Netflix movies have been gradually moving up the movie food chain. From the outrage that surrounded Beast of No Nation‘s Oscar snub, to recent awards darling, Roma, scooping up the majority of the awards and nominations at most shows, it’s easy to see that Netflix isn’t a foe to be ignored. Their latest release, High Flying Bird, directed by Steven Soderbergh of Erin Brockovich fame, and written by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight), it isn’t hard to expect quite a lot from this movie.
It follows Ray, a sports agent, as he navigates an NBA lockout with his rookie client, Erick. With a star-studded cast and a team that is, arguably, overqualified to orchestrate such a simple plot, Netflix looks as though they’re onto a winner. Continue reading
Watching Home Again is an experience akin to drinking an entire bottle of a Muscat-Blanc. It’s deliciously sweet and gets you all giddy to begin with but ultimately you’re going to wake up with a head-ache. The debut feature from Hallie Meyers-Shyer, daughter of the genre empress Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, continues the family tradition of the perky female rom-com with a keen eye for soft furnishings and pristine kitchen-ware.
It’s always a worry when a production company feels the need to force feed you the fact that a big-name is in a relatively minor role. In the case of Alita: Battle Angel, 20th Century Fox have been hammering home the fact that James Cameron is involved in a Producer capacity.
Here I thought we had seen the final Final Destination. Evidently, that was not true as Velvet Buzzsaw has made its way to Netflix, with a surprisingly huge amount of talent both in front of and behind the camera including the acting talents of Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, and Daveed Diggs, as well as the directorial and writing strengths of Dan Gilroy, who most people know of his Nightcrawler fame
Of all the oddly specific sub-genres out there my personal favourite is, without a doubt, the “boy and his (insert strange creature that they befriend here)” coming-of-age film. In these films a child, usually a boy but sometimes a girl, finds a strange fantasy or science-fiction creature that is not of this world who they form an unlikely bond with.