Tag: movie review

FROZEN 2 (2019)

In some ways more charming than the first, in others less inspired.

Kind of a mixed bag — half the songs were forgettable and the overall story felt like a bridging episode between a strong first film and a bigger, more creative third one.

But the visual design is wonderful, painted on an autumnal Scandinavian pallette and the colonialist narrative touched on some darker concepts without really confronting them, which I suppose is understandable as this is still ostensibly a film for kids.

Doesn’t really transform the franchise in any meaningful way despite heaping on new elemental mythology and expanding the world, something that plays more like the setup to a more interesting trilogy rather than a really solid standalone in its own right.

That said, Kristoff’s 80s power ballad backed by imaginary reindeer harmonies is a brilliant bit of tonal anachronism and I like that the fundamental messages are of community support and reparations.

Overall not bad but I assume the next one will be better.

by Thomas Scott Holland

JOKER (2019)

I took a while getting around to this largely because the hyperbole was exhausting, and look, having literally just watched it, I still don’t really see the need for an origin story for a fundamentally enigmatic character, even if this is the best version of that story we were ever going to get.

It’s incredibly well shot and put together, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is fantastic and there are real moments of greatness… but it didn’t really elevate into some magical realm of reverence for me like so much of the conversation about it was trying to convince me that it was.

It’s good, worth a watch, especially if you’re a fan of TAXI DRIVER. It’s a film that people are bound to take the wrong messages away from – every generation has a FIGHT CLUB except this is not quite as dark or brilliant as it wants to be.

SIDE NOTE: I’m interested to see if Matt Reeves/Robert Pattinson’s THE BATMAN is going to pick up in the continuity given this box office success.

by Thomas Scott Holland

PROSPECT (2018)

A post-goldrush story on a micro budget that makes use of every dollar — the spacesuits and tech are charmingly analogue and cumbersome, medical treatment is harsh, the people are cruel and brutal and happy to kill for the possibility of a fortune.

Held aloft by the boundless charisma of a morally ambiguous Pedro Pascal and finding a resourceful lead in Sophie Thatcher, this is a frontier tale with a minimalist scifi angle.

Enjoyed it, worth a watch.

by Thomas Scott Holland

STAR WARS: RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019)

It’s fine.

Certainly not the best STAR WARS film, still not the worst.

Mostly felt like a series of loose ends and by-committee decisions dressed up in some of the most impressive, cool visuals of the whole franchise. The pacing is a mess, especially the first 45min, but eventually it levels out and becomes… fine.

Wastes too much time trying to backtrack over plot points from THE LAST JEDI (a movie which is also just fine, hyberbole aside) and doesn’t flesh out any of the interesting possibilities of The Force which that movie raised.

Adam Driver is great, everyone else does what they can at a breakneck speed through pinballing plot points and inconsequential Macguffins. But hey, it looks mostly fantastic even if everything amounts to a very medium scramble without any real tension or stakes.

People want this to be either amazing or awful and it’s really not either of those. Lucasfilm really should have planned the arc much more, but they did stick the landing even if they fractured an ankle doing so.

THE MANDALORIAN is doing much better, and now that I’m back from vacation I’ll have to get to get back to finishing that one up.

by Thomas Scott Holland

AD ASTRA (2019)

Part CONTACT, part GRAVITY, part 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, part SOLARIS, part INTERSTELLAR… and that’s kind of the problem.

Because for all its ambition to be a Terrance Malick-like space movie it doesn’t have anything to offer that hasn’t already been covered in more arresting fashion elsewhere.

The visuals are great and would have likely been impressive as hell on a big screen, but at the end of it all we’re left with a perfectly mechanical character performance from Brad Pitt that only ever threatens to become transcendent and ultimately doesn’t serve anything especially interesting.

Underwhelming.

by Thomas Scott Holland

JAY & SILENT BOB REBOOT (2019)

I’ll confess that there’s a lot of me that’s grown past much of the kind of humour particular to this slice of the View Askewniverse, and yet there’s an unassailable honesty and sincerety to everything that Kevin Smith makes and an infectious sort of fun to the rolling roster of celebrity appearances, self-aware jokes and cheap gags that makes it impossible not to get at least a little caught up in his enthusiasm.

Even better then to see it in a packed theatre while he and Jason Mewes regale a crowd of late-night fans at The Rio with tales of the journey that’s taken them from JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK almost twenty years ago forward into the same universe, with all the people who have grown up in the meanwhile (some forty-plus cameos??) and their now adult children too.

Smith himself claims the title of The Biggest Kevin Smith Fan, but that’s not for love of himself but for absolute joy of what he gets to do as Kevin Smith.

Who else could pull three Batmans into one dumb film and still have room for a last joke with the great Stan Lee?

by Thomas Scott Holland

KNIVES OUT (2019)

An old-school whodunnit with modern sensibilities and an A-Grade cast.

Twin lead performances from Ana de Armas and Daniel Craig are equal parts charming, hilarious and empathetic, anchoring a great ride, makes you wonder why this sort of film seems to have fallen out of vogue for the last… what? 20 years? Whenever THE USUAL SUSPECTS came out.

<a google visit later> (It was 1995).

Clearly, any major discussion is spoilerific, but just know that it’s a smart, well executed mystery full of solid performances, plenty of humour and deftly handled class culture undertones.

I was expecting two or three extra twists come the end, but I’m not going to hold that against it.

Recommended!

SIDE NOTE: I’m going to try and add an illustration to each review to spruce things up around here going forward, the complexity and style of which will probably be utterly random. Enjoy!

by Thomas Scott Holland

FORD v FERRARI (2019)

More the story of capable, passionate people being throttled and bullied by idiotic corporate groupthink than the simple “make car go fast” story that the trailers might have let on.

Anchored by two excellent performances from Matt Damon and Christian Bale, director James Mangold (LOGAN/3:10 TO YUMA) wisely keeps the focus on what’s driving <haha> these men towards perfection over explicitly celebrating the sport itself.

For anyone with an interest in motorsports this is a must watch, for anyone else (myself being included on this side of the fence) there’s great character studies and some excellent action to enjoy while you’re fuming at the arrogant bastardry of corporate oversight.

Recommended.

by Thomas Scott Holland