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The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)
Gorgeous wee film
I just got back from watching this and I loved it! There weren't many people in our showing. There was like one couple in front of me and a group of boys behind. I hope this movie makes a decent amount of money back.
I know it's a given for the show, but this movie was SO well animated. I was in complete awe from the off. I haven't been this impressed by hand drawn animation since The Illusionist. All the poses and dance scenes were so great and the music was wonderful too.
I really liked how they managed to keep things reined in with Gene, Louise and Tina's subplots. They didn't stray too far away from the main story, and even though Gene and Tina didn't get a whole lot to do, it didn't feel like their stories fall by the wayside. As for the main story itself, I liked that it was pretty small scale in its scope. There was a wee part of me that wanted a bit more from the last act (I was surprised when we learn who the killer is way earlier than I thought) but what we have is good.
I love me some Mr. Fischoeder and he gets some amazing lines in this.
The Great North (2021)
A familiar but cosy cartoon
So, I have finished watching Season 1 of The Great North and as I've reached as far as I can on UK Disney+ I thought I would do a little review. Going into this show I had very little knowledge of the creators past work. I had only started watching Bob's Burgers for the first time this year. Central Park I have really enjoyed, but that was its own thing. I wasn't sure of what style of humour I was in for as I went into the pilot episode.
Well, it wasn't a great first impression initially, but pilots rarely nail it right off the bat. The humour was very gentle, maybe a little sparse. Quite fast paced. It's easy to miss a couple of jokes in there sometimes because everyone talks quite fast. I didn't really laugh out loud during the first episode, mainly a smile here or there.
That didn't really change during the rest of my watch through season 1. I think the jokes got better as the season went on, but it never quite broke into full on laughing territory. I did like how much the family cared for one another, and that proved to be the strongest aspect of the show for me. It's got a lot of heart.
I was iffy early on on some of the individual characters and their designs, particularly Beef Tobin. I thought he was a rather dull character in both appearance and personality but I grew to like him more in time. I really liked Judy and Hams relationship as twins. Wolf and Honey Bee were cute together, particularly in the last episode of the season and I'm still not sure how to feel about Moon yet. Will have to give it more time.
One thing I loved about this show is that everyone is dealing with the aftermath of the mum having left them at the beginning of the pilot and that comes back into play near the end, which I was glad to see and it hit quite a close spot to me. It really made me care about them all by the time season 1 wrapped up.
I'll come back to this review once I've finished season 2, but I'll just say give this a watch if you're looking for a nice wee laidback show.
Friendship's Death (1987)
Unique film, for better and worse
I bought the BFI rerelease Blu-ray (which apparently came out earlier this year) yesterday not knowing much about the movie other than it being one of Tilda Swinton's earliest roles and the cover looked suitably sci-fi. What I got was something else entirely.
The blurb describes Tilda Swinton's character Friendship as "an extraterrestrial... on a peace mission to Earth" who accidentally lands in war-torn Jordan in 1970 before meeting a Scottish war correspondent called Sullivan. I assumed then that it would begin with the two of them meeting for the first time and go from there but this doesn't happen. They have already met and are friends when the movie starts. This was the first sign I was in for a different kind of story than I bargained for.
If I had to describe what this film feels like, I'd say it feels like watching a stage play with one set. There's little in the way of immediate action or an overarching story to speak of, it's mainly Friendship and Sullivan talking to each other in their respective hotel rooms as we move through the month of September. Friendship talks about the things they've seen since arriving on Earth and world weary Sullivan talks about human nature. This is presented in a way similar to a historical documentary with very slight story elements scattered here and there. We will have a scene where the two talk while gunfire erupts outside and then it'll fade to black and the next scene in a different part of the hotel room will begin. This film puts a lot onto the shoulders of the actors to carry it through and thankfully they deliver.
At least Tilda Swinton does, she makes you believe in what she's saying and that she's from another world. Bill Paterson feels like he's reading from the script while he's performing. His performance consists of him drinking Whiskey, talking about territory and being somewhat interested in Friendships background.
