20s Movie Review - Soul

Director: Pete Doctor, Kemp Powers
Genre: Family/ Adventure/ Animation
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell Rawlings, Questlove, Angela Bassett

Description: After landing the gig of a lifetime, A New York jazz pianist (Jamie Foxx) suddenly finds himself trapped in a strange land between Earth and the afterlife.

Review: The Disney Pixar animation film “Soul” became the ‘victim’ of the Covid pandemic. Because due to the closure of cinemas, the release schedule was turned upside down. “Soul” was released directly on the streaming platform Disney+. And you didn’t have to pay a ridiculous additional price to gain early access.
Joe is a music teacher who has dreamed of performing as a jazz musician for years. But disaster strikes when his joy at finally getting his chance on stage causes him to fall into a well. Joe ends up in a place, somewhere between Earth and the afterlife, where he manages to escape the final end just in the nick of time. He ends up in the Big One. Here he is given the task of preparing the old soul 22 to go to Earth. But Joe also sets out frantically to return to his body himself.
“Soul” deals with a heavy theme. It deals with death or rather life. Important questions that humans have wondered about for years are addressed. What is out purpose and what is the purpose of life? And what is there after death? The animators of “Soul” manage to create an excellent picture of the afterlife and the world before the final end. that something more abstract than Earthly life is animated. With colorful characters who guide Joe’s soul in his new task as mentor of the ancient soul 22.
Despite its fraught theme, “Soul” is also tremendously funny. Especially when Joe and 22 return to Earth and have a wacky adventure together. With that, “Soul” offers us a lot. There is humor and drama. One moment there are tears of laughter and the other moment it’s of sadness. This makes “Soul” not only a beautiful film, but also one of the Disney Pixar film of recent years. Not only because of the beautiful story, but also the animation and voice performances are stunning. A film that entertains and moves. But above all brings the message that life is short and you should enjoy every minute of it.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Director: David Dobkin
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens, Pierce Brosnan, Graham Norton, Mikael Persbrandt, Demi Lovato

Description: When aspiring musicians Lars (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Rachel McAdams) are given the opportunity to represent their country at the world’s biggest song competition, they finally have a chance to prove that any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for.

Review: I wasn’t very sad about having to miss the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Even though my country The Netherlands won last year and it was supposed to take place here this year, I was never a fan of this song contest. I merely watch it because I want to laugh at the silly acts and bad songs. The film “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Sage” is a perfect consolation prize for all the fans and I would chose this movie over the actual event any time.
As a straightforward American, comedian Will Ferrell had no idea what the Eurovision song contest was. When his Swedish wife Viveca invited him to watch with her family, his jaw dropped. Nice idea for a film he thought.
In “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”, Will Ferrell plays singer Lars who has dreamed of performing at Eurovision all his life. Together with his childhood friend Sigrit, played by Rachal McAdams, he forms the Icelandic band Fire Saga, who can participate in the Eurovision Song Contest due to an unfortunate accident. They’re just not well-prepared and they stumble through everything hilariously.
Will Ferrell clearly has been preparing for “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”. He went behind the scenes of the Eurovision Song Contest to do research and was later allowed to come back with a camera crew to make recordings of the audience. The realism is further enhanced by cameos of a number of former participants and of Graham Norton, the regular British commentator. This makes it a real party that manages to evoke the feeling of Eurovision.
The film couldn’t come at a more perfect time, with the actual event being cancelled. And like I stated before, I prefer this film over the real Eurovision.
It’s hilarious, over-the-top film, with funny performances by both Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. And it has everything that Eurovision also has, bizarre costumes, silly songs, extraordinary characters. This film shouldn’t be taken too seriously. And if you don’t, “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” is a lot of fun!

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Video of the Week (3)

I was watching "The Graham Norton Show", as I do every saturday, and three lovely gentleman actors where sitting on Graham's red couch: Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, for the promotion of their new "X-Men" movie. Hugh starting talking about Michael, who Always came on set while the song "Blurred Lines" was playing. The three guys decided to show the audience how it looks on set.