Month: December 2022

Nat’s Top 10 Movies for 2022

Another strange one for me this year.  I haven’t been able to live in my home for the past three months, having to for-go screener reviews.  My troubles are small, I know. Top 10 Movies for 2022 And I hope that each and everyone is looking after themselves and keeping safe.  The escapism of being emersed in the world of cinema has and will always be a sanctuary with some true gems this year, lifting and provoking thoughts about all the important stuff.  There is more to life than the ongoing leak into my ceiling!

So, my Top 10 for 2022 it’s all about the layers of living this life – the depths of what’s hidden underneath, the most satisfying viewing when a story surprises, when the film comes full circle to, understand the question and the corresponding answer from the characters.  This year, it was about understanding the why of the characters.  That’s what kept me coming back, to fascinate, starting with:

10. Men ★★★★

Controversial, divisive, ambitious and thought-provoking in a beautiful setting that spoke of poetry; a backdrop to the journey of understanding, ‘men.’

9. Official Competition ★★★★

An unexpected journey that’s witty and enlightening.  A satire with a criminal heart.

8. The Black Phone ★★★★

The pacing of this adaptation of Joe Hill’s short fiction piece led the way to a mysterious piecing of a dark puzzle that had me cheering for this supernatural thriller.

Special mention here of, Smile that I watched but didn’t review – was my best current release for Halloween viewing.

7. The Innocents ★★★★

A unique and poetic film about children who gain supernatural powers.

6. Three Thousand Years of Longing ★★★★

Beautiful on screen and thought-provoking – a classic tale that made the romance between a Djinn and human, relatable.

5. The Fabelmans ★★★★☆ 4.2

I kinda fell in love with The Fabelmans because there was something genuine in the feeling, the characters rounded-out without slapping the face with it.

4. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ★★★★1/2

There’s a perfect play of darkness and light as the story starts digging deeper: it’s funny, sometimes confronting, it’s explosive, dramatic and heart-warming.

I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

3. Fire Of Love ★★★★1/2

A fascinating documentary that’s both exciting and poetic, romantic and philosophical.

An experience that I enjoyed from the start to its poignant ending.

2. Everything Everywhere All At Once ★★★★1/2

Added to the Kung Fu fighting and humour there’s also a good foundation to the family drama so I had a good giggle, got a little teary, and was pleasantly surprised by edgy concepts held together with the use of chapters to give the movie structure.

If you’re reading this review, you’re more than likely going to go watch it and I highly recommend it: go watch it.

1. The Forgiven ★★★★1/2

Based on the novel written by Lawrence Osborne, the complicated idea of this abrasive Englishman willing to leave with the nomadic father of the boy he has just killed is the beginning of the unpacking of his complicated nature.

I’m a huge fan of John Michael McDonagh’s previous films, greatly enjoyed and included in my, ‘If you haven’t watched, you’re in for a treat,’ list: ‘The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014) and like these previous films, The Forgiven is a quality film that will stay with you.

The Fabelmans

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆

Rated: MThe Fabelmans

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner

Produced by: Kristie Macosko Krieger p.g.a, Steven Spielberg p.g.a, Tony Kushner p.g.a

Executive Produced by: Carla Raij, Josh McLaglen

Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBell and Judd Hirsch.

‘Movies are dreams.’

I think we can all safely assume, The Fabelmans is based on Steven Spielberg’s life.

Co-writer and director, I thought it was risky trying to get the right perspective to make a film about your own life.  Yet, I couldn’t help but be charmed by this movie.

Put together over 16 years of interviews and ‘intense conversations and writing sessions that Spielberg only half-jokingly likens to “therapy,” Spielberg with playwright and screenwriter, Tony Kushner, ‘turned the defining experiences of his childhood into the fiction of The Fabelmans.’

Spielberg says, ‘Everything that a filmmaker puts him or herself into, even if it’s somebody else’s script, your life is going to come spilling out onto celluloid, whether you like it or not. It just happens. But with The Fabelmans, it wasn’t about the metaphor; it was about the memory.’

