reviews – wonderoes

The Circus (1928) | Classic Review [Spoiler Free]

17 Aug 201919 Aug 2019 by Danielle T. Murray, posted in Movie Reviews, Movie: 1920s, Movies

[Header Image: Merna Kennedy and Charlie Chaplin]

Strangely enough, I actually grew up with Charlie Chaplin in my life to some degree but I never really paid that much attention to his work. In my review for Seventh Heaven, I mentioned wanting to watch as many Academy Award nominated movies as possible which is how I found myself watching The Circus.

For anyone unaware, it is a silent film that follows a tramp (Charlie Chaplin) who finds work at the circus where he meets and falls in love with the circus owner’s daughter (Merna Kennedy). The Circus was nominated for best picture, best director, best actor, and best writing at the first Academy Awards however, those nominations are actually no longer officially listed. That being said, Charlie Chaplin did receive an honorary/special award for writing, acting, directing, and producing which does make sense because it’s not hard to imagine that The Circus might have won in any of its categories.

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Seventh Heaven (1927) | Classic Review [Spoiler Free]

15 Aug 2019 by Danielle T. Murray, posted in Movie Reviews, Movie: 1920s, Movies

[Header Image: Charles Farrell as Chico and Janet Gaynor as Diane]

“Not bad, eh? I work in the sewer – but I live near the stars!“

So, a little while back I toyed with the idea of watching every movie nominated for Best Picture which turned into me wanting to watch every movie nominated for any kind of Academy Award award. I really don’t plan to do anything other than keep track of what nominees I’ve seen via a letterboxd list I made and to potentially write a few reviews here and there like this one. It’s because of this random idea I had that I came across Seventh Heaven and I’m so glad that I did.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Seventh Heaven is a silent film that follows a sewer worker, Chico (Charles Farrell) who saves young woman, Diane (Janet Gaynor), and the pair fall in love before war eventually intervenes. It sounds like such a simple premiss, right? It is but as I said before, I’m so incredibly happy that I came across this movie because it is genuinely so good.

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Killjoys Season 5 Episode 4: ‘Ship Outta Luck’ Review

14 Aug 201915 Aug 2019 by Danielle T. Murray, posted in TV Reviews, TV Shows, TV: 2010s

[Header Image: Luke Macfarlane as D’avin Jaqobis, Aaron Ashmore as John Jaqobis, and Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch | Syfy/Space]

We pick up pretty much where we left off last week, with Team Awesome Force arriving at a high-security prison. The sequence of Johnny and D’avin being questioned at the prison was really great, especially with Johnny trying to prove that he’s a Killjoy. It was interesting that they all got split up. Dutch and D’avin are in a bit of a predicament considering there’s not much they can do right off the bat but Johnny wastes no time in getting stuff done. And let me tell you, when Lucy’s voice came through, I screamed. I was not expecting to hear from her again so soon (if we ever did). Now, I know it’s technically not our Lucy but still, it’s a step in the right direction and it was really funny to hear this new version call him Sean by accident. I really hope we get her back properly at some point but even a new Lucy is better than no Lucy.

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I Am Mother (2019) | Movie Review [Spoiler Free]

13 Aug 201915 Aug 2019 by Danielle T. Murray, posted in Movie Reviews, Movie: 2010s, Movies

This one was definitely a surprise. When it first popped up on Netflix it caught my attention because it was clearly a sci-fi movie, a genre I’m always interested in checking out. Recently, I decided to look a little further into it and after discovering the plot, I finally decided to sit down and watch it. I’ll be honest and say I’m still a little unsure of how I feel about it entirely but I’m definitely glad I checked it out. It’s completely worth it.

The overall premise isn’t necessarily groundbreaking but it is explored and executed in really interesting ways. I Am Mother follows a teenage girl known as daughter (Clara Rugaard) who is raised by a robot – Mother (Luke Hawker, voiced by Rose Byrne) – following an extinction of mankind, however, one day a stranger (Hilary Swank) arrives. The movie is really well paced, albeit a little slow on a couple of occasions, and the overall structure of it is easy to follow even with the many twists and turns along the way. It doesn’t overcomplicate anything and while it is an ambitious movie, it never gets too over the top. That being said, there’s always something going on even if some scenes are very tame.

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Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) | Movie Review

12 Aug 201912 Aug 2019 by Danielle T. Murray, posted in Movie Reviews, Movie: 2010s, Movies

[Header Image: Vanessa Kirby as Hattie Shaw, Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw and Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs | Universal Pictures]

“I’m trying to save the world, which, for the record, will be my fourth time. ‘Cause I’m really good at it.”

I saw Hobbs & Shaw yesterday and even after sleeping on it, I don’t think I’ve fully wrapped my head around how I feel about it. I did like it and I certainly had an enjoyable time which isn’t a total surprise. The Fast & Furious is one of – perhaps even my absolute – favourite franchise of all time. So, going into this particular movie, I knew I was going to like it to some extent.

That being said, despite the similarities it shares with the rest of the franchise, it is very different and I would say it might be my least favourite overall although I do recommend checking it out at some point. Something that helps, is to separate this movie from the franchise just a little. It makes it much more fun because while there are similarities between Hobbs & Shaw and the rest of the Fast & Furious franchise, it also has a lot of qualities about it that are independent. It’s also almost an entirely new cast and while one of the writers – Chris Morgan – has written for previous Fast & Furious instalments, it’s arguably still better to separate this particular movie to some extent.

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Killjoys Season 5 Episode 3: ‘Three Killjoys and a Lady’ Review

8 Aug 2019 by Danielle T. Murray, posted in TV Reviews, TV Shows, TV: 2010s

[Header Image: Aaron Ashmore as John Jaqobis, Luke Macfarlane as D’avin Jaqobis, and Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch | Syfy/Space]

Every episode I’m reminded as to why I love this show so deeply. I can honestly say that there’s no such thing as a bad episode of Killjoys. Some are better than others but overall it is such an entertaining show and you know each episode is going to be worth the watch. However, one of the other main things I adore about it, is the fact that it always manages to take me on a rollercoaster of a ride.

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