Tag: film writer

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi

There comes a time when everyone expects their favourite characters to go head-to-head in a final battle scenario. From ‘Civil War’ to ‘Batman v. Superman’ and now to ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’. The monsterverse has taken some hits in the past. However, the one character that always comes out strong and almost never disappoints is Kong. Yes, the title of the movie is ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ but this really is more of continuation of ‘Kong Skull Island’ than ‘Godzilla King of the Monsters’. Kong is the star of this film and his human connection to young Jia (Kaylee Hottle) was beautiful to see. That is something that the Godzilla films were lacking. I also don’t really think they know how to carry out Godzilla because there is no human connection and that is what makes Kong so loveable in the monsterverse.

Does Godzilla look cool? Yes. Does Godzilla have a wicked creature design, with so much detail, that you can see him breathing and see the scales on his body move? Yes. However, that’s all he does. The atomic breath was cool, the fight scenes with Kong were really intense and fun to watch as well. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, Kong really took some shots and he had you rooting for him the whole time. I wouldn’t consider Godzilla that much of a villain in this story. It’s more along the lines of this fight being inevitable since they both exist. The main issue in these monsterverse films, especially for Godzilla’s side is the human story. It’s a chore to sit through and it truly doesn’t add much to the film.

On the other hand, Kong has always had a very strong emotional connection to the humans in his film. Kong’s character development from ‘Skull Island’ is great to see. And by the end of this film, you will understand why a third and final Kong film is necessary. The beauty of Kong is that even though he is this larger-than-life, fictional creature, he is brought into the human world and he is respected. The character design was incredible for Kong and you felt such a strong connection to him. There are moments in this film that will make you feel for Kong on a human level. It has always been interesting to see how Kong interacts with humans and in ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ it was just beautiful.

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ is a fun monsterverse film that will keep you at the edge of your seat during their fight scenes. It is only fun when Kong is on screen because the writing for the humans on Godzilla’s side wasn’t that strong and could have been better. I totally respect the humour Brian Tyree Henry brought to the table but even he couldn’t save it. In conclusion, Kong stole the spotlight, there needed to be more Godzilla and the human story wasn’t developed enough for Godzilla. Even though the movie did drag at times, I wouldn’t have minded a longer runtime to actually make me care for Godzilla.

Raya and the Last Dragon Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi

Raya and the Last Dragon is pure magic. From the second we meet young Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) and her father, Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) there is an instant connection to them. The father/daughter storylines always get me emotional and incredibly invested in the story. Raya learned so much from her father, from fighting techniques, to leadership, to uniting people. The story is quite simple, Raya must go on a quest to retrieve five pieces of a whole, in order to unify Kumandra and bring the dragons back. In doing so, Raya meets such fun, wonderful characters along the way, that make the adventure so engaging!

The beauty of Raya and the Last Dragon is South Asian representation. On Raya’s quest, we learn so much about her culture and traditions. The animation was stunning and the score that accompanied the film, especially during action sequences, worked incredibly well. Raya, ventures out to find the last dragon with her sidekick Tuk-Tuk (who is the first cute character we fall in love with) and we get to explore each kingdom with her. Along the way, Raya finds Sisu (Awkwafina), Tong (Benedict Wong), Boun (Izaac Wang) and Little Noi (Thalia Tran). All of these characters have all lost someone dear to them because of the Drunn, which are sinister monsters that threatened their land.

Featuring Kelly Marie Tran as the voice of Raya and Awkwafina as the voice of Sisu, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Raya and the Last Dragon” will be in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on March 5, 2021. © 2021 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

As Raya meets these new characters, she has to learn to trust them and that is the message of this story. With the addition of each new character, Raya learns a lot from her new friends and takes the first step in putting her trust in someone else. After losing her father, to the Drunn, she couldn’t trust anyone else in the kingdom and travelled alone. The film has a great message and a lesson to be learned about how to trust again. This entire voice cast did a fantastic job and the animation for their characters was so great! They came together as a family, to help each other through the grieving and they delivered such heartfelt moments.

Raya and the Last Dragon is absolutely delightful and will make you fall in love with all the characters. What impressed me the most about Raya, was the fighting sequences because of how sleek they were. The combination of martial art techniques were used so effectively and added so much to Raya’s character. Many people will appreciate this story and what Walt Disney Animation did with it. They couldn’t have picked a better voice cast to bring this story to life. Awkwafina was such a knockout as Sisu and she should definitely do more animated films!

Raya and the Last Dragon drops on Disney Plus premier access on March 5th!

Amanda’s Golden Globes 2021 Predictions

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By: Amanda Guarragi

It is our favourite time of year!

Hello, Oscar season! The Golden Globes will be hosted by our favourite gals, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The show will begin at 8pm EST and hopefully it will go a bit faster this year. There were plenty of snubs and surprises – thank you, HFPA – but nonetheless, it’s always fun to have discussions about the films we loved this season.

So here are my picks for each category….

