Saturday 22 May 2021

Special: The Last Blockbuster, Nomadland, Thunder Force Mini-Reviews

The Last Blockbuster:

Synopsis: The manager of the last Blockbuster video store struggles to keep the store open.

My thoughts: A love letter to video store culture which I can appreciate since I was a Blockbuster regular as a teenager in the age of DVD's and still rent as of today from my local mom and pop video store. As far as the history of Blockbuster and it's downfall it's mostly glossed over and just touched on key points not really as in depth as I'd like but luckily we have last year's "Netflix Vs. The World" that covers that in depth so if you want to get into the nitty gritty of the downfall of Blockbuster and how Netflix played a role (or did it?) check that out but this is still a sweet look at the culture that made video stores so cool and with the nostalgia angle the world is taking nowadays we can only hope one day we might have more Blockbusters.

Final verdict: 4 plastic cases out of 5.

Nomadland:

Synopsis: A woman embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything during the recession.

My thoughts: Well deserving of the Oscar praise it received but Nomadland was not without it's issues. It's slow moving and has a very sad storyline throughout (sounds like I'm describing an Oscar movie huh?) but it's look into the van-dweller world is interesting and the real life nomads they used never felt out of place as director Chloe Zhao pulled a ton from these non actors and Frances McDormand does a wonderful job as we've come to expect. The film itself was well shot and the poster seen here was just one of many visually stunning scenes the cinematographer was able to shoot. The best thing I can say about this film is that it totally makes me want to watch a documentary about nomads now.

Final verdict: 3.5 jobs at Amazon out of 5.

Thunder Force:

Synopsis: Two childhood best friends reunite as an unlikely crime-fighting superhero duo when one invents a formula that gives ordinary people superpowers.

My thoughts: The laugh to joke ratio here was very low and the very few laughs it coerced out of me was of the `this is so cringe variety. Much like the other Ben Falcone - Melissa McCarthy pairings you can definitely skip this one.

Final verdict: 2.5 unfunny comedies out of 5.

No comments:

Post a Comment