October 2023: Wolfwalkers and Searching for Bobby Fischer

Our October session was held at Beck’s house and for the first time in a very long time, Club Moofie watched one of our films together – and on the very day of our meeting, which is a CM first! Thanks must go to Beck and family for hosting, streaming Wolfwalkers and for the amazing Mexican feast we all gorged on. Thanks also to those who provided snacks and sweet treats (the popcorn seemed to be particularly popular – no pun intended – with a certain young member of CM). It was great to see everyone again and to spend some time chatting about movies, family and life in general.

Wolfwalkers (2020)

This gorgeous film was Renny’s choice, a choice made because it captured her imagination. She mentioned that some years ago, she had enjoyed the animated film Flight of Dragons (1982) and thought this might have a similar feel. Wolfwalkers is part of the animated Irish Folklore Trilogy by Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, which includes the Secret Book of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014). With a complex story, striking images, a glorious palette of colours and evocative music to boot, Wolfwalkers was almost universally liked by the club, and well it should be because it is fabulous. Many of us thought it was beautifully animated and the story sensitively realised, with an environmental theme explored well and no single side (good or evil) smashed into oblivion. Win win, I say! Here’s what the members said:

Renny: It had original and unique visuals. As you’re growing up, visuals can be quite powerful.

Andy: A triumph!

Sylv: Gorgeous!

Renny: It wasn’t so much fairytale, but more like an exploration of a part of someone’s culture. I loved the forest scenes, all the shapes and curves, how the imagery flowed and the contrast of these to the grid of the city. And wolves have that magic that make you believe in them.

Beck: About the [Game of Thrones-style grey fur] couch throw on our lounge – just so you know, it’s totally synthetic … it’s not wolf.

Renny: It offered other solutions – both sides survived. One didn’t have to defeat the other. Different studio, different story, different take on the images.

CJ (who first viewed it on a laptop): The second viewing was better, I got much more of the detail.

CJ: The imagery! The music! The hugging!

CJ: The best bit was the sequence where she’s learning to be a wolf. The depiction of the scents she smells, and the visualisation based on sound – it’s very sensory. Not something you see in the big studio films. It also had a slower pace. I really loved it. First time around, I looked at Renny and said, ‘I love it.’

Beck: So immersive. So gorgeous.

Beck: The flat town perspective …
Andy: That blew my mind! Combining the different views, a world with perspective and art.

CJ: Three split screens. This movie shows that 3D CGI is not needed to tell a story.

Andy: The people in the town are done in rigid lines, the wolves are more sketchy. There’s a delineation in the animation.

CJ: The visuals – some of it’s just like artwork. I was very impressed even on the second viewing.

Seb: When she became a wolf and was following the air line thing, that was so cool!

Ray: Oh, yeah … not my sort of movie. Seb liked it, he can vote for me when it comes time to vote.

Wendy: I loved it! The main girl is quite a cheeky thing, isn’t she? I loved all of it.

Beck: I loved her hair.

Andy: I think the Lord Protector character is supposed to be Oliver Cromwell.

Beck: That was quite weird, that guy’s religious bits. He really went there.

Beck: I wonder why it was so serious?

Andy: Because the Irish hated the English.

Beck: Loved it. Absolutely loved it. I’ve not seen animation like that before. I loved the little wolf girl.

Flossie: Love the animation style.

Billy: (two thumbs up)

Scores:

Beck: 5

Wendy: 4

Renny: 5

CJ: 5

Andy: 5

Sylvia: 5

Seb/Ray: 5

Billy (cameo): 5

Flossie (cameo): 5

Jon: 3 (didn’t watch it*)

* Sorry Jon, that disqualifies your score.

