Reading back my summary of film in 2020, I was reminded of the desperate state cinema was in a year ago. In 2020, cinemas were dogged by closures and low audience numbers, due to many people being too frightened of Covid-19 to see a film during the few points of the year where cinemas were open. One year down the line, I would like to reassure my past self that, yes, I did make it to the cinema at least once in 2021 and, yes, Black Widow and No Time to Die did come out.
2021 was a cinematic year of two halves. In the second half of the year, cinemagoers experienced a return to normalcy, with blockbuster films coming out and audiences packing out cinemas to enjoy them. I also managed to make it to in-person screenings for the London Film Festival and have (so far) avoided getting Covid-19.
However, many questions still hang over the future of cinema. Audiences are not back to where they were in pre-pandemic times and the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant may keep them low for the foreseeable future. Can the current form of the franchise blockbuster, which has dominated cinema for so long, survive these uncertain times?
Merry Christmas! Let’s mention it here since Nick and Alastair barely do in the episode! Because they’re too busy reviewing Doctor Who: Flux and Wrath of Man!
Lastly, Nick and Alastair explore the Wrath of Man (26:47) with Jason Statham, in a movie which might be a subtle, nuanced exploration of male rage. They’re not sure.
It’s another full-Netflix episode to start the next hundred-and-fifty, with smash hit animation Arcane and mega-musical-movie Tick, Tick… Boom!
Lastly, but more tunefully, it’s time to get musical about musicals with Lin Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut Tick, Tick… Boom! (26:10), an adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical show featuring an all-singing all-dancing Andrew Garfield.
It’s the 150th episode of Moderate Fantasy Violence, and Nick and Alastair celebrate this occasion by breaking new ground with… a couple of Netflix movies! Specifically, The Harder They Fall and Army of Thieves.
And then they cruise to a stop with Army of Thieves (
Lastly, Edgar Wright also has a fresh approach to share with the team with Last Night In Soho (
This fortnight, both Nick and Alastair see their favourite teenage culture return in terrifying forms, with the new Dune adaptation and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Which one has aged better?
After that, the oily wasteland of Nick’s teenage years also rears its toothy head in Venom: Let There Be Carnage (25:46), although it may not have much in common with the comics he read when he was thirteen. But is that such a bad thing?
This fortnight, Nick and Alastair control their liquid intake and sit down for lengthy new Bond film No Time To Die, then return to Marvel’s multiverse with What If…?
Lastly, Nick and Alastair return to Marvel’s speculative indulgence event What If…? (32:03), chat about how the rest of the season played out and each reveal their top 3 episodes.
This fortnight, Nick and Alastair tackle the popular film genre of movies beginning with G which came out in America a while ago – it’s The Green Knight and Gunpowder Milkshake.
Lastly, Karen Gillan goes on a stylish crime spree in Gunpower Milkshake (
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