comedy
Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review
Warner Bros. Pictures’ latest epic DC superhero flick is out – Shazam! Fury of the Gods – the sequel to the criminally underrated Shazam! (2019). After an unfortunate run of box office failures over the past few years, Warner Bros. is hoping to recapture the magic of the first Shazam! film to give themselves a much needed win. This time around Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his s...
Cocaine Bear Review
Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 2) returns to the directing chair, four years after her less than stellar Charlie’s Angels reboot. This time, it’s to tell the (I can’t believe I’m typing this) true story of Cocaine Bear – a black bear who ingests pounds of cocaine in a national forest in Georgia, sending it on a hilariously drug-fueled, murderous rampage. I thought Cocaine Bear would ju...
Spoiler Alert Review
Spoiler Alert: stories of good men dying young will always make you cry, but sometimes they can leave audiences looking for more. It feels oddly harsh to critique Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert as it is based on a true story of the same name, written by Michael Ausiello. It tells the story of how he lost his husband to cancer, and follows their relationship from its inception, through their gro...
What’s Love Got to Do With It? Review
I’m not too sure about you, but it has been a very long time since I thoroughly enjoyed a modern rom-com, but What’s Love Got to Do with It? certainly broke that streak. What’s Love’s director Shekar Kapur takes a clichéd rom-com formula and many over-done tropes, that have historically centred on white characters, and attempts to reframe them for a modern multicultural audience. While at times au...
Babylon Review
Like the elephant in the opening scene that relaxes its sphincter and covers one of its handlers in liquid filth, Damien Chazelle puckers up and explodes all over his audience for three hours in Babylon, a love/hate letter to debaucherous early Hollywood that’s as ambitious as it is unbalanced. This polarising epic is drawing 5-star reviews from some and 1-star from others, seemingly depending on ...
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre Review
Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) writes, produces and directs Miramax’s latest action blockbuster – Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. The film stars Jason Statham as Orson Fortune; a top-level spy tasked with locating and preventing the distribution of a new highly dangerous weapons system, being sold by the wealthy arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Despite his reluct...
A Man Called Otto Review
You don’t need to have read the book (A Man Called Ove) or seen the original film adaptation in Swedish to be, frankly, underwhelmed by A Man Called Otto. This new adaptation had the same emotive storyline that tugs on the heartstrings, but the americanisation makes it a tad more… bland. It is based on the heartwarming story of an elderly widowed curmudgeon Ove (renamed ‘Otto’ and played by Tom Ha...
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Review
It has been eleven years and Antonio Banderas (Desperado, Shrek 2) returns as the titular outlaw along with Selma Hayek (Hitman’s Bodyguard, House of Gucci) as Kitty Paws and Harvey Guillen (Archer, Harley Quinn) as newcomer Perrito, a want to be therapy dog masquerading as a cat. If that last bit sounds amusing, then director Joel Crawford (The Croods: New Age) has a treat in store! Before we rea...
The Banshees of Inisherin Review
Welcome to a beautifully bizarre exploration of a souring male friendship brought to a comedic and melancholy end point – you’ve arrived at The Banshees of Insherin. Banshees is the latest offering from writer-director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, 2018), who brings back the stars of his 2008 debut In Bruges, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, to create this deli...
Violent Night Review
Absolute Merry F***ing Mayhem! It is fun to imagine that the studio pitch for Violent Night went something like this; “It’s Die Hard, with Santa Claus, stupid gory, wrapped in thinly veiled social commentary!”. Without missing a beat, an exec rises from their seat with a fistful of cash and smugly quips, “Fill my stocking buddy, we need a Christmas hero!”. Violent Night is a love letter to Christ...
On The Count Of Three Review
A pistol points directly at the face of a “ramen noodle-headed” Christopher Abbott as he stares intently at someone off-camera. “I love you man. You’re my best friend,” comes a voice from the weapon’s wielder and director of On The Count Of Three, Jerrod Carmichael; he too stares down the barrel of a gun held by his buddy. The pair start to count towards their demise but they’re hilariously out of...
Ticket to Paradise Review
Ticket to Paradise promises escapism, tropical paradise and a return to the Roberts/Clooney era of big blockbuster films. While upon first glance, it might look like a cliché tropical romance curated for the ‘mum’ crowd looking to while away two blissful hours imagining staring into George Clooney’s big brown eyes, (or hey, Julia Roberts’ too, its 2022), and well… it is. Our heroine Lilly (Kaitly...