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

This one was nominated by Renny because Seb is into chess. Wendy suggested it. (Seb’s teacher also recommended a chess film, Queen of Katwe (2016), set in Uganda about a young female player, SFBF got the nomination). While a few of us were a bit underwhelmed by this film (some members also felt that more of the chess moves could have been better explained), I must say it does make what could be a dry subject quite interesting, especially for people who don’t know much about chess. For me, the movie was more about the emotional journey that the father and son experience. I felt there was quite a lot of depth to this element of the narrative, much of which was beautifully conveyed through the subtle yet evocative facial expressions of the astonishing Max Pomeranc, who plays the child chess prodigy Josh Waitzin. I also loved the speed chess scenes in the park where Josh holds his own against a streetwise chess wiz played by Laurence Fishbourne. Here’s what the the club said:

Wendy: What do chess players make?

Sylv: Can be a few million …

Wendy: Renny! Get Seb into comps!

Renny: I enjoyed the movie. It was a good movie about tournaments. We can see the pressure parents put on the kids.

CJ: Terminator kids.

Renny: Yeah, like one of Seb’s friends … he’s not happy, very stern. Doesn’t talk a lot.

Beck: When is he being a kid?

Renny: Seb watched it with us. We were inspired to take him to a park to play [chess].

Seb: We didn’t really get to see the moves much.

Wendy: The film is predominantly made for people who don’t know chess.

CJ: Because we’ve been exposed to more chess, I was a little disappointed there were not as many moves.

CJ: The film was topical for us right now.

Renny: Max Pomeranc was the standout natural. He was observing rather than playing a role.

Andy: Not my type of movie. It’s an elite world and there’s people like Ben Kingsley … It made me angry. There is a myth of what it is like to be ‘elite’.

Andy: I said to Sylv, ‘Does no one in this film own an umbrella?’ No one really does that! No one speaks to their child in the rain when there is shelter around.

Andy: The little kid reminded me of Jim Morrison.

Beck: abstain

Wendy: 4

Renny: 3.5

CJ: 3.5

Andy: 2

Sylvia: 3.5

Ray: 3

Seb: 5

August 2023: Beast of No Nation and Tampopo

This moofie session took place and Sylvia and Andy’s. Our two films for review this time are Beasts of No Nation (2015) and Tampopo (1985).

Beast of No Nation (2015)

This was pretty gruesome and depressing. It was very well done, very powerful, had some unforgettable story details and scenes. We appreciated the qualities and yet it is a film I’d never like to see again. When it came time to talk about it, all we could speak about with any kind of enthusiasm on was about the technicalities of film making, the script and acting. The central trauma that the child soldiers endured is almost unspeakable. These are stories which reflect real life happenings. All you can do is take it in and endure it. After that I think we’d rather not speak or think about it again.

Quotes:

Beck (on nominating it): I apologise for the extreme violence. An excuse to get Idris Elba in there.
Beck: It was a journey of misery and heartbreak. Idris Elba was super creepy. Quite graphic, enlightening
Ray: Beck, you were also responsible for nominating “Nightingale”

Ray: (on other films..) its easy to pick who are the good guys, who are bad, but in this one its hard to know. Everyone was bad. It was very depressing. Thanks for that Beck.

Ray: I appreciate the realism but on the other hand, can’t say it had a fantastic script.
Ray: quoting, “make sure you kill the farmers, because the farmers are feeding the enemy“

Beck: Agu was 8-10 yrs old?
Sylvia: the actor was 9 years old
Sylvia quoting: “I might be a child, but I’m an old man inside“

CJ: How real is it though? The real version is Uganda, Joseph Kony, LRA and the child soldiers. but this film isn’t quite that.

Renny: I couldn’t watch most of this. It was too much for me. Like “12 years a slave”. This is not the movie I want to watch.

Scores:

Beck: 4.0 (profound powerful movie, but can’t love it)
Andy: NA
Aylvia: NA
Renny: 2.0
CJ 3.0
Ray 4.0
Wendy 3.0

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Tampopo (1985)

This film is supremely weird in that most distinctly Japanese way. It is all about ramen soup, but through the soup comes an insight into Japanese views of sex, fetishism, food and its role in culture, and obsessive pedantic food appreciation. Who would have imagined you could depict a culture and world view in such a way. It is also funny. I love that they can see how bizarre and funny they must look being the way they are. Its quite disarming in the end. Very much enjoyed the film.

