Retro Movie Review – Kong: Skull Island
The cast is chock full of Hollywood A-Listers including a man of the moment, Tom Hiddleston, the always popular Samuel L. Jackson (in a bad guy role) and even an attempt at some form of indie cred with Brie Larson, here getting her best Lara Croft on following her star turn in Room. The other A-Lister is that big bad monkey man, who this time out is big but not so bad.
//
The locations are exotic and the sets are stunning and the emergence of the big guy is played to ...
Retro Movie Review – Spider-man: Homecoming
So with that in mind, it’s great to see Marvel relax the reins on Spider-man: Homecoming a bit and tell a story more character driven than special effects driven. The film’s lighthearted touch with an emphasis on humour makes it much more accessible than some of the recent overly serious Superhero films. It easily lives in the MU while comfortably standing alone. It even features a crazy credit at the very end of the film that sells laughs instead of product.
//
...
The Burnt Orange Heresy Movie Review
Claes Bang (TV’s Dracula) is James Figueras, a failed artist who now earns a crust by lecturing tourists about some of the world’s great art pieces. When he is hired by super art dealer, Joseph Cassidy, played with an elegant level of amorality by Mick Jagger to steal a painting for him, Figueras sees his entry into those rarified waters.
//
Along the way, his path crosses with Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki), a small-town girl trying to feel alive by a visit ...
Retro Movie Review – Snowden
Snowden was a young and prodigious computer geek that got involved in the US government network of spies and its American citizen electronic scrutiny. He got pulled in, chewed up and spit out when the morality of the domestic spying regime overwhelmed him. He ended up paying a very heavy price for his ethics.
//
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is outstanding as Snowden and it’s almost eerie how close his portrayal comes to the real person (especially brought to light in the film’s ...
Retro Movie Review – Deepwater Horizon
Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are the heroes of the piece as their salt of the earth characters rise to the occasion and help to prevent a more serious loss of life through selfless heroism. The action is suitably claustrophobic as the isolation of the out-to-sea oil platform plays into the disaster.
//
Berg’s decision to focus on the accident on the oil rig and reduce the ecological disaster that was cased by the oil leak to a small footnote at the end of the ...
The King Of Staten Island Movie Review
Throwing down behavioural anomalies thick and fast does little to make you warm to Scott’s plight in life. His charms are not self-evident, but staying the course does pay dividends. Losing his fireman father at a young age and having an overprotective mother played with sass and a bad haircut by the excellent Marisa Tomei has given him a non-reality world to get lost in. And lost he is.
//
Davidson, who lost his real-life fireman father in the 9/11 attacks, ...
Retro Movie Review – Atomic Blonde
The story revolves around actions set in Berlin during the last dying days of the communist separation of that city. An end that came to fruition in 1989. As is evident in all good period pieces, the fashions and social values of the day are also the stars. The film pulsates with a great eighties soundtrack that adds even more to the feel of the decade the film is set in.
//
Theron as said super spy is impossibly skilled at her job and she plays it as badass as any ...
Retro Movie Review Logan Lucky
It’s also a work of two parts and while the first half struggles a bit to find its footing, in the second half, things pick up nicely. As in all good caper yarns, things are not always as they seem and the work’s internal logic by film’s end is most satisfying. Soderbergh as is his way, loads the film with a heavy duty cast and it’s great to see Daniel Craig play against his usual screen persona as Joe Bang, a bleach blonde career criminal with a way with science.
// ...
A White, White Day Movie Review
Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurdsson) is a police officer who is trying his best to deal with the loss of his life partner and wife. The cracks start to appear early but the film’s unconventional manner takes its time to establish just how unusual life can be in the cold and barren tundra of Iceland.
//
It also presents a form of child rearing that puts the overly cautious way of the west in stark contrast. These young ones are not handled with kid gloves on. The film uses very ...
Waves Movie Review
As the story evolves, you witness the impending disintegration of teenager Tyler Williams (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). You can see the end result in the distance but can do nothing to change the ultimate outcome. This situation tears his family apart and each member ends up dealing with the sorrow and loss in their own way.
//
With the audience nerves still raw, the film enters its second half. The tone becomes less frantic and more introspective. This mood is helped in large ...
