Mike Goes To Movies

Apollo 11 (2019) That's it - I'm officially on board with the ol' theory that Stanley Kubrick masterminded the Apollo 11 landing footage 'witnessed' by the world in 1969. The new footage seen in this documentary, the cinematic majesty of it (quite reminiscent of 2001...), the suspense of it, the pacing of it, it all seems to perfectly align with Kubrick's style. It's just too fitting... Anyways!... back to the real business - the new Apollo 11 documentary is quite simply incredible, and one that should be seen by any space lover, film lover or, really, anyone who wants to witness one of humankind's greatest achievements in fantastic cinematic fashion. The documentary breaks the mold of most documentaries and lacks the usual narrative structure. In Apollo there are no interviews, nor is there a narrator, other than the real life NASA workers speaking and announcing critical information to other NASA individuals about the status of the spacecraft and...

Green Book (2018) My first proper review! Last night, I finally got the chance to see the past year's hottest ticket, Green Book, ahead of its probable multiple winnings this coming Sunday. Expectations for the film have been fairly cemented in my mind since its premiere at TIFF this past fall where it won the festival's acclaimed People's Choice Award and, since its wide release, it has gone on to garner quite unanimously positive reviews. It's in these instances that my often pessimistic self likes to buck the trend and endeavour to find fault where most have been unable to, especially with a 'wholesome' type of film such that Green Book has been categorized as. It's for these reasons that, upon finishing Green Book, I was pleased to find that I had enjoyed the film and that it had met the high expectations I had for it. Yes, the movie is, in fact, quite the wholesome story and one who's plot does not contain much surprise. However, when a film ...

10. There Will Be Blood (2007) and No Country For Old Men (2007) Yes, right off the bat I am going to go ahead and cheat on my list... (hey, it's my list anyways, so lay off!). I place both of these films together because they resonate in similar ways for me, on top of the fact that they also do bear a number of factual similarities. Both were filmed in 2006 in the same vicinity of western Texas, released in 2007 and widely competed with each other for the highest accolades at the awards ceremonies that year. Both films take place in an arid, beautifully-shot, desert landscape, each following the machinations of a violent and unfailingly driven man. One is motivated by wealth and success, the other... well, it's not entirely known. In both, the filmmakers involved are without a doubt at the height of their crafts. Direction, writing, cinematography, editing, score and acting, among others, are all at their finest levels within these two films. It is unsurprising then t...

Mike's All-Time Top 10 To ease into things a bit, I thought I would be self-indulgent and list off some of my favourite films. This list may not be entirely accurate... Numbers 1 and 2 have been clear in my head for a long time in those respective positions. The rest of the list, however, I just thought up now, and so, they may be somewhat interchangeable with one another, and also, had I thought longer about this list, other films may actually more deservedly hold those spots. A few thoughts about this list: 1) Yes, I am still fairly childish; many of these films are genre films: horror/sci-fi/fantasy, they are simply ones that I grew up with, 2) I do not have any comedies here because I find that where I place them frequently changes over time (maybe I'll do a separate comedy list at some point), and 3) in some of these cases, I simply wanted to do service to a particular director and so I chose one that I thought represented them well. This list is of my favourite fil...

Welcome to the inaugural post of Mike Goes to Movies. A blog set up by me - the titular 'Mike' - a filmgoer / cinephile like many of you. In fact, I enjoy film so much that I decided to divert my career as a lawyer (much to the dismay of all rational thinkers in my life) and enroll in film school this past Fall! Where that leads to I do not have the faintest idea - perhaps I will keep you apprised of that as we continue onward, or... maybe not (if what many of my professors say about the futility of entering the industry is true...). In tandem with this formal education route, I thought it might be fun to also go the more-informal route, and start a blog/page where I can share my thoughts and opinions on film, television and other related topics onto the world, and hopefully start some engaging conversations about what film means to all of us. I am creating this page with an aim of being expansive and also inclusive. Here, we will talk about film and also television (a...