Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie (2025)

Based on a web series, and a subsequent TV series, Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie should appeal to fans of those involved. I would say, however, that I ended up liking it a lot, despite my ignorance of the property. And hearing about how the show used to play out, I might not have wanted to give this my time if I thought it might end up feeling too focused on various improvised encounters with members of the public (as was common in the show).

The plot starts off simply enough. Musicians Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol (played by . . . Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol) are trying in vain to get their band booked into a venue named the Rivoli. They just want one chance, but it hasn't happened in the many years that they've been trying. No worries. The answer is clearly time travel. What starts as an unlikely joke soon turns into something quite serious when Matt spills juice over his own home-made flux capacitor, which makes it work just as it does in Back To The Future. Things can now be changed for the better, but only if our two leads can stay friends and stay focused. Which seems unlikely.

With Johnson also directing, and both he and McCarrol crafting a screenplay featuring input from pretty much everyone in their core creative group, this is very much a small-scale indie flick in all but the actual budget (which seems to have been about $2M). For better or worse, and despite the very obvious shadow cast over it by BTTF, it's quite unlike anything else I've seen in recent years, and it's all the better for being so unique.

While there is a lot of improv on display here, kudos to the film-makers for making use of most of it in a way that works in service of a surprisingly complex main narrative strand. It's one thing to go out and about, filming hours and hours of footage to get the snippets of actual material required, but it's another thing entirely to assemble everything into a feature that feels both anarchic and finely-tuned.

Johnson and McCarrol also do very well in their main roles. They may not be the best actors, but their special skillset lies in working in a way that allows them to keep many options available to them as they dance and whirl around a variety of key sequences. Nobody else onscreen may have as much work to do, but they're all very good, whether getting directly involved in the action or simply showing how they have to hang back and blend in with the surroundings.

I don't think I'll rush to watch this again, and I'm certainly not won over to the idea of checking out episodes of the show, but this was a fun time while it was on, and there were a couple of moments that felt genuinely impressive (the main one being a wild set-piece within the first 10-20 minutes). I laughed enough, I appreciated the sweetness that became more apparent as things started to move to the inevitable conclusion, and I actually started to hope that maybe one day, just maybe, these guys would get to play their dream gig at the Rivoli. 

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: BlackBerry (2023)

Some technology stays with us for what seems like forever. Some of it comes and goes, having a shining moment before becoming an obscure novelty, and becoming the modern version of a tech antique within just a few years. Show someone a portable CD player nowadays and explain it to them. In fact, show someone the Sega Mega-CD. Remember that? My old flatmate had one. I'm not sure anyone else did. The world of the mobile phone is littered with other prime examples. Models that were once so ubiquitous, but are no longer around (unless re-released to appeal to nostalgia). The sturdy Nokia 3310 is one example. The Motorola Razr V3i is another. And there's the BlackBerry, the first device that I saw sold as letting you have the power of a computer in your pocket. I never had one, but I used to view all mobile communication devices as nothing more than accessories for yuppies and/or wankers.

Speaking of those kinds of people, here we are with a movie that tells us about the incredible rise, and just as incredible fall, of the device. Directed by, co-written by, and starring Matt Johnson, it shows how a couple of men (Mike, played by Jay Baruchel, and Doug, played by Johnson) were able to make their mark on the world once they allowed a wolf (Jim, played by Glenn Howerton) into their metaphorical hen-house.  

Based on a book, "Losing The Signal", written by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, BlackBerry benefits from a great script co-written by Johnson and Matthew Miller, and a trio of fantastic lead performances from Baruchel, Johnson, and Howerton, the latter an absolute bulldog in human form. There's also the inherent nostalgia factor, of course, and it helps that the true story has enough fascinating twists and turns to build a movie around.

Howerton is the individual overshadowing all others here, and his constant aggression is very entertaining, mainly because of how others struggle to deal with him. While there are elements of the character that you know would appeal to Howerton, it also forces him to leave any comedic instincts at the door as he depicts someone so strong-willed and single-minded that he becomes quite monstrous. Baruchel does his usual slightly awkward schtick, but also convinces as his character ages up and loses most of his innocence and naivete. Johnson might give himself the role of the most sensible one of the three, but that also allows him to stay present throughout most of the runtime without usually being the focus of any one scene, which may have helped him to focus on his role behind the camera. Martin Donovan turns up for a scene or two, as do Saul Rubinek, Cary Elwes, Michael Ironside, and Rich Sommer, and everyone else does what is necessary to make the environment onscreen feel as busy as it needs to be.

I didn't think I would enjoy this, despite hearing some good word about it when it was released a couple of years ago. Considering my own views of the BlackBerry device, I wasn't sure what the film would offer me. It turns out that it's a bittersweet look at people trying to maintain some integrity and optimism in a world that only holds those values for as long as the profit margins remain high enough. BlackBerry celebrates innovation and the blood, sweat, and tears that workers put into a product they had faith in, but it also makes clear from the earliest scenes that innovators and hard workers need someone to get out there and negotiate with businesses, and sell the product, to make it a real success. It's a great shame that everyone can't share the same principles, but maybe that's why certain products crash down so low after such unexpeted highs.

Anyway, I'm off to use an online game emulator to play Snake. Because some days I am reminded of how much I used to enjoy playing Snake on my Nokia 3310. 

8/10

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