Who should win will be highlighted in RED

Who will win will be highlighted in PURPLE

Best Motion Picture – Drama 

“The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics) 

“Mank” (Netflix) 

“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures) 

“Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features) 

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix) 

Best Director – Motion Picture

Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)

David Fincher, “Mank” (Netflix) 

Regina King, “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios) 

Aaron Sorkin, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix) 

Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures) 

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios) 

“Hamilton” (Walt Disney Pictures) 

“Palm Springs” (Neon) 

“Music” (Vertical Entertainment)

“The Prom” (Netflix) 

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) 

Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) 

Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) 

Gary Oldman (“Mank”) 

Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian”)

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) 

Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”) 

Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”) 

Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”) 

Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) 

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 

Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) 

James Corden (“The Prom”)

Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton”) 

Dev Patel (“The Personal History of David Copperfield”) 

Andy Samberg (“Palm Springs”)

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy 

Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) 

Kate Hudson (“Music”)

Michelle Pfeiffer (“French Exit”) 

Rosamund Pike (“I Care a Lot”)

Anya Taylor-Joy (“Emma”) 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”) 

Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”) 

Jared Leto (“The Little Things”)

Bill Murray (“On the Rocks”) 

Leslie Odom, Jr. (“One Night in Miami”)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture 

Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”) 

Olivia Colman (“The Father”) 

Jodie Foster (“The Mauritanian”)

Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”) 

Helena Zengel (“News of the World”)

Best Motion Picture – Animated 

“The Croods: A New Age” (Universal Pictures) 

“Onward” (Walt Disney Pictures) 

“Over the Moon” (Netflix) 

“Soul” (Walt Disney Pictures) 

“Wolfwalkers” (Cartoon Saloon) 

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture 

Emerald Fennell – “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features) 

Jack Fincher – “Mank” (Netflix) 

Aaron Sorkin – “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix) 

Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton – “The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics) 

Chloe Zhao – “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures) 

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language 

“Another Round” (Samuel Goldwyn Films) 

“La Llorona” (Shudder) 

“The Life Ahead” (Netflix) 

“Minari” (A24) 

“Two of Us” (Magnolia Pictures)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture 

“The Midnight Sky” (Netflix) – Alexandre Desplat 

“Tenet” (Warner Bros.) – Ludwig Göransson 

“News of the World” (Universal Pictures) – James Newton Howard 

“Mank” (Netflix) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross 

“Soul” (Pixar) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste 

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

“Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros.) – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas 

“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix) – Daniel Pemberton, Celeste

“Io Si (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead” (Netflix) – Diane Warren, Laura Pausini, Niccolò Agliardi 

“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios) – Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ashworth 

“Tigress & Tweed” from “The United States vs. Billie Holliday” (Hulu) – Andra Day, Raphael Saadiq

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

“Emily in Paris” (Netflix)

“The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max)

“The Great” (Hulu) 

“Schitt’s Creek” (CBC) 

“Ted Lasso” (Apple TV Plus) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Jason Bateman (“Ozark”) 

Josh O’Connor (“The Crown”) 

Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)

Al Pacino (“Hunters”) 

Matthew Rhys (“Perry Mason”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television 

Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”) 

Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Normal People”)

Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”) 

Nicole Kidman (“The Undoing”) 

Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”) 

Best Television Series – Drama 

“The Crown” (Netflix)

“Lovecraft Country” (HBO Max) 

“The Mandalorian” (Disney Plus) 

“Ozark” (Netflix)

“Ratched” (Netflix)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama 

Olivia Colman (“The Crown”) 

Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”)

Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) 

Laura Linney (“Ozark”) 

Sarah Paulson (“Ratched”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television 

Bryan Cranston (“Your Honor”)

Jeff Daniels (“The Comey Rule”) 

Hugh Grant (“The Undoing”) 

Ethan Hawke (“The Good Lord Bird”) 

Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy 

Lily Collins (“Emily in Paris”)

Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) 

Elle Fanning (“The Great”) 

Jane Levy (“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”) 

Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”) 

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television 

“Normal People” (Hulu/BBC) 

“The Queen’s Gambit” (Netflix) 

“Small Axe” (Amazon Studios/BBC) 

“The Undoing” (HBO) 

“Unorthodox” (Netflix) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television 

John Boyega (“Small Axe”) 

Brendan Gleeson (“The Comey Rule”) 

Dan Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”) 

Jim Parsons (“Hollywood”)

Donald Sutherland (“The Undoing”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy 

Don Cheadle (“Black Monday”)

Nicholas Hoult (“The Great”) 

Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”) 

Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”) 

Ramy Youssef (“Ramy”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television 

Gillian Anderson (“The Crown”) 

Helena Bonham Carter (“The Crown”) 

Julia Garner (“Ozark”) 

Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) 

Cynthia Nixon (“Ratched”)

Well there you have it! All of my picks for every single category. If you want to stay updated, follow along on twitter: @amxndareviews for live updates and maybe some ranting.

