MUTTPLEX MOVIE REVIEWS

Unfortunately, Westley Piddle doesn’t have a cinema, cineplex, or multiplex…only a Muttplex. But it’s showing some great movies…

🐾🐾🐾🐾= as good as it gets on the subject.  Drop everything, , sniff out, scramble to catch up and ‘watch NOWS’!

🐾🐾🐾= entertaining or informative.  Worth putting on your short-watch list.

🐾🐾= Average entertainment, will pass casual viewing time but does not exceed expectations – even modest ones. Ultimately forgettable.

🐾= Seriously! There are many far better movies out there on this subject. Don’t bother unless it’s a rainy afternoon with absolutely nothing better to do.

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So, back to some latest movies.  All worth watching – but not all for the same reasons…

Sound of Metal (2019) – directed by Darius Marder

Sound of metal:  A heavy-metal drummer’s life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing. (courtesy IMDb)

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My take: I won’t lie, I was attracted to this because I dig metal music.  I also rate Riz Ahmed as one of the UK’s top upcoming film and TV talents.  Downside, there ain’t nothing metal about it except for the opening sequence (and that’s more progressive doom metal – for those nerds totally into it lyk wot I am!).  The upside, is a quiet (pun intended) and beautiful little indie film that attempts to draw the viewer into a world of sensory loss experienced by the hearing-impaired.  On that level it is astounding – and the sound design really made me think how lucky I am to take my hearing for granted.  Well worth watching for Ahmed’s impassioned performance and a storyline that makes no pretense at offering a ‘Hollywood’ ending. Great stuff!

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Mank (2020) – Netflix series

Mank: 1930’s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941). (courtesy IMDb)

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My take:  I went into this movie not even pretending to know anything about Mankiewicz (‘Mank’) or the story surrounding the production of Citizen Kane.  I ended the movie still not knowing anything about it – and I call myself a movieophile!!  My only [pitifully lame] excuse is a restricted interest in movies dating from the 60s onwards…(cough!)

However, it is David Fincher (of Seven fame) and it does feature the totally banging Gary Oldman = 1 paw.  And one extra paw for the silky-smooth black and white photography / editing technique that makes the movie worth eyeballing for thems production values alone…erh. which is wot I ended up doing as I couldn’t follow the storyline thanks to my woeful ignorance on the subject.  In summary: quickly forgettable.

NEXT!

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Tenet (2020) –  directed by Christopher Nolan

Tenet: Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. (courtesy IMDb)

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My take: dog dammit I wanted to like this film!  Unlike the 2-paw review above, this film was not just quickly forgettable, it was immediately forgettable. I had absolutely no clue as to wot on earth was going on!  So I did a bit of Googling and I am now in paw with the basic facts:  “[Tenet’s central] idea of people and objects having their time inverted is based on a theory by physicists Richard Feynman and John Wheeler. … Moving backwards through time [someone] could co-exist alongside her former self, or even collide with herself.” (courtesy screenrant.com). Now that makes the movie worth watching to gauge how one of Hollywood’s top directors si gonna treat it…after all didn’t he well sort out thems black holes in Interstellar.  Know wot I’m sayin’?..

But no, on no. Chris, me old treacle, why oh why – in dog’s name – did you take such an interesting concept and duct tape it to a made-for-tv, trope-heavy, bored to bits action movie?  For ff(expletive removed) sakes!!  Plus, then also go and populate it with a totally uninspiring caste (apart from Michael Caine, corss!); wrap it around several below-par action sequences; and, run thru with completely unintelligible dialogue fighting against an 80s synth soundtrack???  Tell us that muttwit!  TELL US?

Maybe it will all be easier for my dim intellect to understand when Tenet becomes available for download.  I can then spend one whole afternoon stopping and rewinding the dog-damned thing until I understand wot the poop I’m supposed to be eyeballing. Pitiful!