Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves!

Original image located here. Accessed 7th March 2025

Well I've been putting this one off long enough. I was reluctant to see this one as I still have the scars from seeing the previous efforts that bore the DnD brand. But I did hear that this latest one was actually really good. Certainly that sounds like an against the odds victory but it was enough to grab my interest.

I guess comparisons with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are hard to avoid: It's not just the idea of taking an IP that shouldn't work and actually making it work - it's also ramping up the comedy, presenting absurd situation after absurd situation, and having an group of personalities bouncing off one another. However it is the latter that should make this a natural fit as that's what a DnD session is: Multiple players working off on another as they build a narrative. 
And the makers behind this realised this and ran with it. And that I found myself enjoying this a lot confirms the wiseness of such a decision. Certainly I could see various instances that hint towards the mechanics and spirit of DnD but the whole thing was delivered with humour, cast interplay, creativity and action that anyone not familiar with this tentpole of geekiness could get on board. 
Also props to Hugh Grant who looks like he was having a lot of fun. 

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.

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….

Elemental

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

Original image located here. Accessed 8th December 2023

I will admit that this year I have indulging in my inner film geek with my viewing choices. But, as we head into the final weeks of this year, there is still time for me to bring something more crowd pleasing to the table.

This movie has quite the shelf life: What started as a disappointing opening weekend has eventually grown into a success, finding an audience who appreciated the immigrant angle. Yet at the same time, there have been some whispers that this is one of Pixar's weakest efforts. I suppose such feedback would be inevitable considering the triumphs the studio has enjoyed in the past and it is only a matter of time before a misfire happens and/or the output starts to look formulaic. Still, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt: Not everyone can produce a high quality body of work AND make each entrant an unique entity (Stanley Kubrick anyone?).

However I can't fool myself: This was a gem. The usual Pixar inventiveness is on display - indeed it was a treat seeing how this world works - and the animation is, once again, of high quality. 
But, as always, the real strength of this movie is it's heart, showing the trials and tribulations of an immigrant family, the need to forge one's own path and the necessity for connection (which indeed resonated with an Aspergan such as myself). Indeed that 'Touch' scene was truly a thing of beauty.
And it wouldn't be a Pixar movie if it didn't leave me an emotional wreck by the end.

So it the end I don't know what the nay-sayers are complaining about: This is another solid entry in Pixar's (admittedly well-stocked) library. 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Super Mario Bros. Movie!

Original image located here. Accessed 12th May 2023

These past couple of weeks I have been indulging my inner fan geek: watching these classic movies that achieved classic status. Well, this time around I think it's time I watched something more current.
I will admit that this movie's reaction intrigued me. Critics aren't liking it that much but the audiences are loving it. I suppose that is a given sense this particular franchise has an in-built (and not to mention sizable) fanbase.

But you know what? I had a lot of fun with this movie. Certainly i will admit that it pretty much exists for gaming geeks like myself who can spot all the visual references, identify all the musical cues and pick up on the notion that persistence pays off. But dammit, this movie clearly has a lot of love put into it and it gave me an enormous grin that stretched from ear to ear as well as provided plenty of laughs all the way through.
I guess film connoisseurs like myself don't have to go for the serious stuff all the time XD