‘Umama’ Short Film: Interview With Talia Smith And Malibongwe Mdwaba

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By: Amanda Guarragi

Umama written and directed by Talia Smith shows the true story of a mother whose son has gone missing. It is a story of love, loss and acceptance. The morning after Sibongile made a promise to celebrate her son’s academic achievement, she wakes to find he is missing. Sibongile (Connie Chiume) still goes into work and she must care for the children, of her employer, in order to get home and keep her promise. Before heading to NYU, Smith was born and raised in South Africa. She wanted to highlight these stories in the most honest way. Smith had a personal connection to the story because of her childhood. She had a second mother, which is an Americanized way of labelling her as a ‘domestic worker’. Smith wanted to showcase her heritage through these special relationships.

What started out as a class assignment for Talia Smith had turned into a very important film exploring South African culture,

“This is a very common South African story, but on top of that, non-South Africans can relate to the universal theme but also start to see South Africans, not only their stories, but their talent. There are so many incredible stories so I hope that comes across to non-South Africans audiences.”

– Talia Smith, Umama

The beauty of this story is the connection between Sibongile and the children she cared for, even the dynamic between the mother (her employer) and Sibongile. There is a level of respect and love that can only be felt by those who have experienced connections such as theirs. It is essentially like choosing your own family and at the end of the day, they will support you through anything. That is the love that is shared in this film. Sibongile is having a difficult time with her teenage son Thabiso (Malibongwe Mdwaba). She feels detached from his life but Thabiso is trying to venture out and create his own path.

When watching Umama, we see both perspectives in a balanced way. The worried mother, who is trying her best to work and raise her son. And the teenager, who is trying to survive his high school years by making the right decisions. When asked about his own connection to Thabiso, Mdwaba said,

“To be taken back to that sort of timeline, gave me the time to see the bigger picture and heal from those moments. It really spoke to the kind of work that I love doing. That’s any work that has to do with mirroring society, in the most truthful manner and rarely do we get those stories, where we are literally not fabricating anything and we are just telling it as it is.”

– Malibongwe Mdwaba, Umama

We have all gone through our own hardships, in our teenage years and Mdwaba used this character to heal from his own experiences. There was so much thought, care and love that went into this story.

What Smith and Mdwaba hope audiences gain from this story is the connectivity of human relationships. It does not matter how you are connected to the other person, all that matters is the love and respect that is shared. Smith has had discussions with psychologists that deal with families in a lot of these situations and she is trying to create a toolkit,

“Once people have watched the film, if you relate to a character you will be able to kind of see how you fit into that category and figure out something that you may need, or how you can help other people in your life find resources.”

– Talia Smith, Umama

To see an extension of love and support in this way through filmmaking, just shows how genuine Smith is. Her stories will always be rooted in something honest and personal. It is a reflection of how she sees the world and how she wants people to perceive it through universal themes.

Flora And Ulysses Review

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By: Amanda Guarragi

The magic of Disney is still incredibly powerful and shouldn’t be forgotten. What Walt Disney has created is a home for hopes and dreams. Whether you are a full blown adult, looking for a little bit of magic, or a little kid experiencing the Disney magic for the first time, these films will warm your heart. What is so wonderful about Flora & Ulysses is that it incorporates the big draw right now – comic book films – and combines it with Flora’s journey in finding a squirrel who has superpowers. Young Flora (Matilda Lawler) is trying her best to stay connected to her father (Ben Schwartz) after he separated from her mother (Alyson Hannigan).

You may think the star of the film would be the squirrel with superpowers – Ulysses is pretty cool – but Lawler’s performance is what held this together. The film may have dragged on a bit at certain parts but her hopeful, compassionate spirit is what carried the film. Within the first couple of minutes of meeting Flora, you will remember what it is like to be a kid again. Flora had a love for Incandesto and comic books. She loved superheroes because her dad was a comic book artist and she learned a lot from him. She applied the hopefulness and love from these comics to her everyday life but soon realized that reality wasn’t quite the same.

Matilda Lawler as Flora and Ulysses the squirrel in FLORA & ULYSSES, exclusively on Disney+

This hits quite hard, because as children, we all dreamed of the life we would want. We all thought of bigger and better things for ourselves. We were taught to dream big. And now that we got to a position in our lives, where the dream was has somewhat come true, it is not all it is cracked up to be. So we learn to take small the small wins as a positive and twist our reality to suit our dreams. Flora & Ulysses reminds us to look at our life and appreciate what we have, even if it is not what we thought it would be. That is the real story. Of course, the special effects with the flying squirrel was really fun and the humour that came with the family comedy worked really well.

Flora & Ulysses was a very fun watch and will bring you back to your playful childhood. This is a Disney film through-and-through. There were some jokes that I didn’t expect them to make that had me laughing. The whole cast is fun and Ulysses was absolutely adorable. The special effects for Ulysses actually impressed me and it brought the magic squirrel to life in a fun way. The film is wholesome, funny and enjoyable to sit through because of Matilda Lawler! If you want to have some fun and feel some Disney magic, you can catch this on Disney Plus, February 19th.