The first weekend of ‘lockdown’ is now over, and nobody knows how many more of these we’ve got to come.
The Belarusian Premier League is the only football going on in the world, and according to my Dad, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway was “crap.”
I read famous film critic Mark Kemode’s brilliant book The Hatchet Job: Love Movies, Hate Critics, during the festive period and he says “people have let me down plenty, but my favourite movies have always been there.”
I’m not suggesting we should all take this view, however during this time your favourite films are still there for you to watch and so are films you’ve never seen before.
As people call up Sky to pause their Sky Sports subscription, why not upgrade to Sky Cinema so you can watch these five films from the last two years that are well worth a watch over the next week.
Recent Hit: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2019)
Director – Marielle Heller – 107mins – Age Certificate: 15
I had the pleasure of watching this film for the first time on Sunday evening, and I absolutely loved it.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is based on the confessional memoir, of the same title, written by Lee Isreal (Melissa McCarthy – who is absolutely fantastic). Lee is a failing writer and struggling to get by financially.
She sells on a personal letter she received from famous actress Katharine Hepburn to a book dealer for a surprisingly high amount of money. Lee then realises that if she is to forge similar pieces she may be able to get out of her financial difficulty.
Lee befriends cocaine-addict and former-friend Jack Hock (the excellent Richard E Grant) to help her with this operation. This film was surprisingly snubbed at the Golden Globes, Academy Awards and the BAFTAs, but this is definitely Melissa McCarthy’s best performance of her career. Can You Ever Forgive Me? is tense, funny and just an incredibly great watch.
Guy Movies Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Horror, Anyone?: Us (2019)
Director – Jordan Peele – 116mins – Age Certificate: 15
I’ve never been a huge fan of horror films, however over the last couple of years there’s been a surge of highly-rated horrors that I felt I’ve had to watch, and Us is one of them.
The second film from Jordan Peele (director of the huge hit Get Out), Us is another well-written, slight-scary but entertaining picture. Us follows Adelaide Wilson (the superb Lupita Nyong’o) and her family who go on vacation to their house in Santa Cruz.
On the first evening, a family of four – resembling the Wilson family – appear on the driveway of the home and try to attack them.
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Star Wars and Black Panther) was controversially snubbed for an acting nomination in all of the major film awards this year, but once again standouts in this tense modern-horror.
Guy Movies Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Football Fix: The Keeper (2019)
Director – Marcus H. Rosenmuller – 119mins – Age Certificate: 15
As mentioned in the intro, some of us are losing our heads at the lack of football available to us, but fear not, I have a simply excellent football film recommendation for you.
The Keeper is a biographical film based on the famous German goalkeeper Bert Trautmann (David Kross). This film is mix between a drama and a football picture, and is set just after the end of the Second World War.
Trautmann, after being captured while fighting for the Germans, is taken to a British prisoner of war camp in Lancashire. A local non-league manager watches Trautmann playing in goal in the camp and bribes the commander to allow the German to play for his football team, much to the displeasure of the players.
Like football? This is worth a watch. Fan of war films? Watch this. Like a period drama? Also, give this a watch. Let me know what you think.
Guy Movies Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Award Winner: BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Director – Spike Lee – 135mins – Age Certificate: 15
Spike Lee made the headlines during the 2019 Oscars after announcing his displeasure when BlacKkKlansman missed out on the Best Picture award to Green Book (another Guy Movies recommendation).
You can see why, as this biographical crime-drama, based on Ron Stallworth’s (John David Washington) memoir of the same title, is a gripping and interesting watch.
In the late 1970s, Ron is appointed as the first black police officer at the Colorado Springs Police Department. Soon into his role, Ron contacts a local division of the Ku Klux Klan and pretends to be a white man who seems keen to join.
Jewish co-worker Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) is recruited to act as Ron when meeting the KKK, as the two attempt to find a way to arrest the group.
Winner of Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2018 Oscars, BlacKkKlansman is a fascinating insight to Ron Stallworth’s incredible story.
Guy Movies Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Give It A Try: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Directors – Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rotman – 117mins – Age Certificate: PG
“You’re joking – not another one!”, I’m sure is what some of you are thinking. Yes, here is another Spider-Man film, a superhero that seems to have had more reboots than Katie Price has had husbands, and whisper it quietly… this could be the best one.
Having grown up with Tobey Maguire in the noughties Spider-Man trilogy, to then being let down by Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man before watching Tom Holland do a decent job as reprising Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is something very different.
At times it feels like you’re watching a real-life comic book come to life as African-American teenager Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) teams up with a number of Spider-People from different universes to save New York City from supervillain Kingpin.
Chris Pine, Hailee Steinfeld and Mahershala Ali are just some of the big names that are voices in this diverse and hilarious Spider-Man spin-off.
Guy Movies Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
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