The Reader is a 2008 historical drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by David Hare, based on the 1995 German novel of the same name by Bernhard Schlink. The movie starred Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes and was nominated for several other major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. However, the story does not really stand up to scrutiny as we will endeavour to explain in our following analysis.
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Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the literal revenge of the nerds. Fandom’s fanatical insistence that Warner Bros release the Snyder Cut over the years led to this unlikely movie becoming a reality in the surreal circumstances of 2021. Sure, it’s a gimmick to sell HBO Max and might not have happened otherwise. Who cares?
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With the Disney+ streaming platform being available worldwide since February this year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU”) movies can be found in one convenient place. Power of Pop has been a staunch supporter of the MCU since the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk (which is not available on Disney+) in 2008. Thus, we continue our look back at the MCU with probably its most significant movie, 2012’s The Avengers.
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The Mauritanian is a 2021 legal drama film directed by Kevin Macdonald based on the 2015 memoir Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Salahi, a true story of Salahi’s experience of being held for fourteen years without charge in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The film stars Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Shailene Woodley, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
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With the Disney+ streaming platform being available worldwide since February this year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“MCU”) movies can be found in one convenient place. Power of Pop has been a staunch supporter of the MCU since the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk (which is NOT available on Disney+ due to distribution issues) in 2008. Thus, we continue our look back at the MCU with Iron Man 2, which was released in 2010.
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A Sun is a 2019 award-winning Taiwanese drama film that is now streaming on Netflix. Directed and co-written by Chung Mong-hong, A Sun received 11 nominations at the 56th Golden Horse Awards, winning Best Feature Film and Best Director for Chung. The film was also selected as Taiwan’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, making the shortlist of fifteen films.
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Judas and the Black Messiah is a 2021 historical drama film about the betrayal of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago, at the hands of William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), a FBI informant.
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The Hours is a 2002 drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman. The movie is based on Michael Cunningham’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title.
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The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a 1981 British romantic drama film directed by Karel Reisz and based on the 1969 novel of the same name by John Fowles. The original novel is best known for its metafictional approach of featuring multiple endings. While no such approach exists in this film adaptation, there are other metafictional elements that we will discuss below.
The Dig is a 2021 British historical drama film directed by Simon Stone, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by John Preston, which reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo. The movie stars Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin and Ken Stott.
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“It’s the little things, Jimmy. It’s the little things that rip you apart. It’s the little things that get you caught.”
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Outside the Wire is a 2021 scifi war thriller streaming on Netflix. The film is set in 2036 and stars Anthony Mackie (who also serves as a producer on the film) as an android officer who works with a drone pilot (Damson Idris) to stop a global catastrophe. Our short take on Outside the Wire is that it is possessed of both an interesting premise and a strong underlying message but certain narrative choices turn the third act into a unsatisfying cliché.
Please note that there are spoilers in our analysis of Outside the Wire that follows.
Synchronic is an American science fiction horror drama directed and produced by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead and written by Benson. It stars Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie. The film has been touted by many critics as one of the best scifi movies of 2020. Benson and Moorhead have a good reputation as cutting-edge indie scifi directors with previous well-received movies like Spring and The Endless. The duo are also working together on the upcoming Disney+/Marvel Studios streaming Moon Knight series.
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Shirley is a biographical drama that was released in 2020. The film is based on a book by Susan Scarf Merrell, a fictionalised account of an episode in the life of horror writer Shirley Jackson (played by the excellent Elizabeth Moss) in the late forties/early fifties. The setting revolves around the time Jackson was writing her novel, Hangsaman.
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Shadow in the Cloud is an action thriller directed by Roseanne Liang from a screenplay co-written by Max (Chronicle) Landis and Liang. Shadow in the Cloud had its world premiere on September 12, 2020 at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness. The movie is now available digitally worldwide.
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Promising Young Woman is a 2020 black comedy thriller film directed, written, and produced by Emerald Fennell, in her feature directorial debut. Fennell is perhaps best known as the writer of the second season of the critically acclaimed Killing Eve TV series. Promising Young Woman stars Carey Milligan in the lead role.
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The Best Movies of 2020. Well, I daresay even though I visited the cinemas less than 5 times (for obvious reasons) in 2020, I certainly watched many films this year. With each passing year, I find myself less attached to the idea of assessing life on a yearly basis, so I wanted to be circumspect with this Best Movies of 2020 list.
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Crimson Peak is a 2015 gothic romance horror drama directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain in the lead roles with Charlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver as support.
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Wonder Woman 1984 is a superhero action-adventure drama based on the DC character of the same name. Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot as the titular character, Wonder Woman 1984 is the sequel to the successful 2017 eponymous film.
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Soul is a 2020 Pixar animated movie directed by Pete Doctor and co-directed by Kemp Powers. Doctor is best known for directing the well-received Up and Inside Out. The premise of Soul involves a middle school music teacher named Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), who dies just before his big break as a jazz musician, but attempts to return to life with the aid of an ‘infant’ soul (voiced by Tina Fey).
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Small Axe S01E05 is part of the Small Axe anthology film series directed by the award-winning director Steve McQueen. The anthology consists of five films which tell distinct stories about the lives of Black immigrants in London. Entitled “Education”, Small Axe S01E05 focuses on young Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy) as he struggles with school in the 1970s.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 historical drama film directed by Peter Webber. The film is an adaptation of the 1999 novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier. Chevalier’s inspiration for the novel was a poster of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” painting.
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Belle is a historical drama set in late 18th century England. The movie is directed by Amma Asante and stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the title role. The character of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay is based on a real life person but most of the plot in Belle is fictionalised. In fact, the screenplay – written by Misan Sagay – was primarily based on a painting which portrayed the real life Lindsay and her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon).
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Freaky is a 2020 comedy horror drama film based loosely on the classic 1978 Freaky Friday movie which has been remade several times over the years since. The twist in Freaky is that this time, the protagonist switches bodies – not with her mother – but with a serial killer!
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Druk aka Another Round is a 2020 Danish drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Druk aka Another Round examines drinking culture that is prevalent worldwide and its impact on the characters in the film. In particular, four teaching colleagues/close friends viz. Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), Peter (Lars Rathe) and Nickolaj (Magnus Millag).
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