Super

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

Original image located here. Accessed 30th July 2021

The new Suicide Squad movie is right around the corner so it is fitting that i should watch this earlier effort from director James Gunn: A parody of super hero movies that never, as I was led to believe, forgets it's a comedy. Or something.

Simply put: This movie is insane. Having said however, that isn't in a good way. On one hand, the black comedy has some appeal, Boltie is a riot, and the lead character is shown in a sympathetic light. But on the other hand, the violence is indeed tough to stomach, there is indeed a sense of mean-spirited-ness at play and some moments (like the final confrontation) fall drastically flat. I will give props to Gunn for clearly trying to throw a challenge to the superhero genre but somehow I can't shake the feeling that this type of thing was done later, and better, by the likes of Deadpool and Joker. As such, Super does come across as being the equivalent of 'talking a lot but no saying anything'
Close but no cigar

The Five Year Engagement

And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Five Year Engagement!

Original image located here. Accessed 23rd July 2021

Well I'm well and truly on my way to the alter so i was in the mood for watching a wedding movie.

Sure, some of the jokes were hit and miss, and you could've easily shaved ten (or even twenty) minutes off the movie. But this has credibility as a rom-com as we see the ups and down of a relationship from the proposal to the wedding itself - which is rarely seen in such a genre. Indeed, it may be easy to dump on the rom-com as a genre but I will certainly take any such movie if it does things differently and has a depth to match - This movie does indeed deliver. It also helps that both Emily Blunt and Jason Segel make a convincing couple
Plus it's funny to see a pre-Guardians of the Galaxy Chris Pratt and a pre-Fifty Shades of Grey Dakota Johnson. XD

Black Widow

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

Original image located here. Accessed 16th July 2021

It has been quite some time since the last MCU movie. They have been churned out regularly to a point where to go a long time without a MCU movie does indeed create a notable absence.
As such, it would be easy to lavish praise on this in the sense that absence makes the heart go fonder.

But truth be told, this movie rises above such a cheap tactic and stands on it's own two feet. I won;t say this is a spy movie - instead I would call it an action movie and it does so with flair. It's great to see Natasha have a movie all to herself and the new characters are far from dull (especially the Red Guardian stealing every scene he's in).
I've heard some say this is a disappointment but somehow I never got that vibe.

Stone

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

Original image located here. Accessed 9th July 2021

For my non-Australian readers, that title may seem unfamiliar. However, it should be noted that this movie is a product of it's time: It came out in the 1970s when Australian cinema was experiencing a fertile period and was coming into it's own.
And from this period came Stone: one of the more famous/infamous movies which told the story of an undercover cop infiltrating a biker gang (and not to give too much away but it goes as well as one might expect)

It should come to no surprise that this is a brutal film. Granted I may have seen worse, but this is still a brutal film. It's clearly shot on a tiny budget, the violence is tough to stomach and the characters are definitely people you wouldn't want to look at. And yet there are moments of beauty (the beach swim scene and the oft-referred funeral procession).
It's not an attractive film but I can't say it was dull.

Live and Let Die

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Live and Let Die!

Original image located here. Accessed 2th July 2021

The goal of watching more James Bond movies continues as we now enter the Roger Moore era. For many people, this era gave us one of the more recognizable Bonds (with Moore doing seven of them). However at the same time, this is the point where Bond started taking deviations into the silly and preposterous. And a cynic would say this is the point where the threat of formula truly takes root.

Apparently prior to this movie the James Bond franchise hit something of a slump - that was until Moore stepped in turned things around. And who can argue? He hits the ground running, showing the debonair class and witty one-liners that one would associate with the character (perhaps moreso than Connery did). Also of note is his astonishing ability to be completely unflappable in any situation (was that why this series eventually descended into nonsense?). Throw in some decent gags, some great action sequences, a terrific boat chase, one of the best Bond themes and Solitaire, and it becomes clear that Moore has come out with gun blazing.