Netflix

In The Tall Grass [Review]

To say there’s a resurgence of Stephen King adaptations the way some say would make it out like there was a drought of adaptations, which is obviously not the case. The longest gap between adaptations was 1976 to 1980 (Carrie and The Shining respectively) and also 2009 to 2013 (Dolan’s Cadilac and funnily enough, Carrie). We are running through his material at an alarming rate though, as four were made in 2017, and four were made in 2019. And depending on your own opinion, out of the 7 I’ve seen (Doctor Sleep hasn’t been released yet), 6 are great and one is mediocre – and to be fair, Pet Semetery may not be great, but it had some fun stuff.

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The Laundromat [Review]

The Laundromat marks Steven Soderbergh’s second film released by Netflix in this year alone. This film wasn’t shot on an iPhone like his last two films, Unsane, and High Flying Bird. While visually and stylistically, Laundromat feels like classic Soderbergh, it still is too messy to be continuously enjoyed. Don’t get me wrong, I very much was glad that I got to see The Laundromat on the big screen, and that others will be able to as well. I just personally believed that High Flying Bird should have had the same opportunity. 

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Raising Dion [Review]

Netflix has had a monopoly on streaming originals for a while but now that the streaming war has started, their next batch of original will be their make or break moment. It will become a major factor if people will stay or migrate to other services. Raising Dion is part of the next wave of original content that Netflix hopes will keep its customers around. Produced by Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther) and based on the comic of the same name, Raising Dion tells the story of a widow trying her best to raise her child only to find out he has superpowers. While banking on it’s superhero nature to attract people, Raising Dion is much more than what it looks at first glance.

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The Politician [Review]

There’s something fascinating about Ryan Murphy and how he is able to create or produce, shows that are socially relevant and made at the right time. The timely arrival of Glee, the phenomenon that is American Horror Story, the true-crime obsession of American Crime Story and the wonderfully important Pose are just a few examples of how Murphy seem to just know what the audience wants and when. His latest creation, his first one under his new overall deal with Netflix, The Politician reunites him with his frequent contributors Brad Falchuck and Ian Brennan. But if The Politician tries to be a commentary on today’s world, it’s packaging into a funny and witty dramedy more often the none fails to hit the mark. The show ends up getting lost in its own narrative and tries way too hard to be too many things.

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High Flying Bird [Review]

High Flying Bird is the latest film by one of the hardest working filmmakers, Steven Soderbergh. Following his last experiment Unsane (which was great), he once again made a movie after shooting it on an iPhone 7. While most people freaked out, the fact is the camera is the only thing the phone was used for, not for audio. Also, professional lighting was also used. He’s always been at the forefront of digital cinema. He made Unsane and High Flying Bird as a statement that anybody could make a film, using our own phones is the easiest way to get there.

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5 amazing shows you probably aren’t watching but should

It’s peak television time, which means that way too often amazing shows pass by us before we even hear of them. You might think you are watching the best shows but you are probably missing some of the best television because no one can watch everything, and believe me I’ve tried. So I’ve decided to put together a small list of gems that not enough people watch and try to explain why you should.

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Long Live the New Netflix [Film Crew]

Long live the new flesh indeed.

It’s been a few years since I previously wrote about Netflix and their original content. Even though it wasn’t that long ago, it feels like an entire lifetime ago. 

At that time, David Ayer directing a Max Landis script starring Joel Edgerton and Will Smith sounded massive. It wasn’t, and it isn’t, definitely not anymore. If a film could bomb on a streaming service, then Bright did exactly that. Somehow that never stopped them or even slowed them down. In 2017, Netflix released films by Bong Joon-Ho (Okja), Noah Baumbach (The Meyeroritz Stories), and even Mike Flanagan (Gerald’s Game). That line-up is fairly substantial but they continue as 2018 had films by Alex Garland, Duncan Jones, the Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuaron. Not to mention finally allowing the world to see Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, allowing us to watch the film almost 50 years after principal photography. Also another passion project by Martin Scorsese, The Irishman which will be released in 2019.

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Mia’s Top Ten Favourite Film of 2018

I have been tasked with the tough decision of making my Top Ten Favourite Films of the year. This is never an easy venture. As a self proclaimed film buff/cinephile I find I constantly fall in love with films and my lists just keeps piling up as the year goes on. I’m also that kind of person who if you ask about my favourite movie, food, ice cream place I will give you a top 3-20 list because I can never choose just one.

I feel like I saw a lot of films this year but comparing my list to others I may have missed a lot of the buzzworthy films because they didn’t make my list. I also still have so much to catch up on regarding films that came out in 2018. I apologize in advance as my list will definitely not match others but I’m confident in saying these titles shouldn’t be looked over either.

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