Category: Based on a book or true story
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Indie Documentary Review – Funny Pains (2020)
E.B. White once said, “Analysing humour is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.” And that is always a problem when it comes to documentaries about comedy, comedians, or humour in general. Either there are a lot of funny performance scenes, or a lot of serious talking heads…
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New Movie Review – Ammonite
I walked into Ammonite thinking I was going to enjoy it — and I wasn’t disappointed. I had my hopes up based purely on the cast; Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, and Fiona Shaw. I don’t think I’ve seen anything with those actors in that I haven’t enjoyed, and they were all on top…
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Indie Documentary Review – J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius
First glance at J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius and I thought I was in for a satirical comedy at the expense of the multifarious religious groups that proliferate in the USA. Then I thought it was going to be a documentary about one of those weird denominations and its congregation. Turns out that J.R.…
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RunPee Weekly Newsletter 30th edition (October 7th, 2020)
The app that tells you the best time to run and pee during a movie without missing the best scenes. Release dates keep slipping back Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “Blockbuster movie gets a new release date” RunPee News Movie Review – Enola Holmes Enola is Sherlock’s younger — and more…
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Indie Documentary Review – Red, White & Wasted
For the first ten minutes or so of Red, White & Wasted I was expecting to realise that this was a satire but — while that feeling never fully went away — I did realise that these were real people actually sharing their lives with us. So Red, White & Wasted is the story of…
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Indie Documentary Review – Rom Boys – 40 Years Of Cool
Cards on the table… I enjoy a good documentary. But then comes the sticky question… what makes a good documentary? That it has to be well made and entertaining, so that you want to spend the time watching it is a given, but what moves things to the next level is when there is a…
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Hobbitses – A Tolkien history – Behind the Lord of the Rings in epic fantasy films
Typical! Wait decades for a film with hobbits in, and six come along at the same time! At least, that’s how it felt. Like many teens of the time, I had my copy of the single volume paperback edition of The Lord Of The Rings, shortly after it was first published in 1968, having…
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New Movie Review – Mulan (Live action 2020)
The obvious first step with a look at a film like Mulan is to do a compare and contrast piece with the 1998 animated version. And, obviously, there will be a bit of that but, bottom line, it would be a bit like comparing and contrasting apples and tractor parts… Other than the name and…
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First View Movie Review – Matilda (1996)
Matilda is the strangest, nastiest kid movie I’ve ever seen. My mother and I were astounded throughout at how grotesque this was, and how unappealing. Not even the cute actress (Mara Wilson) could save this caustic tale. It wasn’t until I saw the credits that this was based on a classic book by Roald Dahl,…
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Movie Review – Artemis Fowl, from a novel novice
Honestly, I have to ask: What WAS this? I’m told the Artemis Fowl books are top shelf, but the origin film is merely…meh. So I watched the movie with low expectations: usually that means I can walk out feeling somewhat sated. In this case, I was infuriated. How hard could it be for Disney to…
