Mulan: Rise of a Warrior

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Mulan: Rise of a Warrior!

Original image located here. Accessed 25th July 2025

Here's something leftfield: A Chinese movie made about the legendary figure Hua Mulan. Now I've seen the Disney animated film - which I imagine is how a lot of other people became aware of this story - and thoroughly enjoyed it. So why not have a Chinese production take on the same source material? It is, after all, their story.

This is a movie that left me with a lot of mixed feelings: On one hand, the battle scenes are exciting and there is some great imagery throughout. But on the other hand, this is a slow movie. Some moments drag on and that is effectively the death blow to this movie. I have seen numerous epic movies based around a singular figure and I can tell you this is a genre that one has to go all out: It can't afford to be boring. And in this case, yes the second half may be thrilling but the first half was a slog to get through. 

It was engaging yes but somehow I felt the animated Mulan had a lot more personality. 

12 Years a Slave

And this week's Friday night movie has been... 12 Years a Slave!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 86 (2013)

And now we are well and truly into the twenty tens. At this point, the new decade of Best Picture Oscar winners has had time to determine what it wants to be. And to would seem that identity would be built up out of 'message' movies.

Lets not beat around the bush: This was not an easy watch. Sure the cinematography is staggering in it's beauty and the sheer scale of it's shots, sure the acting is equally gripping and the direction is top notch but this is still a depiction of American slavery. That this movie is clearly well researched and based on historical fact does not take away the ugliness and brutality of it all. And it is all there on screen, whether we like or not.

Still, this movie is nothing less than astonishing.
And just when you think the Academy doesn't have the guts to stray away from the 'safe' option, they still manage to surprise you.

A Man For All Seasons

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... A Man For All Seasons!

Original image located here. Accessed 31st May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 39 (1966)

It could be said that this is the forgotten Best Picture winner of the 1960s. After all, it does share room with some heavy hitters (ie Sound of Music, Lawrence of Arabia) so maybe it got lost in the crush?

Looking at it now, one could make the case that this is an early slice of Oscar bait: it is a biopic (tick), it has some big names in the cast (tick), it is a costume drama (tick) and it is about someone who sticks by their convictions even they lose everything and, eventually, their life (tick).
Cynicism aside though, there is a lot going for this movie: The direction is superb, it's beautifully shot and works with it's origins as a stage play. But the real meat is the acting: Orson Welles makes the most of his one scene, Robert Shaw is both compelling and frightening as Henry VIII (How come he never got more scenes?) and Paul Schofield carries the movie, giving it his all.

Unfairly forgotten? One would think so.

Ben-Hur

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ben-Hur!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd May 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 32 (1959)

And now I face a genuine challenge: A movie that has a reputation as being on the grandest achievements of cinema. Everything about this movie is big: The budget, the scale, the length, the colossal sets, the hordes of extras, the sweeping of the board at the Academy Awards. If you have ever heard of the phrase "Bigger than Ben-Hur' this is why.

Personally, I can see this movie as being the epitome of the 'bigger and better' mentality that defined a lot of the movies of the 1950s. Yet at the same time, it seems that a lot of this movies rests on the shoulders of the chariot race. Indeed, this movie did lose me with it's length and it's self-important nature but I am to forgive such shortcomings purely for those magic nine minutes. 

Mutiny on the Bounty

   And this week's Friday night movie has been... Mutiny on the Bounty!

Original image located here. Accessed 19th January 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 8 (1935)

This film is an interesting case in Oscar history. It was nominated for eight awards but only won one (need I say which one?). Also it had three entrants into the Best Actor category which led to the foundation of the 'Best Supporting Actor/Actress' categories. 

In recent years people have come put forth the theory of 'Oscar Bait': By fulfilling a particular set of criteria, success is guaranteed. And this could well be the earliest example of such a practice: Grandiose setting? Check. Historical piece (accuracy be damned!)? Check. Big name actors? Check. Presence of previous Oscar winners? Check. Exotic locales? Check. Plot involving rising up against an unjust authority? Check.

Cynicism aside however it would seem that time has been kind to this movie. It was a rollicking adventure film and was fun to watch. But the MVP is still Charles Laughton, commanding the screen every time he appears and proving he was truly born to play villains (how he never got the Oscar for Best Actor, I'll never know).

Dersu Uzala

And this week's Friday Night movie has been... Dersu Uzala!

