I had to go way back to find when I had last reviewed a movie (it was HERE if you’re interested), and thought it was high time that I caught up though to be fair its been a fairly slow start on the movie watching front.
So here we go!
April 6th, 1917. As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
I have been fascinated by WWI for as long as I can remember, mostly because of family stories of my Papa (my Dad’s Dad) lying about his age in 1916 and running off to join the Seaforth Highlanders, and my Great-Uncle John being killed in August 1918 when he was only 20 years old. I have read a great deal about the subject and will always look favourably on related movies, so going to see 1917 was always going to happen.
We saw it at IMAX which was quite an experience – beautifully put together and very moving while not shying away from the horrors of war and full of well known British actors in small but important roles. If any members of my family experienced even a quarter of the stuff we saw on screen then no wonder they never wanted to talk about it.
Directed by Sam Mendes, 1917 is almost 2 hrs long and rated 15 for strong injury detail, language
A high-school boy who has run away to Tokyo befriends a girl who appears to be able to manipulate the weather.
Another beautiful Japanese animation with magical realism, star-crossed lovers and astonishing art. It’s just a lovely film and strongly recommended.
Directed by Makoto Shinkai, it’s 1h 52 long, rated 12A for moderate violence, threat, sex references. We saw the version dubbed into English
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Henceforth to be known as BoP etc.
After splitting with the Joker, HQ joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress & Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.
This was an absolute hoot. Bright and loud with very strong female leads. Margo Robbie is an absolute delight and as I said here previously sleazy Ewan McGregor is the best Ewan McGregor. Everyone looked like they were having a ball but not to the detriment of the film. Harley Quinn is one of my favourite DC characters and was the best thing in Suicide Squad by several orders of magnitude. I hope there will be more appearances by her on the big screen.
Directed by Cathy Yan, BoP etc. is a lively 1h 49m long and of course rated 15 for strong violence, injury detail, language, sexual threat
Set in a suburban fantasy world two teenage elf brothers embark on a quest to discover if there is still magic out there
I try not to miss a Pixar movie and this looked like fun so off we went on our last outing before Coronavirus struck and I’m so glad we did this was such a lovely film. I knew very little about it beforehand so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s about family and love and loss, brothers and sons and dads and very cool Mums. I liked the relationship between the two brothers – it was cool without being super sickly sweet and avoided the standard hating each other until the point that they don’t. All of the quest stuff was great fun.
This is an early but strong contender for this year’s New Year’s Eve feel-good movie.
Directed by Dan Scanlon, it’s 1h 42 long and rated U for mild fantasy threat, very mild bad language
It’s Batman, Jim, but not as we know it. Or as IMDB would have it: