Writing

First Man has its faire share of explosions and loud soundscapes, as you’d expect from any film depicting the space race. If you have numerous rocket launches on film, you need sound to create that cinematic realism, and lots of it. The opening scene depicting Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong as he completes his journey in the X-15 aircraft sets us up for an action-orientated adventure of booms and blasts. 

Continue reading “Minimalist Moments: First Man”

– The first image of a cruise ship confirms that we’ll be leaving the land of the original film and heading into the deep depths of the sea for a decent portion of the movie. Does a character meet their watery demise?

Continue reading “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Teaser Trailer”

What is a meme film, you ask? You remember that image of Nicolas Cage meme, right? The one where he’s got crazy huge eyes, exaggerated eyebrows and a general super sarcastic facial expression? You probably know it. However, do you know what film it’s from? Probably not (it’s from Vampire’s Kiss, if you’re interested. If you’re not, that’s cool). One of the most entertaining elements of memes is their frequent lack of context, allowing the meme creator to put a wide range of text on that static image.

Continue reading “The Lorax at 10: A Meme Film”

At this point in George Miller’s eclectic career, the idea of a film revolving around a woman swapping tales with an oversized, elemental spirit over cups of tea is pretty standard. The trailer’s proud announcement that the film derives from Miller’s ‘mad genius’ should be a subtle hint. Bear in mind this is the man who, before his most recent, revered Mad Max: Fury Road, directed tales about a talking penguin trying to find his place in his pack through interpretative dance (Happy Feet) and a talking pig attempting to make its way through the urban landscape, where he finds a bubble gum-blowing monkey, a bunch of gangster dogs, singing mice, a kitten with stomach problems and a fish doing a low-brow Dustin Hoffman impression from Midnight Cowboy(Babe: Pig in the City). These are just a few things I gleaned from the trailer; I can’t claim to have seen this piggy masterpiece yet.

Continue reading “Review: Three Thousand Years of Longing”

A pair of eyes, wide, enraptured and shocked, stare at an unknown scene. A gunshot is heard. A rapid beeping sound plays, and a woman’s impassioned scream breaks through the soundscape. We cut to the slow-motion images of a man framed from the back as he is shot down amidst a crowd of terrified citizens. The beeping sound fades away. A voice is heard over the airport monitor, before an emotive violin plays as the woman comes into the viewer’s sight. As the man crashes to the floor, the camera finally reveals that these eyes belong to a young boy. The dying man’s hand reaches up to touch the woman’s face, and she takes his wrist with both hands. We finally cut back to the upset child, panning in on his face. The monitor voice blends into a number as the image transitions to Bruce Willis’ prisoner, whose name we don’t yet know.

Continue reading “Minimalist Moments: 12 Monkeys”