from the same writer. 
And yet, this movie still works: There are plenty of laughs and the cheap nature of it makes it endearing. It certainly does say a lot about doing a lot with limited resources and you must give props to a student film that made the leap into a full feature. 
Funny how big things would come to those behind a mere student film....

Gimme Shelter

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Gimme Shelter!

Original image located here. Accessed 17th January 2025

Behold: one of the most famous (infamous?) documentaries, music or otherwise, ever made. It's the chronicle of the Altamont Free Concert - a show put on by the Rolling Stones that ended in disaster.

For those who don't know: Altamont happened in 1969, four months after Woodstock. It was put together by the Rolling Stones and had them headlining with some other acts. During the show however the crowd was unruly and the security, provided by the Hells Angels, were very hostile to them. Needless to say, it descended into chaos and an attendee, one Meredith Hunter, was stabbed to death.
Since then, there have been varying accounts of the event but it has gone down in history as a catastrophe and, most significantly, the endpoint of both the sixties and the hippy ethos of 'peace and love' it inspired.

Of  course, this documentary does nothing to challenge such a narrative: the planning process is shown to be haphazard and the event is shown to be utter mayhem. And it is the latter that is the key selling point of this documentary: it is terrifying to watch and the alarm shown by the Stones is genuine. 

But the main strength of this feature is seeing Mick and Charlie being confronted with the footage. Granted the Stones may forever be the benchmark for pop music 'bad boys' but rarely are such 'bad boys' shown the consequences of their actions. And it is downright harrowing. 
Was that the intention of this documentary? Hard to say but what I do know is that this was a far from easy watch - but much like car crash, hard to look away. 

Nosferatu (2024)

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Nosferatu (2024)!

Original image located here. Accessed 10th January 2025

I saw this in the cinema where some goth girls were in the row behind me. And when the line came "He's coming! He's coming!" I heard some giggling....

It's a bold move to remake one of the foundation stones/benchmarks of horror cinema: what can one do with the source material? Okay sure the original is over a century old and may look creaky today, but there are some genuinely freaky moments that put more modern horror movies to shame. So what does this one bring to the table?

Well the atmosphere is stunning with some great use of creeping dread. The visuals are gorgeous and there plenty of nods to the source material. But at the same time, I can't help but think that this is a soulless exercise. It is horny to the point of absurdity, the accents are silly and I was left with the thought of what the whole point of it was.

Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tale

   And this week's Friday night movie has been... Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tail Tale!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd January 2025

Happy New Year! And what better way to set off another year of movie watching, lets take a look at a movie that I have wanting to see for a long time.

I remember Footrot Flats when I was a kid. Certainly I knew of the comic strip but a lot of the humour went over my head - I guess one has to be sheep farmer to get the most out of it. But I do remember knowing the characters and, in particular, Dog. And I knew of this movie and the accompanying theme song - Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven - so I may as well get off my slack arse and watch this.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this movie is that it is a New Zealand production and a major stab at getting an animated New Zealand movie made (has any more been made since?). And the animated is indeed delightful - ironically being outsourced from a Sydney animation studio - with special mention going to some rather stunning backgrounds.
Problem is, there is no plot to speak of: just a series of misadventures involving bad jokes, pointless scenes, archaic situations, the afore-mentioned farmer-centric humour and New Zealand pride that would look alien to outsiders. 
Needless to say it was disappointing that a movie I have been wanting to see turned out to be downright dull. 

But at least we still have Slice of Heaven.

And so 2025 is off to a flying start....

Oppenheimer

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Oppenheimer!

Original image located here. Accessed 27th December 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 96 (2023)

And so, we end this year-long undertaking by saying hello to the new guy.

Twelve months of watching Best Picture Oscar winners have led to this moment. And one would think that by now I should know what to expect.

From the outset, this movie makes something of a comeback: After over a decade of smaller scale/low earning/indie movies, the pendulum has swung back and a Best Picture victory has been made for a major studio. It may be too early to call if this is a game-changer but it does make for an interesting situation for future Best Picture winners.
Actually, now that I think of it, that Oppenheimer won does indeed feel like a throwback to an earlier, epic-focused, era of Oscars. For years there was this joke that if you wanted to win big all you needed to do was have both a stacked cast and your movie set in World War II. And this movie does indeed do that. In addition, having a troubled protagonist and a three hour run time doesn’t hurt either.
Still the film geek in me was pleased that Christopher Nolan finally received his dues and picked up the Best Director Oscar.

But enough of my rambling: what about the movie itself?

I may have seen some dense movies in my time but this is another level entirely: It is dialogue heavy, the progression of the plot is in a strange order, it is indeed hard to follow and the cast are rendered practically unrecognisable.
And yet, this is a movie that is firing on all cylinders. The ensemble cast is great, the visuals incredible, Nolan’s insistence on practical effects truly deliver, the direction is superb and the mood is one of reflection and guilt. If this movie was utilising the afore-mentioned Oscar-winning formula then the result is effectively a subversion of it – and makes the movie even more fascinating.