There's a scene later on in the movie that has a peculiar payoff where Sullivan steals some of Friendships translator equipment (which are in the shape of long hexagon cylinders) and they begin to emit noise while he's trying to sleep. He gets Friendship and admits he took them, and Friendship gives one to him to keep as a gift. Later on, Sullivan's daughter at home takes Friendships translator device and has it translated to videotape (somehow. I'm not sure. It was just a solid red cylinder before. Who did she take it to?) and we see what Friendship's impression of Earth was in the end, which is quite vague.
I can't lie and say that I was totally invested watching this film, as often it felt like people talking without any purpose, but it is unique and carried by a great performance by Tilda Swinton. It's an interesting movie, and has a weird place now on my shelf.
Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
A film I had wanted to see for a long time and it didn't disappoint
I had first heard of this film in Empire Magazine's top 500 movies of all time list in 2008 and since then I've been keeping it in the backlog until last night, when I finally sat down and watched it.
Initially, it took me a while to adjust to the real time aspect of it. I wanted to know what would happen to Cléo and when the time came up and it was only 17:22 I'd slump back in my chair. Then I realised I was getting a sense of what it was like to be Cléo in those moments, anxiously waiting for her results.
I love the moments of switching to a first person view as we walk through Parisian streets and people constantly stare at the camera. Coupled with shots that flick the mood from optimistic to troubled, like the man eating frogs or people at the diner who complain about her music being too loud on the jukebox and it just really gave you a sense of what its like to be her.
There's one scene that I think is the standout and thats when Cléo is singing that song about death and as she's singing the camera just draws in slowly and you can just see her thought process in real time. It's amazing. I was completely taken in by this scene. I love the shot at the end too, when Cléo finds out her results and you can see her thought process shining through again.
I wasn't sure what I was going to get when I sat down to watch Cléo from 5 to 7 but I ended up really enjoying watching this film. 13 years later I can say I completely agree with Empire Magazine.
Luca (2021)
A beautiful small scale Pixar movie
Saying this right up front, I really, really liked Luca. Watching it reminded me of going to Iona in the summer and meeting with one of my best friends I only ever really saw on that island. And the movie really hit a sweet spot for me with this. As most Pixar movies do, the friendship between the two main characters felt so genuine and real. Like a strong older and younger brother dynamic. I was a mess by the end.
The story is quite straightforward and simple, which I liked. Especially after Soul, which was more complicated than I think it needed to be. Seems the critical consensus out there for Luca so far is that the story is rather generic, but I loved the slower pace and lower stakes. The movie is also absolutely gorgeous, which goes without saying for Pixar, but there were truly moments where I was completely absorbed in looking at tiny details like skin textures on Lucas nose or sea foam on the ocean or the way the town is laid out. You can tell how warm it is.
There were also sequences in the movie I can say I've never seen before in a movie. Saturn surfing on the sea, Vespa riding alongside fish swimming in outer space. It felt so original and went in some directions I would never have expected.
Now the worst I can say about the movie is I didn't really like Luca's parents that much. I felt like the mum was incredibly controlling, and Marlin from Finding Nemo is like that too, but it feels like he at least knows on some level he has to let his son go sometime. Luca's mum is on the extreme end of keeping her son safe, to the point where it just felt kinda cruel. And I don't think she's fleshed out enough where it's clear why she goes to such lengths to "protect" Luca. It just feels surface level.
To go back to Marlin for a moment, he had multiple reasons to protect Nemo, not just because he cared for him, but because he made a promise to his partner. Luca's mother just explicitly says "we don't go up there, got it?" and thats that. Luca's dad I couldn't really tell what his character was, he's a bit of a bumbler. A little eccentric, but I didn't feel like he had much of a character. He was just kind of there. The parents and their scenes searching for Luca were my least favourite aspects of the movie.
In Empires review of Luca, the reviewer mentions their favourite character in the movie is weird Uncle Ugo, an anglerfish sea monster played by Sacha Baron Cohen who (and I'm just guessing here) seemed like they ad-libbed their lines. I'm not really a fan of most uses of ad-libbed material in animated movies, I feel like it takes me out of the scene a little and it certainly did here. The same thing happened when Andy Samberg voiced a Skeksis in the Dark Crystal TV show. It just became Andy Samberg riffing.
I guess it really just boils down to whether you find it funny or not. I like when its a Robin Williams playing the Genie or James Woods as Hades cause I feel like it fits better in the world? Sacha Baron Cohen feels like he was brought on to do the the voice just cause its SBC. It just doesn't feel like that style of humour fits in with the rest of the movie unless the whole movie has that style of humour? But thats just how I felt during it. It was taking me out of the movie a little. I was like, "Ah, theres Sacha Baron Cohen".
But once the movie got onto dry land and away from the parents and Uncle Ugo it got so much better! And the soundtrack, my god! I loved the soundtrack in Soul, but I thought the music in this added so much to the scenes. The ending hit so much more from the score at the end.
So ultimately, this whole review is to say I really liked Luca, way more than I was expecting to and it felt good to reaffirm (once again) how much I love Pixar films. Not all Pixar films hit, but I think this one does and it's worth a watch. I wish I saw it in a huge cinema.
First Cow (2019)
Both interesting and slightly infuriating
This movie is not for those with little patience. You can see this in the opening scenes and how long they last, lingering for just a little bit longer than you would normally expect. I loved the setting, the characters and the friendship that grew between Cookie and King-lu. That relationship between the two of them felt like it had the proper time to grow. I just wanted to see more of the side characters. I wanted to see more of the Scotsman, more of the guy carrying around the baby, more of the old man raven guy. I felt both that the movie ended just when it was really starting to get good with the chase. It was interesting that it ended when it did though. Felt like a movie that I might appreciate more with time, and a different headspace, but I felt right there in the cinema that it was too drawn out and that it was too long overall. Some scenes dragged but loved moments of it. Like when Toby Jones's character said the baking reminded him of home. And when King-lu came back to find Cookie in the hut and they hugged. Theres a lot of heart in this movie, and I feel like I might like it more as time goes on. But watch only if you're prepared to strap yourself in for a long one.
The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)
A solid adventure movie
A good start, loved the artwork at the beginning and the story unfolding afterwards. It was nothing extraordinary, but set the scene well for the rest of the movie. I also liked how those who hadn't been knighted would disappear, which I thought was used well during the getaway driving sequence. They didn't use this idea to that effect again though, which I felt was a bit of a missed opportunity. I also thought once they had done their training sequence and bonded more with the two bullies that the film began to sag a bit. Thats not to say I didn't enjoy the travelling around the countryside scenes, because I did. It just felt rather slight after a certain point. I was glad to see the 1st fight with Morgana wasn't the last, because that whole sequence was a bit underwhelming, but the following school fight was good, and so were the mixing of all the British elements and knights stuff. If I had any other complaints, its probably that the villain was a bit lacking, but on the whole it was an enjoyable movie. Bedders was adorable.
Close Enough (2020)
Looking forward to another season!
I really like the groundwork laid down by this show already, it's packed with some particular real-world problems you don't see often in many cartoons but theres otherworldly elements added into the mix. I loved "The Perfect House", it was a good early indicator what to expect from the rest of the season and I love the relationship that Emily and Josh have as parents trying to juggle their responsibilities while seemingly not being ready to grow up. Theres some great wee moments in here that have me excited for more to come.
If I had any gripes about the show, it would be a familiar pattern in a few episodes where either Josh or Emily feel old and rebel against the status quo, only for things to reset back to normal after they realise that this is what they want in life. This isn't to say that this particular storyline can't be done more than once but it felt a little repetitive after a while.
Despite that however, I really enjoyed watching this show and recommend giving it a go.