Highlight any black blocks of text to reveal the spoilers should you wish to. E.g. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father! (don’t worry, it’s just the famous star wars spoiler).

This week saw the return of football. Having studied in the South West, I was especially looking forward to the mighty Exeter City’s game against Colchester. Needless to say it was an awful match which City lost 1-0. Thankfully for Me and Earl and the dying girl (2015), it meant that the film was only the second worst thing I watched this week.

The film sees quiet film nerd Greg’s mother tell him to console and spend time with Rachel, a girl with leukaemia. They spend time together and become friends. Stylistically the film was interesting with long camera shots and animations thrown in. However, they seldom added to the story which I couldn’t invest in. It felt like a teenage cinephile’s dream, referencing all sorts of obscure old foreign films, because why not. Each character felt cheap and the film was a bit too Greg-centric.

At the point of thirty minutes left, I felt indifferent, however I did say to myself that I would dislike the film if it turned out the narrator lied to us when they said that Rachel wasn’t the one who died.. Needless to say that happened and I was left fuming. I don’t mind deception within film, but to lie to the audience directly is an insult. The director needs to learn how to treat a story with respect because substance is more important than style.

Needless to say, I gave it two stars, which is bad but not Cats. If you want to subject yourself to this twaddle (Which usually gets better reviews than what I said), it’s on Netflix.

I was rather indifferent about Weekend (2011), a film about two men who hook up and know each other for a weekend, before one leaves forever. It’s a sweet enough low budget film with some interesting conversation topics and two well acted characters. It was a slow burner and didn’t really ever hook me in. Maybe that was because I was distracted by how much one of the actors reminded me of a former Braintree Town goalkeeper. I gave it three stars and it’s available on BFI Player.

Onward (2020) was Pixar’s latest film featuring Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley (Chris Pratt). Ian’s sixteenth birthday sees him and his brother bring back his father who died before he was born for 24 hours. However, their spell to do this goes wrong so they only bring back his bottom half. They set off to find a phoenix gem to bring back his top half for the rest of the day.

The whole thing is your typical Pixar story and you know where it’s going to go. I felt a bit underwhelmed as the magic didn’t really feel there. They were elves for the sake of it and this wasn’t used to any smart effect. The whole thing felt a bit formulaic. It wasn’t as bad as the Cars films, it just felt like more of a parody of Pixar’s best. I gave it three stars as well and it’s available on DVD and to purchase on most streaming services.

I’m No Longer Here (2019) is a film about a young man who witnesses a gang shooting and is mistakenly believed to have been involved. Ulises flees to America, trying to get by not knowing a world of English. In Mexico, Ulises is the leader of the Terkos, a group of young people who don’t get into gang related violence and are a dance troop. He holds Colombian music as an important part of his identity, in a similar way to Radio Raheem and we hear this soundtrack throughout as well as his passion for it.

It takes place in a non-linear fashion, which doesn’t make it worse. The story line is full of intrigue as we have a look at identity as well as the tragic gang situations in Mexico. There is some love story in there, although it never really goes anywhere. But we get a quiet lead character who you can root for.

I thought it was really well put together and is one of the better films you can find on Netflix. It deserves four stars and can be seen on Netflix.

La La Land is a really sweet film full of wonderful music scores and acting and colourful set pieces. Wait… Hold on… There has been a mistake. This week I watched Moonlight (2016). Hey Joe, 2017 wants its joke back. The suprise winner of best picture, the film follows Chiron, a young black gay boy with a drug addict mum through his struggles in life. Using three different actors, we watch Chiron work out his identity and who he wants to be as he uses three different names through the film. The whole film is low budgeted and understated.

With lots of slow spinning shots and a beautiful soundtrack the film is beautifully intimate. The focusing of the camera on the face follow each flicker of emotion. The cast is all phenomenal, especially Mahershala Ali who is fully deserving of his Oscar with conflicts in between his being a father figure to Little and supplying drugs to his mother.

Maybe this film crumbles under the weight of expectation when people say its so good, but its a well constructed piece with great consistent characters who you buy into. 4.5 stars and it can be bought on DVD and on your streaming service of choice.

Border (2018) was the first film I saw at the Exeter Pheonix, one of the City’s best hidden gems. I rewatched it as I was letting my aunt borrow it the next day and oh my word its wonderful. Tina is an outsider who works in customs, she comes across Vore who seems very similar to here. She goes into this mystery world of self discovery which is set against a very dark backdrop. It’s brilliantly put together art which is well worth your time. I’ve written a full review before about this film which finds light in darkness. The whole film looks and sounds amazing. (Review: Border) Well worth 4.5 stars and it can be purchased on some popular streaming services/on DVD.

Film Of The Week

Very few can capture the essence of imagination in the same way that Hayao Miyazaki can. This innocence is seldom better captured than in My Neighbour Totoro (1988). We see two young girls adventure seeing the supernatural and mythical, while living in their new house close to the hospital.

While it starts off overly cheerfully, we soon see the reality of whats going on. They’ve moved and are having to deal with their mother being sick in hospital. Growing up without her is tough on them and while their dad is also working, the younger sibling especially feels so lonely. This makes the appearance of big rabbit creature Totoro all the more essential.

The animation is beautiful and the soundtrack is stunning. The story, although loose, ties the thing together perfectly and the animals are some of the most iconic in film. Their mundane actions perfectly counteracting this crazy world. This film is an essential, at just over 80 minutes. It’s a 5 star worthy piece of art and can be watched on Netflix.