It is New Year’s Eve and as such I am bound by the international blogging code of ethics to review the year that is about to end. The year in question is 2022, which, not being a leap year, was made up of 365 days. Some of those days were quite interesting. Some were not…
Tag: review
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 24
It’s Christmas Eve again, and therefore time once more to bring an end to my annual Christmas Countdown of films that are a bit Christmas(ish). You’d imagine that after six years of this pointless lunacy that I would finally have fun out of movies but, alas, I already have another 24 lined up for next…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 23
2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level is the sequel to 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which is, in itself, both a reboot and sequel of sorts to the original Jumanji. It may help to have seen the previous Jumanji movies to enjoy the 2019 offering, but it’s not really necessary. The Jumanji movies know who…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 22
2020’s Wonder Woman 1984 may not be as good as 2017’s Wonder Woman but it’s by no means the worst entry in the DC Extended Universe. Which may be faint praise, given some of the abominations that have been churned out under the umbrella of that particular franchise. But Wonder Woman was a great movie…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 21
Compared to the largely coherent Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Extended Universe has always seemed a bit shambolic and rushed. Which isn’t to say there haven’t been some good movies to come out of the project. My Christmas Eve entry for the 2019 iteration my advent calendar was the rather excellent Shazam, which is technically…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 20
It’s pretty much accepted wisdom that every even numbered Star Trek movie is good and every odd numbered Star Trek movie is bad. It’s not actually true anymore, though it is a little more true when you only consider the movies starring the cast from the original series. I still think that’s both a little…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 19
The original 1972 version of The Poseidon Adventure is infinitely better than the 2006 ‘reimagining’ of the story. It is still, fundamentally, a popcorn disaster movie, that requires a certain amount of suspended disbelief, and clearly the special effects are no match for the remake, but the advantage the original has over the subsequent version…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 18
Danny DeVito’s 1989 black comedy reunites him with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner after their successful collaborations in Romancing the Stone and The Jewell of the Nile. The War of the Roses is quite a departure from those earlier movies but none the less enjoyable for it. Having absolutely nothing to do with the actual…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 17
Few actors divide opinion as much as Nicholas Cage. Is he a gifted actor, as indicated by his numerous awards or is he, in fact, a really bad actor?. Those arguing the latter case need look no further than 1994’s abomination of a comedy Trapped In Paradise. Which is not a good movie. At all.…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 5
Despite the fact that Arthurian legend seems to be the perfect source material for a Hollywood epic, there really aren’t too many King Arthur movies that spring to mind. At least not good ones. And much as I love Monty Python and The Holy Grail, it is a damning indictment of the general failure to…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 4
Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane is oft described as the greatest movie ever made. I can only assume that the people making that claim have never seen Star Wars but I will concede, that even without a lightsaber in sight for the near 2-hour running time, Citizen Kane is a remarkable achievement. I’m hardly…
The Sixth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 2
2019’s ‘live action’ update of Disney’s Lady and the Tramp doesn’t have any offensive racial caricatures masquerading as cats, which is a notable improvement, but otherwise it’s generally inferior to the original. That is pretty much the case with all the Disney ‘live action’ remakes. So failing to live up to the original animated classic…
The Formulaic James Proclaims New Year’s Eve Review Of The Year That Was
It’s New Years Eve and tradition dictates that I must review the year gone by for fear that no-one else will think to do it and the year would end unreviewed. Which would be a disaster. This year, the year that will be being reviewed is 2021. The best thing about 2021 was that it…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 24
Another Christmas Eve is upon us. Thus I must conclude my annual homage to movies which aren’t necessarily Christmas films, but which could, nonetheless, be considered a bit Christmas(ish). As of this post, I have entered 120 films into this most prestigious ‘Hall of Fame’ and I’ve already got another 24 lined up for next…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 22
1944 musical Meet Me In St. Louis is a film about a family that really like living in St. Louis. I don’t think it would be too disingenuous to claim that it’s not really about much else. There are a few subplots involving the love lives of the older siblings and some others involving the…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 17
2013’s I Give It A Year is a sort of anti-rom-com, about a ‘happily ever after’ that doesn’t pan out the way it is supposed to. It’s an interesting concept but in many respects it plays like an actual rom-com, and it relies so much on being fed by the hand it is ostensibly trying…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 15
