The Quite Nerdy Blog

Before I get into the review, an announcement. I now have a Letterboxd account so for all of you who have it, you can find me at https://letterboxd.com/QuiteNerdyBlog/ but if you don't have it, it's a solid little social networking site based around films, it's worth checking out. You can find out how I feel about films I haven't reviewed, what I'm watching and I'm slowly building up a collection of lists there. So if you really need more of my film opinions, follow that link! Now, to Solo. As the title kind of gives away, Solo: A Star Wars Story is a story set in the Star Wars universe about famous smuggler/rogue/scruffy looking nerfherder Han Solo. Like Rogue One, it's a prequel story set before the events of the original trilogy which tells the story of how Han Solo became the character we all came to love. How did he get his blaster? How did he meet Chewie? How did he get his surname? We find out all those answers and more in the course of a story t...

Deadpool 2 is the sequel to that superhero film from 2016 that everyone liked because the dude in red said naughty words instead of shooting webs. I liked the movie too and while I may have been a littl over eager with the score I gave it back then, it was a really enjoyable time and a refreshing move from Fox. When that movie was the success it was, a sequel was inevitable and it's here, directed by one of the John Wick guys. Turns out, it's pretty great but lets break down the plot first. There's a little bit of stuff happening before the plot kicks into full gear but once it does, it's essentially The Terminator or Looper. Cable, a cyborg from the future, has travelled to the present day to murder a little kid with the power to shoot fire from his hands who will grow up into a serial killer. Deadpool decides (for assorted reasons) that he should protect the kid and so begins a wacky journey in which the X Force are formed and child murder is continuously attempte...

Spoilers are ahead for both seasons of the show. I recommend watching season 1 first, I can't say the same for season 2. I'll be upfront about it, I thought the first season of 13 Reasons Why was excellent. I don't have much experience with people with mental heath issues or suicidal thoughts so I can't speak to if the show is harmful for them but I thought much of it was relatively tasteful. On screen portrayals of rape and suicide are always troubling but the show at least has the decency to make these events near unwatchable. Aside from that, there was a deep emotional truth underneath everything and the show lent perfectly to binge watching, as you race to explore what is hidden on each tape, making it genuinely brilliant television and incredibly interesting conversation. That's why I was really excited to see what season 2 of the show would bring. Sure, it's a story that could have worked as a self contained mini-series but there were plot threads lef...

A couple of weeks ago, I did a post about the best films I'd never seen and topping that list was The Holy Mountain, a Mexican surrealist film that can't be defined any neater than that. A couple of days ago, I finally watched it and I want to try and digest it but I know a few days of digestion and one viewing isn't enough. With that in mind, I'm proposing this new feature in which I revisit particular films once a year in an attempt to understand them and there may be no better example of suitability for this format than The Holy Mountain. First of all, I want to say that I already absolutely love this film. I don't know exactly what I expected going in but it captured me intensely and it's truly undeniable that there is no film like it. Even the films of David Lynch (America's most popular surrealist) can't help as an access point, Jodorowsky creating work that is as undeniably surreal in such a different way. Unlike Mulholland Drive though (the ...

In years past, I've celebrated films that help people get through exam season but honestly, this year I want to shine a light on the films that will just snap you in two. In some of these cases, it's the emotional power that will destroy you, in others it's just the fight to understand what the hell is happening. In any case, if you want to have the shit beaten out of you emotionally or mentally, these are the films to do it. As a warning though, there may be mild spoilers ahead. I'm going to try not to spoil any of these films but getting to the root of what makes them work so well may need some deeper discussion than usual. 7. Annihilation Starting with the most recent film on the list and one clearly in the mental breakdown category, Annihilation is damn impressive and slowly suckers you in. Sure, there's a gradual promise of these mysteries that will be solved as you wade into the rest of the film but it isn't until the third act that it really pulls...

Avengers: Infinity War may well be the most anticipated movie of all time and as such, it's a very tricky task to tip toe around the expectations, spoilers and everything else that a behemoth like this comes with. With that in mind, the plot is about a big bad dude called Thanos who wants to collect six Infinity Stones that, when combined with his gauntlet, will allow him to snap his fingers and wipe out half of the universe. The Avengers have to come together in various little groups to stop Thanos destroying life as we know it. From this synopsis, you can probably pick up many of the plot beats that it's going to cover and while a few events weren't in the places I thought and some moments really surprised me, it's not exactly going to blow anyone's minds for plot revelations, unless you really do have your head jammed into your arse. That said, the ending is pretty amazing and the people in my screening seemed very impressed by it but it should be noted that ...