Original image located here. Accessed 21st April 2023

I have previously spoken about my efforts to explore the oeuvre of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. So we come to this: One of his lesser-known works.
This came about because Kurosawa wanted to do an adaptation of the novel by Russian author Vladimir Arsenyev. And he got a chance to do so when he was given Russian backing - so, with a Russian cast and crew, along with the opportunity to shoot in the wilderness of Siberia, Kurosawa came up with this movie.

When one thinks of Kurosawa, his samurai epics come to mind as well as his ability for orchestrating action scenes. But that is selling him short: He had a strength for his humanist approach to filmmaking and his subjects. And that is well and truly at play here. The titular character is a Mongolian man, well at home in the wild, and how he assists, and eventually bonds, with the captain of a Russian surveying expedition. It does make for a fascinating character study, with we the audience learning a lot about Uzala both as a character and his survival skills. Which makes the ultimate conclusion hit like a truck.
Another one of Kurosawa's strengths is his ability to conjure up beautiful shots. And here we have plenty of shots of the Siberian wilderness - it's all looking magnificent, especially considering that much of it isn't really accessible to human presence.
So yeah, an excellent movie with Kurosawa doing what he does best. Thoughtful and compelling tied with moments of beauty.

Far From the Madding Crowd

And this week's Friday Night movie has been... Far From the Madding Crowd!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd March 2023

Once again, we have a case of me watching a movie that I put on my 'to watch' list so long ago that I forgot why I put on said list in the first place. Still, the distance presents an advantage: I am effectively going into this one blind.

So what this movie presents is an adaptation of the novel by Thomas Hardy. Well I once read Tess of the d'Urbervilles and I'm not in any hurry to read it again. Still, this appears to be cut from the same cloth but less relentlessly grim (thankfully).
So what we have here is the story of a woman who juggles running a farm with her independence and the attentions of three potential suitors. Indeed it is the romance that intrigues me: Throughout the movie, I was wondering if there's a fandom attached to this book, rallying behind the banners of Team Oak, Team Boldwood and Team Troy. And I was hoping for a three-way standoff between them (like in The Good The Bad and the Ugly).

Jokes aside however, I liked this movie a lot. Special mention must go to the landscape shots, the music and the presence of the lead Carey Mulligan. And whatever misgivings I may have about Hardy, the story is certainly compelling and the makers of this film told in a stunning way.
Favourite line: "I intend to astonish all of you"

Brooklyn

And this week's Friday Night movie has been... Brooklyn!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd February 2023

Once again, this is a case of a movie that had been on my 'to watch' list for so long I'd forgotten why I put it therein the first place. But I am glad I did around to watching this.

What we have here is a story of an Irish woman who leaves Ireland for opportunities in New York. And right off the bat, this is a unique take as a lot of immigrant stories are male-led - rare is the immigrant story that is female led. And you know what? This movie is indeed marvellous. The location footage is astonishing, the portrayal of Irish in New York is well done and our lead, Saoirse Ronan, does a magnificent job. And, as is often the case, it is not the story that is told but HOW it is told.
Truly a very beautiful movie.

Her Majesty Mrs Brown

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

Original image located here. Accessed 2nd December 2022

Anyone heard of this? It's a movie from the late-nineties that I've been waiting to see for a very long time. Because at first glance this shows a tonne of promise: A film about the bond between Queen Victoria and her Scottish servant John Brown? Well that's something different. And the cast: Judi Dench (who never disappoints), Billy Connolly (doing one of his serious roles), Antony Sher, Geoffrey Palmer, and Gerard Butler (in his film debut). And we have director John Madden? Well I'm sold.

It should be noted that I knew of Madden through the wonderful Shakespeare in Love (and I am more than prepared to die on that hill) and a lot of his skills are at work here: The handling his cast and the use of humour is great. The bond between the two leads is built up well and while John may have potential as a Manic Pixie Dream......Jack there is enough to him to be more than that. And whilst Dench is fantastic as always, the real treat is watching Connelly taking on a serious role.
So yeah, a lot of talent on both sides of the camera makes for a superb movie

Persuasion

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Persuasion (1995)!

Original image located here. Accessed 26th August 2022

So there's a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion doing the rounds on Netflix - one that has a lot of Austen fans up in arms.
I find this of interest as Persuasion was the first Austen novel I ever read: It was for Uni back in 2000. So the anger over this new adaptation got me thinking: Has there ever been a good adaptation of Persuasion?
Apparently there has: It was a BBC production dating back to the mind-nineties. And that sounds like a challenge to me...