And with that, this year-long undertaking is completed: I set out to watch a Best Picture Oscar winning movie for every week of 2024 and I’ve done it.
It has been a fascinating journey as not only have I seen some movies that I’ve never seen before but I have seen a history of cinema progress before me, pinpointing the rise of trends and the changing of attitudes.

The major takeaways from this are as follows:

• I have seen some movies, and some genres I wouldn’t have previously considered. And much to my surprise I found some enjoyment in them.
• The concept of ‘Best Picture’ is somewhat misleading: It is less about the best movie of the year and more what was popular at the time. And that is an approach that should be adhered to when talking about Best Picture winners. I mean, when you think about it, winning Best Picture, being beloved by audiences AND being held up as the best of the medium is a very difficult hat-trick to pull off. And how many movies have done it? All Quiet on the Western Front? It Happened One Night? Casablanca? The Godfather 1 and 2? Schindler’s List? Lord of the Rings: Return of the King?
• It would appear that every decade of Best Picture winners is a reaction against the previous one: The real-life concerns of the forties getting you down? Well, here’s the fifties and some large-scale entertainment. Tired of the musicals of sixties? Don’t worry: here’s some seventies cynicism. Bored of the eighties output? Here comes the nineties and a new era of the blockbuster.
• Similarly, the long-held idea that the Academy Awards voters are all aging and caught in a state of stagnation/regression is also incorrect: Watching all these Best Picture Winners, the trends and mindset of the time becomes apparent and it’s surprising that the Academy goes out of it’s way to conduct a course correction when possible.
• Shakespeare in Love is not the worst/less-deserving Best Picture winner.

So in the end, this has been an enlightening experience, wandering through film history and seeing a path of changes and trends. And it was a journey I’ve been wanting to make for some time, and I am grateful to have made it.

And so, to wrap this up, I have spent the past twenty-four months indulging with my film geek. That being said, next year I think I’ll watch something more fun….

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Everything Everywhere All at Once!

Original image located here. Accessed 20th December 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 95 (2022)

You know the Oscars have been around for under a century (at time of writing) but for something that has such longevity, one would think that it would be a big ask for it to produce a surprise. 
And yet, this is exactly what happened: I went in expecting a movie that combines science fiction and kung fu - hardly Oscar favourite material - but what I got was something else: It was visually astonishing, playful in it's nature, high in it's concept, and audacious in it's ambitions. 
I have no idea how this won Best Picture - it's an against the odds victory if ever there was one - but there's no way I'm going to argue. 
What an incredible movie. 

CODA

And this week's Friday night movie has been... CODA!

Original image located here. Accessed 13th December 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 94 (2021)

Seems I was wrong: Nomadland wasn't the endpoint of the trend of Best Picture Oscar winners being small-scale/budget movies. Well one more for the road I guess. 
So that this movie won was something of a milestone in that it's the first time the winning film was one that was exclusively available on a streaming platform. Seems that in nearly a century of the Academy Awards there is still plenty of room for firsts. 

So anyway, I have nothing but good things to say about this movie. Key to it's success is that we are watching disabled who are being treated with dignity: they have wants, needs and are able to run a business. You know, like proper human beings. See? It's not that hard.

But this is still the story of a young adult leaving the nest and forging their own path. Sure one might think that story has been told countless times before however, as is often the case, it's not the tools but what one does with them.
The family dynamic works a treat and Emilia Jones does a great job with her performance.

So here we finally reach the end of this particular run of Best Picture Oscar winners. Where do we go from here? Well we have two Fridays left of the year....

Nomadland

   And this week's Friday night movie has been... Nomadland!

Original image located here. Accessed 6th December 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 93 (2020)

I am somewhat perplexed by this movie: On one hand, the strengths of this movie come through with it's beautiful photography, it's sensitivity of showing people struggling, the use of non-actors and it's realistic approach. 
But on the other hand, this does seem meandering in it's outcome. Granted that may be point given this is a film about the wanderer lifestyle but some scenes drag on and ultimately come out pointless.

Maybe I'm missing something? Most certainly but I feel it is fair to say that this is the point where the trend of honouring low-budget, low-box office movies - a trend started with the Hurt Locker - has come to an end. The model has outworn it's use and now a new one is required. 

It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for....

Parasite

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Parasite!

Original image located here. Accessed 29th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 92 (2019)

It may be easy to mock the Oscars for getting it wrong and going for the 'safe' option. So credit is credit due when the Academy shows some stones and laud the nastier, less-audience-friendly choice.
Not much I can say really: This may have been the apex of the 'message' era/2010s of Best Picture winners. And certainly representative of the 'eat the rich' mindset that has emerged in recent years.

But the movie itself? It's a pitch black comedy and just the way I like it. Unforgettable imagery, strung out tension, delicious ironies, and a sense that one is never sure how this movie is going turn out.
Clearly movies never get better than this.