Matthew’s Movies for November

I have been busy for the past couple of weeks, attending the BFI London Film Festival 2019 and I attended 12 screenings of films that are going to be in cinemas within the next few months.

Interestingly it featured a number of films made by Netflix and Amazon Studios that will be getting a limited cinema release thus making them eligible for awards consideration. Here are a couple of films that are coming this month. Look out for a couple more of these films that I will be picking next month that are being screened in December.

Film of the Month

Knives Out

One of the best films I saw at the Festival was the new Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars The Last Jedi) film, Knives Out.

Rian Johnson is a fantastic filmmaker who is probably best known for making “The Last Jedi” back in 2017, however in my opinion his best work were his smaller lower budget films, Brick and Looper. So hearing he was going to make a small budget murder mystery got me pretty excited.

This film is his take on the classic “whodunnit” it manages to be both intense, humorous and is well written. Without getting into spoilers, the way it delves into the murder mystery is pretty surprising and keeps you on the edge of your seat from the beginning till the end. The acting in this film is phenomenal, there were no weak performances but its Daniel Craig and Ana De Armas who steal the entire film.

This movie is also incredibly self-aware, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and there’s a perfect amount of humour to keep you engaged.

That’s pretty much all I will say for now but let’s just say you should go into this film not knowing much about it.

Release date: 27  November

5/5 stars

Reviews by Matthew Farrelly

This month’s picks

Marriage Story:  15

Marriage Story is the new film from writer/director Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.) It tells the story of a couple played by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannsson going through a coast to coast divorce and the trials and tribulations that surrounds it. Both Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannsson are exceptional in this film particularly Johannsson who gives the best performance since Lost in Translation. This film also succeeds in bringing dark humour to a somewhat tragic love story. The comedy is very funny, and it does not take away from the tone of the film. This is overall a fantastic movie that you should definitely try to check out in the cinema.

It’s going to get a limited theatrical release in select cinemas sometime in November before arriving on Netflix on 6 December.

4/5 stars

Release Date: 6 December 2019

Le Mans 66: 12a

One of the more talked about films going into Oscar season was the new James Mangold Film (Logan, Walk the Line) Le Mans 66. The film stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale and tells the story of the rivalry between Ford And Ferrari that culminated in the 24 hour race at Le Mans in 1966. Both Damon and Bale shine in their roles as Carol Shelby and Ken Miles. This is not just a film about motorsport racing, it goes deep into the relationship between these characters and lets the audience experience what it is like to be part of a race team. My only issue with this film is its length. At 2 Hours and 32 Minutes, there are a couple of scenes that could have been cut from the film without impacting the story. This will probably get a couple of nominations come Oscar time and you should check out when it gets released on November 15th

3/5 stars

Release Date: 15 November 2019

The Aeronauts: PG

Another streaming film that I saw at the Festival was The Aeronauts. The film stars Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones in their second feature film together after the Oscar winning “The Theory of Everything” back in 2014. This film is not as good as that film but it’s still a pretty good film overall. The film is about a scientist and a daredevil pilot who take a hot air balloon to the highest reaches of the Atmosphere to prove his theory that the weather can be predicted. Inspired by true events, the film is entertaining and manages to succeed to put some excitement into what is a fairly simple storyline. Redmayne and Jones work really well off each other and are believable in their roles. This film will be getting a limited theatrical engagement but will be available on Amazon Prime Instant Video in December.

3/5 stars

Release Date: December 2019

Reviews by Matthew Farrelly