Movies – The Watchman: Recent Episodes
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At the time no one knew the full story of the trouble behind the scenes on 2017’s Justice League. The rumour mill ran wild with stories of the irresistible force of the director versing the immovable object of the micromanaging studio. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/9003856-how-the-fans-saved-justice-league.mp3 It’s incredibly confusing seeing Zack Snyder credited as the director of that movie when we now know that he stepped away due to a family tragedy and was replaced by Joss Whedon. As time went by, more stories surfaced about how Whedon had rewrote and re-shot large chunks of the film and the studio having their way with the production with Snyder out of the picture. Whedon was tasked with lightening the tone of the movie after some pretty ordinary reviews of Snyder’s previous Batman v Superman movie. These days it’s referred to as Josstice League. Total bummer dudes… The end result for Justice league was a $300 million lemon that turned Henry Cavill’s upper lip into a bigger joke than sad Ben Affleck… Fans were all a bit sad Affleck after that… The disappointment grew and with it stories of another version of the film, almost complete, that was much [...]
Uncut Gems marks the best performance of Adam Sandler’s career but, for some reason, the people behind the Oscars didn’t think he deserved to be nominated. Some comedians do drama better than most accomplished actors and that doesn’t impress the Academy, find out why in this movie review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/3367498-uncut-gems-sandler-stuns-in-flawless-flick.mp3 Adam Sandler may have been snubbed by the Oscars this year for his performance in Uncut Gems but it didn’t stop him from having the last laugh when he won best actor at the Independent Spirit awards. It’s a great speech, watch the video review to see some highlights. Some comedians are notoriously good at delivering some great dramatic performances. The gold standard would have to be the late and eternally great Robin WIlliams in films like Dead Poets Society and Good will Hunting. This is not some kind of phenomena, as people would be led to believe, and more related to a skill set. Not all comedians successfully transition to drama, for example you’re never gonna see Jerry Seinfeld in something like Awakenings or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. For the ones that do make it, it comes down to their [...]
Colour Out Of Space is the first feature film that Stanley has made in 20 years, find out what put him into into exile and why it took so long for him to come back in this movie review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/3129304-colour-out-of-space-the-resurrection-of-richard-stanley.mp3 Colour Out Of Space is a modern re-telling on one of HP Lovecraft’s short stories that first appeared in the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in September 1927. In fact the majority of Lovecraft’s stories featured in pulp magazines at the time and he wrote a bunch of them to turn a quick buck. Poor old Howard Philips Lovecraft didn’t have much of a life, succumbing to intestinal cancer at the young age of 46 he died a poor, bitter and quite racist bastard. When you talk about posthumous success, there’s not many who can match Lovecraft. There’s no denying his legacy and the tentacles of his influence can be felt in loads of modern horror. With writers like Stephen King and Alan Moore and in films like The Thing, Alien, Underwater, The Lighthouse and countless others. A lost soul Much like Lovecraft director Richard Stanley is no stranger to suffering for [...]
The Invisible Man is an Australian made film that encourages our local industry to grow up and get with the times. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2980360-the-invisible-man-clearly-good-for-aussie-industry.mp3 The Invisible Man is also another attempt from Universal Pictures to breathe new life into their monsters franchise and it looks like they’ve got it right this time thanks to a deal with the highly credible Blumhouse, a great cast and an extremely talented director. Director Leigh Whannell is one of Australia’s best directors right now. He’s last couple of films have him looking like a modern day Hitchcock. But like all good Australian artists we had to send him away to achieve that status, instead of supporting him over here. A home grown tragedy That is the shit thing about how the mainstream media and the government in this country perceive the arts community. It happens with music and it happens even more with film. Unless you’re making the next Top End Wedding, Ride Like a Girl or Storm Boy you’ve got buckley’s of being supported and you’re forced to either fuck off overseas to make it big or die trying. It’s because of this attitude they have of [...]
Underwater seems to be one those movies the studios didn’t know what to do with, so they released it during a dump month, find out why it ended up being better than expected in this review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2879833-underwater-underrated.mp3 Dump months are where studios like to put out films that they deem as excrement based on test screenings, movies with an unknown cast or more genre flicks like teen films and an old and reliable favourite, horror. Why are January and February considered dump months? Because they come right after the time where distributors force feed us films they think are going to be the best in terms of critical success, when people are far more frivolous with their money. Other factors include things like the awards season and NFL playoffs. Dump months have given us some shockers—Bio Dome, Electra, Body of Evidence—but there have been some exceptions like Tremors, Get Out and From Dusk Till Dawn. Meet their makers Underwater is the last film to be released under the 20th Century Fox name since they were conquered by Disney and changed to 20th Century Studios, heralding the end of an era for the [...]
