a blog about a lot of things

As always, a giant list. The first 10 can be pretty much interchangeable depending on my mood. 21.  John Wick (2014) - Directed by  Chad Stalehski . Written by  Derek Kolstad.   Keanu Reeves already had experience as the face of an action franchise but it's possible in the future that we remember more for John Wick than as Neo. A film that came out of almost nowhere and managed to simultaneously be a homage and a way forward for action movies. Building off of an extensive source of knowledge of the films of John Woo, Jean Pierre Melville, anime and spaghetti westerns, it's the closest anyone has come to replicating the Gun-Fu Hong Kong classics. The well crafted world of John Wick keeps expanding too, with even more additions to the series in the works. Long may it continue. 22.  Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Directed by  Denis Villeneuve . Written by  Michael Green  and  Hampton Fancher.   A sequel to one of the mos...

Best Picture Most likely winner : La La Land. A heavy favourite and much has been written about the race between La La Land and Moonlight for the best Picture prize as representative of the two types of movies that pick up Oscars. La La Land is a backward looking film in the sense that it draws heavily on the history of film and is influenced by the past. It is a good film and despite having a bit of a backlash recently on its treatment of jazz and its female protagonist, it is a spectacle in every sense of the word. Backup Pick : Moonlight. The best odds on this right now are 9/2 which is enough for second favourite but not really close ( La La Land is at 1/9). While La La Land is backward looking and a film about the movies and making movies, Moonlight is a far more unique film. It isn't an original story or even an uncommon one; but it is a rarely portrayed one. Films in African-American communities that have a heavy drug component are common but too often cliche. ...

La La Land: A review La La Land has recently won 7 awards at the Golden Globes, breaking the record for most wins by a film in a single ceremony. The diversity of the awards it has won at the Globes (if you take awards seriously, which can be a bit of a personal choice) suggests its strong on a number of fronts. By winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay as well as both lead awards for acting and the awards for score and song, it is reasonable to assume there’s quality in every aspect of the film. And this would be correct.  It’s Damien Chazelle’s third film and once again has jazz as one of its central themes. I would love to say that music is the driving force behind this film but because the script and acting is so strong, it’s hard to really make that case. But make no mistake, the songs (it is a musical, after all) and the score play a tremendous part in setting up the world of the film. The film is a musical romantic comedy and it’s extremely rar...