Quotes:

Wendy: It made me hungry. It was a bit weird!
Wendy: I liked that its all about food.

Wendy: We watched a censored version.
Sylvia: There is a scheme that’s missing! The Prawn scene. In the closing credits. It has a zoom in of a woman breast feeding

Ray: Wendy was horrified by the passing of the egg yolk
Andy: it appears sexier than in real life. The director went “Just trust me, it will look great“
Wendy: I was quite weirded-out by it
Andy: I saw it in the 80’s. All I could remember was the egg

Renny: lots of hours were put into making the soup.

Ray: its quite a simple soup…
Sylvia and Andy together …What?!!

Beck: There are some weird bit in it. Its kind of likeable and weirded you out at the same time

Beck: It’s a bit like a western. 7 Samurai, where the loner comes in and saves the town.

Scores:

Ray 3.5
Wendy 4.0
Beck: food 2 / film 3.5
Andy 3.5
Sylvia 4.5 (it introduced me to japanese food and culture)
Renny 3.0
CJ 4.0

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Happy viewing and see you next time!
CJ

March 2023: RRR and Everything everywhere all at once

Hello everyone, this session took place at Lindfield at Renny and yours truly’s place on the 4th March 2023. The two movies for review are RRR (2022) and Everything everywhere all at once (2022).

RRR (2022)

This is the butter-chicken of Bollywood films. Apparently it isn’t real Bollywood but something sort-of modified glammed-up version for the western palate. Whetever the case, it was super tasty and a great deal of fun, albeit quite indulgent, and pretty fast junk food.

Who am I to look down at a film like this. It did the job – its action packed, visually interesting and good fun. What more can you ask for?

Quotes

Andy: It was a rolicking time

Sylvia: It was definitely anti-english

Sylvia: We stayed up the whole night watching it. It was so entertaining.
Sylvia: It was just relentless

CJ: It was not my style

Renny (re: the bridge scene): I enjoyed the connection between the two guys, but how did they figure out they were going to do that bridge maneuver with just a few hand gestures?!

Renny (on Ram): oh my god, he’s like the terminator

Renny: The visuals stay with you

Wendy (on Ram): his hair is perfectly placed
Andy: Are you on team Ram?

Wendy: If you view it like a superhero movie, its ok.

Wendy: I think that movie doesn’t agree with me. Yeah, I was over this
Andy: ..Statistics show that 2 out of 2 koreans don’t like RRR

Ray: It was great on a big screen. The action and cinematography was fantastic. If you cut out the overacting, it would be a better movie

Beck: It was an absolute riot. A bit schlocky. Great fun. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It made watching a bit easy due to the eye candy. Great fun.

Scores:

Andy: 5.0
Renny: 3.5
Ray 2.5
Wendy 2.5
Beck 4.5
Sylvia 5.0
CJ 3.5

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Everything Everywhere all at once (2022)

Some friendly advice – it might help to be prepared and do a bit of research of what this film is about. Don’t go into this cold turkey and tired, the way I did. I have vague recollections of kung-fu fighters fighting each other to ram dildos up their asses?? What the..? … and hot dog hands…

I got concussion watching this film. The others in the Moofie club seemed to like it a lot. I think I need to rewatch this. I have no idea what happened!

Quotes

Sylvia: the husband was “Short Round” in the Indiana Jones movies

Sylvia: you need to suspend your disbelief

Wendy: I really liked it. Michelle Yeoh, shes a fit lady. Jamie Lee Curtis was a good sport.
Sylvia: Michelle Yeoh was fantastic

Renny: there was too much repeating. Same thing keeps happening

Andy: Loved it. Completely on board.

