The Eternals

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

Original image located here. Accessed 29th April 2022

Here we are: The MCU's first 'flop'. Sure it may have made a lot of money (hey, it's the MCU of course it's going to make money) but it has polarized both critics and audiences alike. Given MCU's track record it would be interested to see if they can bounce back from th...what a minute, the new Spiderman movie was a box office hit? Oh well never mind then.
Personally, I was a bit cautious about this one. The trailers seemed to indicate something that breaks the tried and tested formula and, to me, suggest a movie akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey. In which sense, I do give credit to MCU for taking their guaranteed success and attempting to stretch out & try something different. So how is it?

People have said this was long and tedious. I won't deny that. People say there is a lot going on here. I won't deny that either. People say that a lot of blame for this movie's shortcomings rests on either Jack Kirby and Chloe Zhao. That seems awfully harsh to me (will Zhao's; career bounce back? Now there's a thought...).
But I still find a lot to admire here. I like the diversity and how it is handled. I like the action sequences. I like the visuals. I like seeing Richard Madden and Kit Harrington back on screen together. I like the handling of time in the narrative. And I like the use of Pink Floyd in the opening titles.
Actually the mention of Pink Floyd is an apt one. For when I was listening to them in my university years, i was drawn to idea of listening to Pink Floyd with undivided attention and absorbing what was being presented to me. Which, in a way, is very much like this movie. Was that what Zhao was going for? One can only wonder...
So in the end is this movie the failure I was led to believe it was? I don't think so. But ultimately, i would rather a noble failure than a weak success any day.

Strictly Ballroom

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

Original image located here. Accessed 22nd April 2022

Thirty years ago, i recall this movie being a big deal. It was everywhere in advertising, was a box office hit and scooping numerous AFI awards. And it introduced the world to a director by the name of Baz Luhrmann.
Oh Baz Luhrmann - not one of my favorite film directors. I found him - as indicated by his follow ups William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet and Moulin Rouge - as the kind of guy who is obsessed with visuals, who is more concerned with style than substance, who directs like he's on a sugar high and knows his audience, a legion of squee-ing teenage girls, all too well.
I was going to be happy not seeing this movie but little did I know that Kiera had other plans...

But you know what? It's not that bad. No wait, scratch that: It's kinda good. It's funny, it's entertaining and - could it be? - Luhrmann's direction is reigned in enough to make the action on screen happen. In retrospect., this does seem a world away from what would happen with the afore-mentioned movies but the DNA is still there.
However lets be honest: the greatest selling point of this movie is the dancing and boy does this movie deliver. Say what you like about Paul Mercurio's limited acting ability but his dancing prowess is beyond compare. Also props to the Silverdome standing in for the climax.
Indeed, it makes me wonder what happened to this side of Baz Luhrmann. As the saying goes: constrictions inspire creativity so what happened to him in regards to his follow ups? Did success go to his head? Did he go crazy upon discovering larger budgets? Did he get replaced by a doppelganger? One can only wonder.

Encanto

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

Original image located here. Accessed 15th April 2022

Well I guess it was inevitable that i would see this one: It's been a hit with critics, audiences, and Tiktok users. In fact, given how much traction this movie has inspired, it is a near miracle i kept myself away from the plot. And spoilers. And the music. Because, as I've mentioned many times before, there's nothing like approaching a movie on your own terms, amirite?

Oh who am i kidding. Encanto was great!
Given that much has been said about the music (and sung by many people) I find it interesting to discuss it because I found that much of it is words being shot out at a rate so rapid, it's difficult to keep up. Indeed, there are many times I wondered: What did that character just say?
Other than that, I really enjoyed the sense of family that this movie conveys. Each character in this is unique and are supportive of each other. It does indeed resemble my own family when I was a kid, - being part of this network of aunts, uncle and cousins - and just how bound together they are.
The animation is great and the art direction is superb but given it's a Disney movie, that's kind of a given right?
But in the end, everyone will be gravitating towards the music but I am far more interested in the depiction of a familial unit

Local Hero

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

Original image located here. Accessed 8th April 2022

Sometimes you know a movie by - and only by - it's theme tune. And this is one such movie.
Growing up in the eighties I became very familiar with the tune Going Home. It was only much later when I found out it was written by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits fame) and was part of a soundtrack to a movie called Local Hero.
The latter, of course, is interesting to me. I just knew the song but knew next to nothing about the movie it was from. And that can hardly be called a positive sign: if the theme song is more important than the source material then that inspires a level of expectation that is near impossible to reach.

So what i got from this movie was the sense that this is a British comedy where a town is visited by an outsider and the outsider finds the people in the town are quite eccentric. Thing is, this formula has been replicated many times since to a point that going back to the movie which started it (or at least made it work) it seems rather flat in comparison. Yes this was a comedy and yes there were some funny moments but somehow coming to this movie at this point in time, I come away with the sense it doesn't have the impact it should've had. It would be easy to say this movie was dull but in doing so I can't help but admit I have missed something.
Still the soundtrack was great. And it's it fun to see a young Peter Capaldi.

(nothing)

And this week's Friday night movie has been... nothing.

Yes I saw nothing this evening. In fact, bugger this. I'm through with waffling about the movies I saw. I'm outta here!

April Fool!

Still with me? Good. Normal business shall resume:

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Shall We Dance?!

Kiera chose this one. Largely because it has dancing in it.
So there's this guy who sees a woman in the window of a dance school and decides there and then that he wants to take up ballroom dancing. He gets good at it but he goes to extraordinary effort to hide it from those around him.
I will admit I was skeptical at first: I wasn't sold on the idea of an old guy getting into dancing because of a younger woman. And why would he go to the effort to hide it? It's nothing to be shamed of now is it?
Still, the strength of this movie lies in the dancing sequences and they are indeed a delight to behold. I don't watch a lot of dancing movies but what is presented here is indeed a some of the best I have seen (granted that's not much of a yardstick but still...).
All in all, not a bad effort