Author: George Clark

Let’s start by saying that I’ve never played an Uncharted game, nor do I know anything about the lore or storylines behind the franchise. Yet adventure movies like this are exactly my thing so of course I was excited for this..hell it was even on my most anticipated list this year! Let’s be fair, no one really expected to much from this adaptation but I’m pleased to say that I absolutely loved it. This is exactly the kind of movie 10 year old me would have adored and one I still have fun with today. 

Tom Holland makes for a fantastic action hero, his Nathan Drake may be younger than fans wanted but for me Holland is always a bonus. His charm and charisma onscreen works wonders alongside Mark Wahlberg, a Sully people will be rather mixed on but worked well enough for me, Sophia Ali, an accomplice that’s a tad to predictable and the two villains Tati Gabrielle and Antonio Banderas, the latter who’s sadly wasted within.

Nevertheless, I had an absolute blast with this film. Uncharted is at its best when it embraces the potential to be silly and spectacular. The auction scene is fun, plane scene gripping and the ‘flying’ ships scene, as shown in the trailer, is an absolute delight. The film holds so many enjoyable moments that it’s easy to overlook just how predictable it is and how shoddy the dialogue can be, and that’s exactly what I did, succeeding in doing exactly what it sets out to do, create a fun popcorn blockbuster. 

It was always going to be a herculean task to adapt Uncharted to the big screen but for me it worked, setting a solid foundation for a new adventure franchise that has all the elements we look for in the genre while also having two stars that may not be the Nate and Sully people had in their heads, but ultimately do a rather great job and could easily get there with time.

Sony is hopefully on to a winner here, and for good reason: Uncharted is a well-known IP and has one of the biggest, brightest and best young stars on the planet at it’s forefront, not to mention it’s under the safe guidance of Ruben Fleischer, a filmmaker who has made three of their biggest films of the last two decades.

It’s easy to see why many will disregard it but for me, and I’m sure many others around the world, Uncharted proved to be a great time at the movies, a film I had fun with every step of the way and one I can’t wait to watch again. It’s flawed but hell, I loved it! 

C’mon C’mon is a truly beautiful film. Mike Mills directs with such passion, such joy that every moment touches you to your core. 

There are so many ways this could have easily ended up as just another formulaic family centric affair. But it’s just so heartfelt that in almost every scene it’s trying to make sense of the happy, sad, shifting life we all live in. There are no great epiphanies at the end of the road within, just a lot of quiet conversations, some friendly and some rather fulled, between an uncle and nephew as they try to figure out their place in world. That, for me, is what makes C’mon C’mon as pleasurable as it is. It’s calm, melodic tone works extremely well, developing the Uncle and Nephew’s relationship and showing you just how much both were impacted by their time together.

Once again Joaquin Phoenix puts in an Oscar calibre performance. The scenes he shares with Woody Norman are remarkable, but the scenes he spends interviewing young adults about the future are just as good. Hearing the perspectives of younger generations are heartwarming while soul crushing and each individual answer was incredible. Alongside him, 12 year old Woody Norman proves that he’s an absolute star. His acting is stunning, he controls the screen alongside Phoenix which truly amazed me and, for me, deserves at least a support actor nomination despite his young age. There’s a subtlety to Phoenix’s leading man performance that is tender, knowing, and quite moving, and Norman provides a balance that blends irrational fears and childlike wonder perfectly. 

It’s fair to say C’mon C’mon lives up to the hype. A poetic and bittersweet film that asks us to recognise the mistakes we make, the people we wound, the feelings we hurt, and to maybe give ourselves a break in the process. The smooth black and white imagery, simple cinematography and performance are all top class. A24 and Mike Mills, you’ve really impressed me.