Recent viewing

Gal-power esports comedy "1UP" tries hard with the gaming references (and visual touches), but suffers from weak characterisation and unfunny jokes. From poor writing, generally. It's currently rated at 2.9/10 on IMDb. A 3.9 would be fairer. I've sat through worse. Given more distinctive characters, better gags and smarter plotting, it could have been a cultish 5.4. 

"Bergman Island' is my pick of the week. It sees a married couple travel to the Swedish island of Faro, famous for being the home and inspiration of film-maker Ingmar Bergman. The pair are there to work on their own screenplays, while also taking part in a Bergman festival. The couple's personal drama plays out for a while, then takes a backseat as we see the wife's script brought to life. However, when we eventually return to the "real world", there are many questions raised. I was pondering this uniquely strange and well-acted flick days later. I loved director Mia Hansen-Love's earlier effort, "Things To Come", and can safely say I'll watch anything she does in the future.

"Brian And The Boz" is a 2014 doco about a mega-talented grid iron player who could never be what his father wanted, so he became a larger-than-life figure instead and ended up destroying his career. While definitely not exonerating its subject, it generates sympathy and finds some redemption for him.

I avoided "Don't Look Up" when it was newly released because of the hype. It's a brilliant satire on our media-driven, often wilfully irrational modern society and could easily have been the top pick of another week. Beaut cast who do a beaut job.

"I Came By": Who knew the dad from "Downton Abbey" and "Paddington" could portray such a convincing psycho?

The 1959 "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" was a rewatch, of course. While I remembered all of the action sequences, I'd forgotten the significant amounts of music and humour in this adaptation.

"Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters In Space": Final instalment in a trilogy that just kept getting better. The creativity and sheer variety of the animation woulda absolutely blown my mind in 1982. Nice choons, too. And the shocks! Characters die and they do so suddenly. War is depicted as senseless and horrific, especially in its use of reluctant child soldiers who are forever scarred by their experiences.

I wish studios still produced fright fillums like 1960's "The City Of The Dead", whose old-fashioned charm outweighs its hokiness.

"Thor: Love And Thunder" made me want every second Marvel blockbuster to be helmed by Taika Waititi. (You'd need more serious, less inventive, less sweetly sentimental ones in between to appreciate the contrast.) I usually grow bored halfway through superhero cinema. This might have been the first time that didn't happen since "Black Panther".

"Travelin' Band" is a notable live performance with a history of the musos bolted on to form a full-length documentary. I enjoyed it and was left with a far greater respect for CCR.

[Seen on: Prime, Kanopy, Disney+, Netflix x2, Disney+, Netflix, Kanopy, Disney+, Netflix.]