The Abyss

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

Original image located here. Accessed 30th August 2019

Apparently director James Cameron is real keen on underwater exploration....
Okay, seriously: I've been wanting to see this movie ever since 1989 (!) when I first saw the advertising poster and thought it is ominous enough to grab my interest. An interest, it would seem, has not waned over the course of three decades...

I do enjoy James Cameron movies and this one didn't disappoint. There's the action and special effects I have come to expect from him but what marks this movie as special is the build up. There's tension, some brilliant photography, and an atmosphere that will make more modern movies green with envy. And the movie has indeed aged well when compared to other movies of the era.

Not much else i can say is that who would've guessed thirty years would be worth the wait?
(of course I've had longer waits to see certain movies but still...)

Her

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

Original image located here. Accessed 23rd August 2019

Hasn't this been a major hit: A movie about a guy who falls in love with an AI? Personally, I approached this movie with caution: I've seen a lot of anime which plays off a similar scenario (ordinary guy falls in love with anything-but-ordinary girlfriend in a story that is out to pander to an audience of guys who struggle with the world outside their bedroom) so can this movie do more than rehash an oft-played scenario?

Apparently it can. This is indeed an odd movie - but I suppose that is par for the course with Spike Jonze. It certainly has some things to say about getting over a breakup and moving on - but the way it is going about it is indeed something else. It's funny at times and emotionally intense other times. It is clever, challenging and not afraid to go for the jugular with it's emotional punches. And the two leads are great with Joaquin Phoenix carrying the movie and Scarlett Johansson giving the performance of her career (impressive when she is only present in voice).
Is it like the anime I mentioned in the previous paragraph? Maybe, but it is interesting to see a familiar trope being taken in a different direction.

It's a very good movie yet I can't help but think that it's just as well that the movie got made when it did (2013). because in a post-MeToo/Elliot-Rodger world one would think that a socially-maladjusted, emotionally-crippled, confidence-challenged protagonist would be one heading down the path of a villain.

Tombstone

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

Original image located here. Accessed 16th August 2019

Oh boy have I been wanting to see this for a long time. I enjoy westerns and this one has the promise of some of the snappiest dressed gunmen in any western. That and a sizable number of big names in the cast.

It's not a bad western. Oh sure it may be somewhat overlong, sure it may be meandering and sure some of the characters just come and go but I was impressed by the production values, the action sequences ("NO!!") and how both Val KIlmer and Kurt Russell make their mark - and how everyone else still manage to hold their own. It may not be historically accurate but it still has a lot of fun. There's some great lines herein too.
So in the end, it's not bad western and worthy entrant into the genre.

The Accountant

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

Original image located here. Accessed 9th August 2019

Once again I pick up with a movie built around a character who is on the Autism spectrum. What makes this different though is this time, instead of a rom-com as per previously, we have an action movie.

Obviously this movie is giving an action movie hero that autistic kids can look up to and to that end the film is admirable - a socially awkward, mathematically gifted guy who can punch and shoot goons without flinching and has enough resources to make James Bond worried? Has potential. Furthermore, Ben Affleck is certainly giving a committed performance and the action sequences are well done. But there are moments in the plot that seem incoherent and baffling to the point of frustrating.
Still, as indicated above, this movie has it's heart in the right place so I'll give it that much.

The Searchers

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

Original image located here. Accessed 2nd August 2019

Once again I find myself facing down one of the titans: One of the oft-mentioned, undisputed classics, frequented-referenced-in-best-of-list of cinema. It's an intimidating prospect indeed but am i up to the task?

Well much has been written of Ethan, John Wayne's character, and how much he is, in fact, a racist. I won't deny that but I personally think that if the movie made me involved in the character's arc then it must've done something right. Having said that, what makes this movie compelling is that it's looking through the genre of the western through a grey lens. There are no black hats/white hats that are so common in the genre and honestly? The movie is all the better for it.

Ultimately however the real star of the movie is the setting. It may be shot in Utah Arizona but it never ceases to astonish. It's colossal, staggering and mind-slowing in it's bareness. There's no green-screen whatsoever and leaves a lot of modern movies for dead.

So yes facing this movie was indeed an intimidating prospect but it still holds up, even with the distance of sixty years (that final shot being a particular stand out). So in the end, this movie has a well-earned reputation.
Truly epic in every sense of the word.