There are certain rules known only to a select few by which it is possible to predict the quality of movies. The origin of these rules is often obscure and difficult to explain. One rule which appeared sometime in the last two decades or so is Rule 263: Shia LaBeouf must never be allowed to … Continue reading Rule 263: Shia LaBeouf Must Never Be Allowed To Partake In Any Film That Is Good
Venom (2018 Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures) Directed by Ruben Fleischer, featuring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed. This recent addition to the Marvel superhero/monster-menace series of films is a great box office success, but critics are harder to please. First of all, there is no doubt that Venom contains a comic-book … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Venom and Early Man
Solo: A Star Wars Story is a good film. It isn’t great. It won’t change your life. It won’t make you a better person. Or a deeper thinker. Or a more considerate lover. But it WILL pass a couple of hours of entertaining escapism – set in the Star Wars Universe but not relying on … Continue reading Solo: A Star Wars Story – Stuck-up, Half-witted and Scruffy-looking But Still A Pretty Good Movie
Michael Fassbender (born in Germany, raised in Kerry, Ireland, trained in England) is one of my favorite modern actors not only for his good looks and charm but because of the incredible diversity of his acting talent. Fassbender has played a range of roles in all sorts of genres ranging from comedy through to drama. … Continue reading Michael Fassbender Special Part One: Alien: Covenant – Two Fassbenders for the Price of One
The Death of Stalin (2018, eOne films & Gaumont) Directed by Armando Iannucci, featuring Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jason Isaacs, Rupert Friend, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Dermot Crowley and Jeffrey Tambor The biting political and social satire of Armando Iannucci has struck a chord with many viewers from his breakthrough with The Day Today … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Death of Stalin and Annihilation
Lady Bird (2017, Universal Pictures) Directed by Greta Gerwig, featuring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf and Lucas Hedges Lady Bird is a classic coming of age movie that explores what it means to be a teenager in small town America. Subtly exploring teenage angst, the film manages to visit religion, virginity, sexuality, class, depression and friendship. … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Lady Bird and Mute
The Movie Franchise: Alien The Game: Alien: Isolation (2014) Not content with the beating it took at the hands of the Predator franchise, the Alien franchise is being gradually kicked to death by prequels which undermine the best qualities of the originals while bolting on elements of bigger and better sci-fi like 2001 A Space … Continue reading Digital Reign: When the computers out-cinema the cinema
"...an adult fairytale, with love, passion and blood and violence..." The Shape of Water is a ‘Beauty and the Beast’-style fairytale between a mute woman and an amphibious creature. Unapologetically emotional and melodramatic, director del Toro, who seems to specialize in deep-colour and moody fantasy narratives, delivers a moving and engaging film. Given the somewhat … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Shape of Water (2017 Guillermo del Toro)
Blade Runner (1982) didn’t need a sequel. A previous post on this very blog was dedicated to that subject. However, if you absolutely positively have to have a sequel for a film which doesn’t require one, then pray to the movie gods that the sequel is as good as Blade Runner 2049. After all, Alien … Continue reading The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear 3D Glasses – Blade Runner 2049 Review
“…reducing the film and its central narrative to esoteric wankiness…” For many cinema goers, expectations for this greatly anticipated sequel to Blade Runner were high. Then again, I am one of those who never believed it was going to match the original. And it doesn’t. But it is not a complete write-off either. The cinema-photography … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Blade Runner 2049 (2017 Denis Villeneuve)
