the "I should blog about films at some point" blog

‘Movies,’ makes up one third of the subject matter in my blogger title. As of five blogs I’ve pretty much just written about games so it’s probably time to change it up and avoid claims of false advertising. Those of you waiting on an entry about VideJoes are going to have to be very patient.. Or ask me when I’m drunk, I’ll make something up.

Movies then! Or films as I prefer. Do I have any ideas on interesting film topics? Well, no. I’ll just talk about what I’ve seen recently then…

The Hateful Eight is the most recent effort by Quentin Tarantino. Just to provide some background info, I bloody love Tarantino. I remember watching Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs on TV (I know the channels too), way back when I was a young ‘un. From Jackie Brown onwards I saw each film in the cinema and trips to both H8 and Django were part of birthday giftage from my wife. I love Tarantino. With Hateful Eight it became pretty clear that Tarantino also loved Tarantino. 

The way he writes dialogue is superb and the conversations between characters are always the highlight for me. From that opening exchange in Pulp Fiction and the diner chat about Fox Force 5, through to that introduction of Christoph Waltz as he nonchalantly strikes fear into a farmer. Hateful Eight is an entire film of conversations, requiring a focus on every word that’s exhausting but rewarding. It took a lot of effort to enjoy (and too much caffeine) but the main problem is that less would have worked better. Half the exchanges in the first hour could have been cut. Sam L Jackson has a speech midway designed to provoke another character which is dark, tense and the best kind of cringe worthy… but then it keeps going. And going. And flip me who’s editing this?! Rein him in a bit. Tell QT when it’s time to stop, when he’s being self-indulgent. 

Talking of reining in, I was going to talk about two films here but I could write all day about one. The rest of my points were saying things about the great performances, the sense of humour, gore etc etc. It’s not Empire you’re reading here folks, I’m the waffliest reviewer you’ll ever read. And you’ve all either seen it by now or made up your mind not too. Right the other film…

Room!

Hopefully I still have time to convince you to see this. You may have heard that its leading lady is nominated for an Oscar, and whilst she is great in her role… The film belongs to the kid, Jacob Tremblay. 

To describe the plot of this film would be to talk of something dark and uninviting but it’s really about a five year old boy who sees the world for the first time and just how overwhelming that is. His tantrums at the start will initially grate but you realise they make sense and as the story progresses he goes quieter and needs to find his voice again. So many volumes and emotions are conveyed by this little genius. The story is initially one of both him and his mother but it becomes all about him and how he sees it all. There is a scene in which he is looking at the sky (I’ll say no more for fear of spoilers) but the look on his face completely got to me, I nearly welled up and yet felt excited at the same time. Credit to the director too for portraying that moment so well, along with countless others. Brie Larson is great too by the way, I don’t mean to underplay her character too much. If the film has faults they mainly come from the knowledge that there is a book and some elements here feel like there’s a lot more behind them than the film had time to explore. In short though, it’s brilliant.

That was kind of like a proper review wasn’t it? Or I might just stick to games in future… In summary, see Room!!! Whilst you’re doing that I’ll be watching Deadpool this week. Hurrah!