Calvary

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Cicely

Wow this is a pretty grim film. Anchored by a great lead character and always tinged with humour the story portrays a rather depressing world as seen through a character with hope and forgiveness.

John Michael McDonagh was able to create a fantastic and hilarious character study with Brendan Gleeson the first time around in The Guard. Here, his sights are much larger and the cast of fascinating characters is greater as well.

The set up is almost like an old school western. A ticking clock is set for a showdown between a goodly priest and an unknown community member. And as the days pass by the tension increases. We get a look at the town and various people/suspects in it. Each one dealing with a misery of their own, the Priest helping out as best he can, whilst also dealing with his own problem.

I found it a captivating and through provoking drama. It's pretty angry at the world but there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I think...

The Emperor's New Groove

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Sebastian

Write Up.

It's fun you guys. Good fun.

Frank

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

An odd but cute little story with a cool cast and some funny music. The story is really slight but the characters are fun. There's really not much more to it than that. But it's kinda fun.

Theatre of Blood

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

An old school Shakespearean actor takes revenge on the group of critics who gave him terrible reviews, killing them one by one using the various murders from the text as inspiration, with the help of some drunk hobos. 

There's really nothing more to the film, other than watching Vincent Price revel in getting to purposefully play a terribly hammy actor. It's very tongue in cheek and some parts are quite fun, although ultimately not that fulfilling.

22 Jump Street

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Andrew

I really loved the first film and the second time around is just as fun. They take the self-referentially up a notch, not just making a point about how sequels fail and their lack of a budget, but also at romantic comedies in general.

Whilst they make a point about them telling the exact same story again, the jokes are fresh and the pace is swift. In general it feels less fresh than the original but it was still plenty of fun. And perhaps my favourite part were the amazing end credits, which make a strong case that they don't want to do any more sequels. There's also a very short scene right at the end of the credits but you'll have to decide if it's worth it to stay through or not.

Anyone that's ever studied story structure or screenplay writing will get a kick out of how the lampoon the rules here. And for the rest of you theres still ridiculous comic action and characters to enjoy. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have delivered their first sequel and it's very good, but hopefully they won't have to do any more, I think they've kind of exhausted the gags now.

Reality Bites

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No

I only have very vague memories of this, so the recent bluray release prompted a rematch. I can see why I forgot most of it. I do like the cast, and there's some funny lines. If i'd grown up with this one I could see why it'd illicit fond memories. But I didn't. This love triangle/coming of age in the 90's story doesn't offer much more than that and a fun soundtrack.

Noroi: The Curse

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

After exhausting all the usual ghost stories we've started seeking out the more obscure titles. This one has come up in a few lists as a forgotten gem, and as an added bonus, it's from the hey-day for J-horror. Plus it's found footage. It magically ticks all 3 boxes.

As an added bonus, part of the "found footage" is from Japanese television broadcasts, which are just inherently hilarious.

There's a cool unfolding mystery here and apart from one too many looks to camera, the found footage aspect works well. Although they don't trust the audience to pick up any of the subtle background scares so there's a lot of repetition with push ins to spooky figures in the backgrounds of scenes.

There's definitely some spooky stuff here and it held my attention. I didn't find it completely effective but it was a fun watch.