Tag: movie review

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (2019)

Promises a complex mythos of a time-travelling serial killer early on and then just sort of shoves it over the line in the end — having someone explain the pretense to you in two mintues will probably stimulate the same amount of intruigue as the whole two hour runtime.

For a time travel movie it’s incredibly linear, and too shallow in its rules and consequences. Figured out the plot about 20min in and none of the other stuff was really fascinating in its own right.

It’s fine, but PREDESTINATION is still the gold standard for this sort of movie and you should watch that instead.

by Thomas Scott Holland

HIGH LIFE (2018)

Uncomfortable and confronting, full of surrealism, body horror, disturbing psychosexual imagery and violence.

Some fantastic visuals and good design wrapping around a minimal, slow tone and dark, weird story choices.

More SOLARIS than INTERSTELLAR, definitely not for everyone.

Don’t know if I liked it, but it was certainly interesting.

by Thomas Scott Holland

BACURAU (2019)

If Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino were scruffy indie filmmakers in near-future Brazil, this would be right at home in their collection.

Brought together by the death of their matriarch and then set upon by foreigners, the tiny town of Bacurau turns out to be anything but the quaint speck on the map it presents itself as.

Great tone and place and sense of community personality, every character feels real even if they never get a single line. Feels like part SERIES 7, part BLACK MIRROR, part BATTLE ROYALE.

Loose and rough and charming. Great fun, especially watching with a crowd of Brazilians who’ve taken up its spirit against their corrupt government and have been rallying around it.

Definitely check it out.

by Thomas Scott Holland

PARASITE (2019)

Bong Joon Ho (OKJA, SNOWPIERCER) is one of those directors whose projects vary so wildly from one another as well as within their own runtimes that it’s a disservice to try and say something like “oh, it’s a social commentary con-artist movie comedy thriller I guess?”

Every film of his is its own rollercoaster through genre, tone and style and 2019 Palm d’Or winner PARASITE is probably the very best example — having just stepped out of it I’m at a loss to describe it in any way meaningful beyond a very strong recommendation and that this would have to be his best film in a cadre of great films.

I skipped the trailer, you should too, just go in for a wonderful, hilarious, dark ride.

by Thomas Scott Holland

FLEABAG (2016/19)

A few weeks ago I wondered who is this Phoebe Waller-Bridge person whose name keeps coming up everywhere?

Having now watched the two seasons of FLEABAG (which she wrote and stars in) over as many days, I get it. She’s a big big talent. And this show is absolutely killer.

Funny, dark, more than a little mean spirited but also sincerely affecting and executed with a deft hand.

The hype is justifiable. It’s fantastic. Go find it.

by Thomas Scott Holland

DEERSKIN (2019)

If you only watch one movie about a lonely man and his love affair with a jacket and also the jacket wants to be the only jacket in the world, make it this one.

From the guy who brought you RUBBER (a movie that I fell asleep partway through and never returned to) comes something so delightfully surreal and odd and continually surprising that it can’t help but be charming.

Much of the fun of it hinges on the boundless charisma of Jean Dujardin (THE ARTIST, CAIRO: NEST OF SPIES) but as a tiny indie film that knows its scope and works with it, this was a great time.

Best enjoyed knowing absolutely nothing more about the premise or plot.

by Thomas Scott Holland

BETWEEN TWO FERNS: THE MOVIE (2019)

Basically a dozen or so new interviews loosely hung together by a pretense that’s flimsy enough not to really matter overall.

I mean, you’re just here to watch Zach Galifianakis be mean to celebrities, right? In that regard, it’s hilarious. If you can make it through without cracking up at something, I don’t know what to tell you.

Wall-to-wall cheap jokes. Misspelled names gave me the snorts. Will Ferrell as Will Ferrell But On More Cocaine was also great. The over-credit outtakes absolutely destroyed me.

Good for a rainy day or a drunk watch.

by Thomas Scott Holland

MOONRAKER (1979)

Of all the Bond films, this is probably the series at its most absolutely ridiculous and is all the more hilarious and charming for it.