Opening in 1952, we see young Sam (Gabriel LaBelle) taken to his first moving picture.

He’s terrified.

His mother, Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams) is enthusiastic.

His father, Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano) decides explaining the mechanics behind the film will make the watching less scary.

The Greatest Movie Ever Made is kinda scary for a kid, with train crashes and smashed cars flying through the air.

The Fabelman’s is a little hammy, with a forced brightness at the introduction.

Yet Sammy’s obsession with film starts right here.  In understanding and recreating that train wreck.  To regain control.

What starts with a 50s disposable charm, becomes something more.

It’s a coming-of-age film but also shines a light on the parents: the difficulties of marriage, of being an individual, of being free.  Of knowing yourself.

It’s cheesy, funny, edgy and brilliant in the way the characters are revealed; the timing and sometimes raw emotion eased into existence so this family of: genius father, artistic mother, always-along-for-the-ride best friend Bennie (Seth Rogen), the three sisters and film making obsessed son, begins like a carbon copy to become an ocean.  All to the music of Mitzi playing piano, flamboyant 50s jive, or the orchestral soundtrack of a film made by the young Sam, his eye always there, his understanding of effects learned like a revelation, his ability to draw emotion from his young actors made like an understanding of his own.

The whole drama of the film crept up on me, with small pops of humour like luggage falling from the back of a trailer or Uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch) home to grieve his dead sister (Sam’s grandmother), telling Sam, ‘She was your grandmother, so tear your clothes and sleep on the floor.’

I write notes during a movie to help keep track, to remember for my review later.  And sometimes, when it’s a good movie, it sounds like this:

Moving pictures

Sleeping with an oscilloscope

Jesus is sexy

Shopping trollies spinning by

Everything happens for a reason

Something real not imaginary

Arizona

Metaphoric filming of a family falling apart

Thinking like an engineer

Movies are dreams you never forget

The audience clapping at the ending.

I kinda fell in love with The Fabelmens because there was something genuine in the feeling, the characters rounded-out without slapping the face with it.

And the audience clapping at a preview screening?  That’s a rare treat.

 

Blueback

Rated: PGBlueback

Directed by: Robert Connolly

Written by: Robert Connolly

Based on the Book Blueback by: Tim Winton

Additional Writing: Tim Winton

Composer: Nigel Westlake

Produced by: Liz Kerney, James Grandison and Robert Connolly

Executive Producers: Andrew Myer, Robert Patterson, Eric Bana, Joel Pearlman, Joanna Baevski, Ricci Swart, Lorraine Tarabay, Nicolas Langley, Hayley Ballie, James Baillie, Michele Turnure-Salleo, Arthur Humphrey

Starring: Mia Wasikowsk, Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg, Liz Alexander, Ariel Donoghue, Clarence Ryan, Pedrea Jackson, Eric Thomson, Eddie Baroo and Eric Bana.

‘I’ll keep him safe forever.’

Abby grew up in the water.  She lived on the coast with her mother who fought every day to save Longboat Bay (filmed on the coast of Western Australia, Bremer Bay) from overfishing, dredging, destruction.

We’re introduced to the underwater world with a classical soundtrack (Nigel Westlake), the world of light through the blue water reflecting off a school of fish swimming, a stingray, a turtle.  It’s majestic.

But with the discovery of bleached coral and Dora (young mother, Dora played by Radha Mitchell) chaining herself to bulldozers in protest, I thought I was heading into the doom and gloom of a bleak conservationist movie.  So that underwater world took on a sinister aspect.

It’s a slow start.

Based the Tim Winton book, Blueback, there’s the classic Aussie way of life that threads the story of Blueback together: the school drop-off, the lovable Aussie larrikin Mad Macca (Eric Bana).

The coast, the water, the beach, the marine life is such a large part of being Australian there’s a reason we want to keep it, to protect it.