The plot of 2017 drama ‘The Wife’ does rather hinge on a twist, and it is quite a predictable twist. But just because you can spot the revelation long before it’s revealed, does not make the journey any less enjoyable. Glenn Close gives an understated but brilliant performance as the titular character, while Jonathan Pryce…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 13
A movie which centres around one man trapped on an island for five years definitely runs the risk of being a bit..well…dull. While such an ordeal might make a compelling narrative for a novel, it seems hard to imagine how a film with only one character for a significant portion of its running time could…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 12
Having included Bridget Jones Diary in last year’s Christmas(ish) movie countdown, I felt it only right that I revisit the 2004 sequel to explore its Christmas(ish) credentials. As is often the case with sequels, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is not as good as the original movie. It might even be reasonable to suggest…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 11
When I included 1995’s Jumanji in last year’s iteration of my advent calendar I received a couple of comments that suggested that the 2017 relaunch of the franchise might actually be one of those rare instances of a reboot being better than the original. And those comments were absolutely spot on – Jumanji: Welcome to…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 10
2018 action-thriller Peppermint is rarely thrilling and I’m not entirely sure why it’s called Peppermint. It often feels like a straight-to-DVD affair but I think it had a moderately successful cinematic release. Jennifer Garner stars as the vigilante out to avenge the murder of her family and, to be fair to her, she is definitely…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 7
2016’s La La Land has enough critical acclaim and a whole raft of awards (though it famously only held the Academy Award for Best Picture for about two minutes), so it doesn’t really matter if I liked it or not. I didn’t actually see it for the first time until August 2017, by which time…
The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 1
Unless I’m much mistaken it is now December and therefore it must be time for The Fifth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films. We kick off this year’s festive countdown with a movie from the Rocky franchise. This is the third time a Rocky movie has featured in my annual advent calendar with…
The Inevitable James Proclaims New Year’s Eve Review Of The Year That Was
Ever since I started this blog, back in 2015, I’ve posted a sort of ‘review of the year’ on the 31st of December. It’s the kind of innovative idea that has made James Proclaims the ‘go-to’ blog for literally tens of people the world over for several years now. I’m surprised nobody else does it…
The Fourth Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 22
Back in 2017, when I first started doing The James Proclaims Advent Calendar Of Christmas(ish) Films I included Rocky IV in the line-up. Because it is a bit Christmassy, albeit one of the weaker entries in the Rocky franchise. It is something of an oversight then, that I managed not to include the original 1976…
May The Twenty-Sixth Be With You: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (The Series)
In all honesty, when I started this month long homage to Star Wars, I wasn’t actually planning on doing much more than writing about the nine movies of the ‘Skywalker Saga’ in episode order over the first nine days of the month. Then I thought, given that I’d seen both ‘Solo‘ and ‘Rogue One‘, I…
May The Tenth Be With You: Star Wars Holiday Special
Can you truly call yourself a Star Wars fan if you’ve never seen the 1978 ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’? Yes. Of course you can. Indeed for your own sanity, you should avoid watching this at all costs. And back before the Internet, it was easy to not watch this. It was only ever shown on…
The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 16
Richard Curtis is a man who divides opinions. Specifically he divides my opinions. In some respects the man achieved a God-like status in my esteem in my formative years, because he was one of the people responsible for bringing the world Blackadder. No-one linked with that peerless television programme could ever do any wrong in my…
The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 8
Door 8 of The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films brings us 2005’s Just Friends. Notionally a ‘rom-com’ it probably is a little more ‘com’ than ‘rom’. Which would generally make it more to my tastes. It’s not always as funny as it would like to be, but it deserves credit for effort…
The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 6
It’s December 6th and therefore no coincidence that it’s time to open door number 6 of The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films. And as luck would have it, we have a 2019 movie waiting for us in the not-at-all-bad Cold Pursuit. You might recall that Liam Neeson made the headlines earlier…
The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films – Door 3
Door 3 of The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films and what do we find. Why it’s 2015’s Tangerine. A movie shot entirely on iPhones, starring a largely unknown cast and focusing on a day in the somewhat unorthodox lives of two transgender sex-workers was not exactly top of my list of ‘must-see’ movies…
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