It’s got it all! Casual sexism, bad green screen, a laser battle, hot astronauts, a guy popping out of a coffin in a gondola throwing knives only to be killed by his own knives, a doomsday/repopulation plot, terrifying clowns, another gondola that transforms into a hovercraft that causes a pigeon to do a double-take…

Seriously, if you want to settle in with a bottle of wine and be wildly entertained for two hours, get on it.

Casual observation: I wonder how much Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister draws from the mannerisms and tone of Hugo Drax? Actor Michael Lonsdale even bears more than a passing resemblance, it’s uncanny.

by Thomas Scott Holland

REVIEW SPECTACULAR 5: 2019 EDITION

If you’re just now dropping in on these:

I’ve been doing quick reviews/recommendations via FB for years but have finally decided to move them over to the blog here.
There are five collections dating back to 2016 posted now, but from here on out each new review will get its own post so follow my various social medias for notifications!
I try to stay mostly spoiler free and give my impressions and broad recommendations over any in-depth discussions of plot etc. So much of the fun is going into a film or series knowing very little, but there’s always exceptions.
No ratings as they’re too reductive.
I don’t always watch things right when they come out and I don’t always watch everything.
Sometimes I’ll have rewatched something and have noted what I thought that time.

Here’s all of my 2019 watches so far, starting from the most recent:

IT: CHAPTER TWO (2019)
GLOW s03 (2019)
DARK PHOENIX (2019)
MINDHUNTER s02 (2019)
MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL (2019)
ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS (1993)
INVADER ZIM: ENTER THE FLORPUS (2019)
TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016)
THE BOYS s01 (2019)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)
THE WAILING (2016)
THE LION KING (2019)
DUMBO (2019)
DETECTIVE PIKACHU (2019)
HELLBOY (2019)
HALLOWEEN (2018)
SHAZAM! (2019)
STRANGER THINGS s03 (2019)
MIDSOMMAR (2019)
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019)
OVERLORD (2018)
BLACKKKLANSMAN (2018)
VEEP (s01-07)
CHERNOBYL (2019)
JOHN WICK 3: PARABELLUM (2019)
GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS (2019)
ALADDIN (2019)
AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)
mY GAME OF THRONS REVEIW (2019)
BUMBLEBEE (2019)
PET SEMATARY (2019)
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT s05 (2019)
AQUAMAN (2018)
BLOOD MERIDIAN or THE EVENING REDNESS IN THE WEST – Cormac McCarthy (1985)
US (2019)
LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS (2019)
MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND (1996)
CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019)
RUSSIAN DOLL s01 (2019)
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (2019)
LOST IN SPACE s01 (2018)
VELVET BUZZSAW (2019)
GHOST STORIES (2018)
BLACK MIRROR: BANDERSNATCH (2018)
THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (2018)
MOWGLI (2018)

Enjoy!

Continue reading “REVIEW SPECTACULAR 5: 2019 EDITION”

by Thomas Scott Holland

REVIEW SPECTACULAR 3 (years since the last one)

I’ve been trawling through all of my old reviews in the interest of gathering them in one place, so if you’ve ever wondered what I watched in 2017 and what I thought of it then wonder no longer!
I don’t have any sort of “Jump To:” feature available, so here’s a list of everything posted below:

LOVING VINCENT (2017)
GERALD’S GAME (2017)
THOR: RAGNAROK (2017)
STRANGER THINGS s02 (2017)
BLADERUNNER 2049 (2017)
mother! (2017)
IT (2017)
SENSE8 s01/02 (2017)
DEATH NOTE (2017)
RINGS (2017)
THE DARK TOWER (2017)
VALERIAN & THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (2017)
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (2017)
THE MUMMY (2017)
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017)
BABY DRIVER (2017)
WONDER WOMAN (2017)
ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.2 (2017)
GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017)
YOUR NAME (2016)

Continue reading “REVIEW SPECTACULAR 3 (years since the last one)”

by Thomas Scott Holland