Find out why Bad Boys is better off without Michael Bay in this movie review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2784016-bad-boys-become-old-men.mp3 It’s been well over 20 years since Hollywood’s favourite moron Michael Bay released his all style and no substance buddy cop flick Bad Boys. One thing is certain, Bay has a well worn formula that he sticks to. Bad Boys 2 was pretty similar to Bad Boys 1 and if you haven’t seen either, or any of Michael Bay’s movies for that matter, you can replicate the experience by drinking about 30 Red Bulls, standing in front of a strobe light and beating yourself over the head with a plank of wood. Who made it? Thankfully, he’s passed the torch to directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and the franchise is better for it, although he does make a small cameo appearance in the film, just to ensure his taint lingers ever so slightly. Now these guys weren’t the first choice to step into our favourite director with ADHDs shoes. Joe Carnahan of Narc and The Grey fame was originally lined up for the gig in 2015 but left the project in 2018 because of [...]
The impact of The Lighthouse has been undeniable. It has received high praise from critics and sparked many a conversation among art cinephiles about the layers of subtext that lies within. But is it any good? Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2724073-the-lighthouse-arthouse-or-shithouse.mp3 It’s complicated Art polarises people. It gets them talking. It is open to interpretation and often debated by critics far removed from the creator, sometimes with little clue as to what the artist’s vision ever was. That is certainly the case with The Lighthouse. No one is going to argue that it’s not good art, because art itself can’t really be measured like that. It’s more about the way art communicates with us. The x factor is the individual, who they are and where they are at when they receive that communication. The Lighthouse communicates by abusing itself, the characters and the audience. By getting drunk. shouting like a fuckwit on talk like a pirate day, masturbating, shouting again, and then falling into a heap of ejaculate, tears and seagull shit. Who made it? This is director Robert Egger’s second feature film and the follow up from 2015’s The VVitch, a supernatural period horror film that [...]
Parasite is the latest film from Korean Director Bong Joon Ho, find out why it’s caused such a stir among pundits behind major awards in this review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2669911-parasite-moving-in-and-taking-over-the-awards-season.mp3 Korean Cinema is an excellent go to for the jaded cinema goer. There’s some great films like Oldboy, The Host, The Chaser and Train to Busan that are well worth your time and better than a lot of the swill that comes from the States. When short on inspiration, the US has looked to South Korean Cinema to remake their films for audiences too lazy to read and watch at the same time. They did it with Oldboy and recently Train to Busan was in the middle of a bidding war between studios keen for a US remake. The rise of South Korean Cinema It all kicked off in the mid 1940’s after World War 2 with themes of freedom and liberation permeating their content, however once the Korean War started in the early 50s that got shut down fairly quickly. During the mid 50’s right up to the early 70s the industry experienced a golden age, that was subject to heavy censorship from [...]
Find out why Sam Mendes’ World War 1 epic 1917 is an awards season favourite in this review. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2612557-1917-is-it-genius-or-just-a-gimmick.mp3 Mendes is no slouch when it comes to quality filmmaking, an Oscar on debut with American Beauty, a couple of Bond films, Road to Perdition and Jarhead to name a few. 1917 however is his most audacious and visually impressive film to date. 1917 is has been crafted to look like it has been shot in one continuous take, which makes the film incredibly immersive. Think the Copacabana scene from Goodfellas sustained for an entire movie. While it’s not the first time this technique has been applied—check out movies like Rope and Birdman or do a quick search of IMDB—it might be the most impressive application of the technique thus far. A quick history lesson There’s two key events that inform the story for this movie. The allies push to drive the Germans back from the Western Front and the Germans decision to fortify themselves at the Hindenberg line. At the time the French Army were straining against the advance of the Germans, which lead to the British Army assuming an even greater [...]
You can’t talk about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker without talking about The Last Jedi, for it is here that a major disturbance in the Star Wars fanbase was fully realised. Watch the video: Listen to the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/111980/2386124-the-rise-of-skywalker-fan-service-or-forced-apology.mp3 When older fans expressed their dislike for it, it was a shock to hear some people say that Star Wars was no longer for a particular generation and that it was time to grow up and move on. Because Star Wars, has always been for everyone. After The Last Jedi came out people were split down the middle, they either loved it or utterly hated it. There was all this talk of social justice, inclusion, diversity, entitled feminism and “toxic fandom”. Suddenly Star Wars wasn’t for everyone at all, it had turned into a politicised mess and the arguments raged across social media. Sure, fans had squabbled in the past that prequel trilogy could have been a lot better. They came to terms with George Lucas’ obsessive tinkering, where the ghastly 90s CGI he dumped all over the original trilogy did not date nearly as well as the old practical effects. However, these minor gripes had minimal effect on [...]