To give the marine life focus, Abby (teenage Abby played by, Ilsa Fogg) discovers a huge Blue Groper she names, Blueback.

He’s old and wise but he comes out of his underwater cave to play because he feels safe with her.  And Abby will do anything to protect Blueback.

See below for more information about the beautiful and fascinating Blue Groper.

Fish in focus – Western Blue Groper | Western Australian Museum

The film evolves with flashbacks to Abby’s childhood (Ariel Donoghue as young Abby), growing up to a teenager with her mum.  Born to be in the water, Abby becomes a professor (Mia Wasikowska as adult Abby) of marine biology, to continue to protect the wildlife she loves. Like Blueback.

‘Your home is dying, and I don’t know how to help.’

But there’s more to the tale than the message of how important it is to save our oceans, the story’s also about growing up, about home and what it means to be born with the ocean in your blood.

I couldn’t help but become attached to the life on the screen.

I admit to getting teary.  In a good way.

Yes, it took a while to get into the story but there’s a difference here because instead of a bleak climate change message, I left the cinema feeling good.  Feeling, hopeful.  And we all need a bit of hope these days.

 

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

Rated: PGPuss In Boots: The Last Wish

Directed by: Joel Crawford

Story by: Tommy Swerdlow and Tom Wheeler

Screenplay by: Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow

Produced by: Mark Swift, p.g.a

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Olivia Colman, Harvey Guillén, Samson Kayo, Anthony Mendez, Wagner Moura, John Mulaney, Florence Pugh, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ray Winstone.

‘Puss In Boots is never afraid.’

He’s a fearless hero loved by all, most especially himself.

Puss (Antonio Banderas) has nine lives.  But how many times has Puss in Boots died?

Thinking back there’s the card cheating death, the I can fly death… To name a few.  He thinks, four?

No, it’s eight.

And now with a bounty on his head, nothing new, there’s a red-eyed wolf (Wagner Moura) tracking him that actually stands a chance at defeating the, until now charmed, Puss.

For the first time, this fearless ginger cat that can sing, dance and wield a sword like the best of them, feels his fur rise.

The red-eyed bounty hunter can smell his hear.

Puss in Boots, for once in his many lives, is afraid.

The Last Wish is another colourful explosion from DreamWorks; a side story to the Shrek Universe, the film is also introduced as a fairy tale.

And like the Shrek films, it’s a fairy tale with a difference: Goldilocks now Goldi and her three bears, Little Jack Horner now Big Jack Horner.  Although, he still tastes pies by using his big thumb.

And then there’s the wishing star that falls from space to the earth.

To find the star is to find one last wish (hence the title) to be granted by the one who finds the star.

Everyone wants that wish.

Except for Perrito (Harvey Guillén).  He’s a deranged chuahua who’s ridiculously happy with his lot in life when he really shouldn’t be.

Then there’s the old flame of Puss, Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek Pinault).  She has her reasons.

And of course, Puss, who for the first time appreciating that his life may end, wants to wish to start his nine lives all over again.

That’s the foundation and running thread through the story – to be happy with what you have, to enjoy the one life given.

It’s all a bit sweet, Perrito, AKA the wanna-be-therapy-dog, hilarious.

But the humour didn’t always hit the mark for me.

There’s some adult moments with Puss not wanting to be a lap cat, his descent into the domesticated life of a pet illustrated to the soundtrack of, ‘The Doors’, This is The End.

And that red-eyed bounty hunter is genuinely creepy.  In a good way.

The trio of SoftPaws, Puss and Perrito has a good dynamic to get through the challenges on their quest for that last wish; so the story although simple at times worked and sometimes not.

The twist of the traditional fairy tale characters didn’t always tickle: Goldi (Florance Pugh) and her three bear crime family just didn’t get there; although sweet, it was all a bit annoying.

My nephew and I agree on 3 1/2 stars: a good movie overall with explosive animation and not always funny bits.

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