Monos – 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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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: Monos

October 29, 2019October 30, 2019Posted in Film, ReviewTagged A+ Films, Alejandro Landes, Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Monos2 Comments

[Language: Spanish (Colombian)]

There were times when I needed to remind myself to breathe as Monos reached its climax. Long gone was a film about looking after a cow. We had descended into absolute chaos. This was what I wanted Joker to be like. The film took you out of the cinema onto a very surreal journey from which there may well be no return as Monos sticks its claws in your brain.

“The Monos” are a group of child guerrillas who work for “The Organisation”. They sit on a mountain guarding an American prisoner of war. You don’t know when or where this is. Neither do you know who is good and who is evil. But that just adds to the mystery and starts every character on a blank canvas. As the film goes on, the isolation up in the mountains and in the middle of the jungle starts to have an effect on this group as they transition from hallucinogenic freedom to Lord of the Flies. The whole plot is difficult to put forward in words. Monos is more of an experience than a story. This is in a similar way to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it’s faster moving.

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