Beck: I feel like I would have loved it if I remembered it.

Renny: It sounds way better when you’re explaining it compared to actually watching it.

Scores

Andy: 5.0
Renny: 1.0
Sebastian: 3.0
Ray: 3.5
Wendy: 4.0
Beck: 4.5
Sylvia 4.0
CJ 2.0

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Thats it!
until next time,
CJ

August 2023: Once Upon a Time in America and Knives Out

Once upon a time in America

Well, it’s hard to know what to say about this one. We wanted to like it but we couldn’t. Serge Leone has a particular style of directing and it seems a peculiar view on women which a lot of viewers found hard to watch. The rape scene in particular was hard to deal with and totally unnecessary, as was the violence, the long camera shots of faces, of female body parts, the weird sequences, the convoluted storyline, the mismatched music …. And as it turns out, it was all a dream… yeah, right. Anyway, enough said. I’ll let the quotes sum up what Club Moofie thought.

Quotes

Ray: [on why he chose it] Well, I saw some shorts on Youtube…

Beck: Sorry, there was a short version??

Ray: [on explaining the two releases, one was a dog’s breakfast…]

Beck: …and that’s the version I saw.

Beck: How did you think about it now?

Ray: I’m thinking it was an awfully long movie.

Ray: There were so many parts that were so unnecessary.

Ray: [on the ending] It was all a dream.

Beck: No!

Ray: That’s what the director said.

Beck: What does he know.

Ray: I liked the scenes in the Jewish quarter.

Ray: It was not a great movie. It had some good bits, some bad bits. Mostly a rambling mess.

Sylvia: I’m so glad you didn’t like it because we couldn’t watch it.

Ray: It was considered one of the classics.

Andy: …by men.

Sylvia: Serge let the stock boil too far.

CJ: [on watched it over 3 nights] The Jewish quarter was interesting but it was a rambling and went on and on.

Renny: It got less desirable as it went on. The scenes went on and on. Waiting, waiting…

Beck: I did blitz this in one sitting in the kitchen.

Ray: It was the director’s style. Lots of close ups. Nothing happens. It’s a strange style.

Ray: It’s almost corny.

Sylvia: It was definitely corny.

CJ: [On why they used the same music from a romantic scene in other scenes]: Is this how they cut the budget?

Ray: It was like a long confused episode of The Sopranos.

Beck: [On the phone ringing at the start] It went on and on…

Ray: We couldn’t relate to them. In the end they’re sociopaths.

Scores

Andy:               Abstain

Beck:               2 [that’s being generous]

CJ:                  2.5

Ray:                 3

Renny:             1

Sylvia:              Abstain

Wendy:            2

Knives Out

I loved this film. Written in three acts, the first sets up a typical whodunnit, which turns out to be a surprise twist as we soon learn whodunnit. The second act is about how and whether Marta will get away with it and in the third act, Benoit explains what happened. It has the three ingredients of a great story – suspense, empathy and humour. The ensemble cast is wonderful but the standout was Ana de Armas who was so convincing as Marta. And the ending, so simple, so satisfying and so cleverly tied together.

Quotes

Beck: I absolutely loved it. It was hilarious. I didn’t like the second one quite as much. A lot of fun. My favourite scene was when they were interrogating the woman who can’t lie. Compared to the other films tonight, this was a rom-com.

Ray: The only blemish is that Daniel Craig’s character didn’t work for me.

Andy: The first third is a homage to ‘Sleuth’.

CJ: When it was revealed who did it, it was too early. I liked how it kept going. There is more to this. I just loved the cleverness of this. It was taunt, perfectly done, sharp, well crafted.

Renny: I enjoyed it. It kept you on it and tied together neatly.

Scores:

Andy:               4.5

Beck:               4.5

CJ:                    5

Ray:                 4

Renny:             4.5

Sylvia:              5

Wendy:            5