Action
The Batman Review
Much as when Spider-Man finally turned up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Matt Reeves’ The Batman smartly eschews retreading the caped crusader’s origin story, assuming correctly that after 80 years, almost everyone turning up for a Batman movie understands the lay of the land. We know who Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) is, and why he dresses up as a bat to fight crime in the oppressive urban he...
Uncharted Review
From the director of Venom and a comedy short simply titled Masturbation comes the first entry in another video game adaptation, Uncharted. As one currently backseat gaming through Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, my expectations for how this inevitably shallow franchise starter would compare were…not high. Tom Holland looks nothing like Nathan Drake, Mark Wahlberg looks nothing like Paul Newman (or Vi...
The Matrix Resurrections Review
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS is the fourth film in the Matrix franchise which began with THE MATRIX (1999) followed by THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003) and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003). The new story apparently begins twenty-years after the events of the third film and sees the heroic figure Neo (Keanu Reeves) returned as an older version of his original identity of Thomas Anderson. Anderson is middle-aged...
Spider-Man: No Way Home Review
After the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the secret identity of our friendly neighbourhood etc etc (Tom Holland) has been plastered all over by newshound J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons), exposing Peter Parker to public vitriol and his friends and loved ones – girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) – to danger. What’s a webhead to do but seek ou...
Dune Review
Twenty-thousand years in the future, humans have travelled widely through space and live on numerous worlds. Society has returned to a feudal model of royalty and empire, except these now stretch across star systems. Royal families run corporations and fight amongst themselves for favours from the Emperor, who is the greatest of all powers. He rules the Intergalactic Imperium. Duke Leto (Oscar I...
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Review
I recall a boozy Saturday night spent watching 2018’s Venom with some fondness. A kind soul had lent us the 4K Blu-ray but the bad word of mouth led to its addition to the pile of great unwatched. It wasn’t until we moved house and the rest of our movie collection was boxed up that we finally gave the alien comic book flick a shot, and perhaps it was the gin’s doing but I found myself pleasantly s...
No Time To Die Review
British super spy, James Bond is back. NO TIME TO DIE is the 25th film of the Bond franchise produced by Eon Productions. Planning began back in 2016. The story follows on from SPECTRE (2015), however its beginnings thread back to CASINO ROYALE (2006). This is the final episode in the five-film arc of the Daniel Craig iteration of the Bond character. The story begins with Bond travelling through I...
Riders of Justice Review
As someone who’s turned a Mads Mikkelsen obsession into a personality trait I am contractually obliged to wax lyrical about everything he does. But I don’t think it’s bias talking when I say that Riders of Justice, from Anders Thomas Jensen, is a wholly successful absurdist action comedy for (almost) the entire family. Its ultraviolence fits nicely in the John Wick/Nobody era of frustrated male wi...
The Ice Road Review
Liam Neeson is on thin ice as he attempts to rescue miners trapped in a diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories after a curiously preventable explosion causes the mine to collapse. He and his small entourage have just 30 hours before the oxygen supply is depleted to deliver a wellhead and enable the miners’ escape. The passage is precarious though – they must traverse The Ice Road (a ...
Free Guy Review
Ryan Reynolds is a slave to the game in Free Guy, the new film by director Shawn Levy and from Disney subsidiary 20th Century Studios (née Fox.) He plays a humble bank teller and non-playable character in video game Free City trying to earn free will, become the hero and save the game from shutdown after it is revealed that the game’s quirky and arrogant creator Antoine (Taika Waititi) plans on sc...
The Suicide Squad Review
After stumbling out of the block in 2016, the deeply unsatisfying identity crisis victim Suicide Squad left plenty to be desired. Had it not been for the impressive box office receipts, we may not have seen the continued adventures of a group of violent criminals forced to team up to save the world (well, at least for another 5 to 10 years when the dust had settled and DC felt comfortable re-booti...
Black Widow Review
It’s been over 10 years since Natasha Romanoff first appeared kicking Tony Stark’s butt in the boxing ring in Iron Man 2 (2010). They’ve had a decade to craft her story, so how does it stand up in the franchise? With little more than passing comments hinting at her dark past in previous Marvel flicks, BLACK WIDOW is one of the stand alone Avenger flicks I was most excited to see....