Marriage Story – The Film Ramble

The Unnominatables: 2020 Ramble Awards

February 8, 2020February 9, 2020Posted in Awards, FilmTagged Atlantics, David Copperfield, Dolemite Is My Name, Greta Gerwig, Hustlers, Jojo Rabbit, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Last Black Man In San Francisco, Little Women, Marriage Story, Monos, Oscars, Oscars 2020, Parasite, Peanut Butter Falcon, Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Rocketman, Shuzhen Zhao, So Long My Son, The Farewell, Uncut Gems, Us, Waves, Weathering With You, Zack Gottsagen

Last year, when I started this blog, I started with a post about my favourite of the Oscar nominees. While that post is on its way, I also decided it would be a fun exercise to give Ramble awards to films or actors who weren’t nominated and really should’ve been. 2019/20 was a great year for films which meant some were going to miss out. Unfortunately the Oscars are safe and bland and really not worth the time as we celebrate Scorceses and Tarantinos over fresh film ideas. The films and actors I will nominate will hopefully represent a greater plurality of film making. With 12 films gaining 16 awards (and another 7 nominated), hopefully you get some ideas of what to watch. I’ll take my invite as a BAFTA judge in the post…

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Oscars 2020: The ASBO Awards

February 8, 2020February 9, 2020Posted in ReviewTagged 1917, Adam Driver, ASBO Awards, Avengers, Florence Pugh, Ford Vs Ferrari, I Lost My Body, Irishman, Joe Pesci, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time, Oscars, Parasite, Sam Mendes, Saoirse Ronan

Here we are, less than twenty four hours until the Oscars and as I write this, I still haven’t seen all best pictures nominees (There is a screening of Ford vs Ferrari I’m going to this afternoon). As is tradition (I did it last year), I’m looking at the nominees and picking my choices to win the Asbo award*. Although I will have seen all best picture nominees, this year has had so many good films that I haven’t had a chance to get to all of the best acting ones. Therefore, I can only judge what I’ve seen. For my own fun, I’ve also stated whether the ASBO winner would beat my Oscar snub ramble choice.

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The top 20 of 2019

December 31, 2019January 1, 2020Posted in Film, Look BackTagged Beale Street, Birds of Passage, Border, Burning, Capernaum, Eighth Grade, Green Book, Happy As Lazarro, I Lost My Body, Irishman, Last Black Man In San Francisco, Little Women, Marriage Story, Monos, The Farewell, The Last Tree, Toy Story 4, Us, We The Animals3 Comments

We are getting to that time, new years day, where one puts together their list of films. While I’m no Barack Obama, this list should provide a good indicator of what one could have watched and could look for upon a DVD release. Apologies to some films I didn’t see yet Fighting with My Family, Sorry I missed You, The Souvenier, Pain and Glory, The Two Popes and Ford vs Ferrari amongst many others which may have gone into the list had I had the time, but that doesn’t make the twenty any less worthy.

All twenty are from all over the world and provide a variety of genres, so hopefully there is something which takes your fancy. Each one is a brilliant piece of work which gave me enormous satisfaction. There were other good ones which weren’t included. Just because a film is at 17/18/19/20 doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. It just means there were others which I also enjoyed more or in a different way. Apologies in advance to Marvel fanboys and here is to 2020.

Eight of these films are on Prime/Netflix UK so there is no excuse to not watch them. Enjoy!

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Review: Marriage Story

December 1, 2019Posted in Film, ReviewTagged Adam Driver, Azhy Robertson, Laura Dern, Marriage Story, Netflix, Noah Baumbach, Scarlett Johansson2 Comments

A couple of years ago, I decided to go and watch Greta Gerwig’s debut film Ladybird. I wasn’t sure why. I had only seen the poster, but the film never felt like one I’d usually see. A teenage girl from a religiously devout home in Sacramento coming of age just wasn’t a film I would ever be interested in. Yet, Ladybird had a real charm to it which made it one of my favourite films that year against all odds (and changed my answer of favourite type of film to good films). In the same way, some sad rom-com focusing on a couple’s love life didn’t appeal to me on paper either. However, Marriage Story is so much more than that.

While your dad will be sat in one corner of the room with his portable device watching Netflix and Scorsese’s latest masterpiece, your mother is likely to be sat in the other corner on her portable device watching Noah Baumbach’s latest work. The opening few minutes are incredibly charming. Charlie (Adam Driver) lists everything he loves about his wife Nicole, from how shameless she is to how she’s a bit messy. Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) then says everything she loves about Charlie, from how determined he is, to how he cries in films. Importantly, both are very competitive. Everything all seems happy and rosy, then it turns out these are just things they wrote for divorce counselling… That’s right. Marriage Story is all about a divorce.

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