I suppose it is fitting that this came out the same year as the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice (the one with Colin Firth in it) as that adaptation will forever be the gold-standard of Austen adaptations. Therefore it would be easy to see this one mining the same audience.
Still, it is a BBC production so it has what one expects: Devotion to the source material, beautiful photography and great production. The themes are still in place and, much like the source material, it does offer itself as an alternative to the afore-mentioend P+P. Granted I haven't seen any adaptations of Persuasion prior to this one but from the looks of it, a very high benchmark has been set.

Russian Ark

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

Original image located here. Accessed 28th May 2021

Once upon a time, i started this movie but, for whatever reason, I never got around to finishing it. Well, today's the day I rectify such a situation.
When this came out, much was made of the technical prowess of this film: It's one mammoth, 90 minute single shot movie. No edits and no interruptions. Well, given the passage of time and nearly two decades of advancement in film-making, has time worn done Russian Ark?

Apparently not. The technical nature of the film is nothing less than astonishing. Get past the nature of a single unedited shot and we see incredible sets, a cast of thousands, some magnificent recreations of Czarist Russia and a unbeatable homage to history. Indeed, I have seen many beautiful looking movies in this lifetime and Russian Ark could sit comfortably in the upper regions of such a list
Sure it may have been a challenge to get through at times but in the end the challenge was well and truly worth it.

Emma

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

Original image located here. Accessed 13th March 2020

Funny how things turn out: I never had much interest in the works of Jane Austen - I may have read Persuasion at Uni but said interest never went any further. That was until I was involved in a stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (twice!) so if you told 2000 me that I would be watching the latest adaptation of Emma twenty years later, 2000 me would say you'd be out of your mind.
That and the gf chose this one.

I suppose with any Jane Austen adaptation, there will be a ready made audience more than eager to lap it up. Of course, Emma is unfamiliar to me so i had no idea what to expect. And this was a surprise to me: It is slow moving at times but it still has plenty of humor. The number of characters may be difficult to keep track of but they are played by a committed cast.
Ultimately the movie is beautifully shot and the costume design is stunning (high collars ahoy!). So yeah, looks like we have a winner.

Barry Lyndon

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

 Original image located here. Accessed 11th November 2016

I have to say, this movie was a surprise. I'd heard beforehand about how the movie involved a lot of natural lighting - notably the use of candles in certain indoor scenes - but nothing could prepare just how visually beautiful this film was. The art direction (the art direction!!!), the attention to detail and how true to the time period this movie was blew me away. So much so, I found myself caring less for the drama that was unfolding before me. But that's not to say i found it dull - the final duel scene in particular being a stand out.

All in all, seems we got another winner here

Kingdom of Heaven

And this weeks Friday night movie has been.....Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)!

Original image located here. Accessed 16th September 2016

With my Friday night movie, I make it a point to avoid movies I have seen before. In this case however, I'll make an exception. True I've seen this movie before when it was originally released on DVD but this time it's the same movie but in the guise of a director's cut. Which, as is my understanding, is regarded by critics as superior to the original (is it therefore any surprise that this and Blade Runner are both from the same director?)

Well it seems the critics were right. I thought the original by itself was okay but somehow the director's cut elevates it to something higher. I guess I can put it down to recognizing certain actors (ie Alexander Siddig) and having read the extraordinary story of King Baldwin (props to Edward Norton) but. seeing it again with fresh eyes and new footage has left a sizable impression when the original couldn't.
All in all, this was a superb film and, now that i think about it, perhaps the best representation I've seen of the Crusades.

Red Cliff

And this weeks Friday night movie has been.....Red Cliff (parts 1 and 2)!

Original image located here. Accessed 9th September 2016

Let it be known that I like me some John Woo. The man sure knows how to make an action movie and I rank his opus The Killer as the benchmark of all action movies. And whilst I have previously been disappointed with his American-made material, a return to his Hong Kong roots may be cause to raise an eyebrow.

And boy was this duology epic. Everything about it is massive, both in length, size and scope. The battle scenes are staggering and the visuals are stunning to behold. It did take an effort to go through both installments but I tell you: it was worth it!
Have to wonder though: Was this an attempt to beat the Lord of the Rings trilogy at their own game? It's possible but if it was, then it was a pretty good effort.