Retro Movie Review – Amy
When Winehouse broke out in the early noughties, she really stood out. Here was a jazz singer that wrote incredibly personal lyrics, had great vocal chops and delivered them with a looseness that ran counter to a lot of jazz singer’s rigid professionalism. That she was a hot mess only added to the original appeal.
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The film was made in the beginning with the family’s full approval but as the final cut came together their disapproval became pronounced and it’s ...
Retro Movie Review – Southpaw
The film also provides further proof (if any more is actually needed) on how fine an actor Jake Gyllenhaal has become. His take on the lead role, that of boxer Billy Hope is absolutely mesmeric. His time in the gym and time spent training to learn the techniques of boxing have paid real dividends.
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Gyllenhaal fills the screen with electricity and menace and he makes the most out of what is a rather pedestrian screenplay. Sutter’s ability to plumb the depths of ...
The Hunt Movie Review
This tale of what came first, the chicken or the egg is an ideal project for the times. It will create dialogue and opinions and fill a much needed gap in new film releases. Seen as social commentary it is cutting, as entertainment, outrageous and as feminist propaganda, empowering. It does all this and still remains escapist especially in these isolationist times.
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The idea of hunting humans for sport has been visited many times before on the big screen but never ...
Retro Movie Review – Trainwreck
The story set up is about a woman in the big city not looking for love but finding it anyway. She is comfortable turning around traditional rom-com situations in regards to male and female behaviour for the discomfort of some audience members. She also succeeds in giving the film a big heart amongst all the relationship carnage.
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The way Schumer resolves the final situation is most unexpected and proves her comic ability to think outside the box. It’s a fantastic ...
Retro Movie Review – Django Unchained
When the rumours of Tarantino tackling the Western genre first surfaced, what a hundred years ago, it provided a number of great movie conservationist’s topics. Could his make cowboys look and sound cool? Could he recharge careers and get superlative performances from his regulars? Could he make an increasingly jaded audience stand up and cheer? In almost all categories the answer is a resounding yes.
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Few are unaware of the film’s basic synopsis after another ...
Retro Movie Review – Kingsman: The Secret Service
Colin Firth as Kingsman agent Harry Hart is flawlessly cast as our introduction to this world of perfect gentlemanly conduct and deadly killing precision. And in stark contrast to the recent proclivity of the Bond franchise to do away with all those cool spy gadgets, this film is littered with deadly hardware that would have made the old Q more than happy.
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Underlining the cool technology on display is a story based on character development, honour and paying back ...
Retro Movie Review – Guardians of the Galaxy
And all this for a superhero team that not many people know, and the first Marvel film not to feature one of the Silver Age group of characters created by Stan Lee.
The Guardians are a bunch of undesirables who find themselves fighting together to prevent one of the Infinity Stones from reaching Thanos. If that all sounds a little crazy, then welcome to the Marvel Universe (not just Earth, or Asgard, or wherever it is that Agent Coulson buys his suits) where universe destroying gems and ...
Tiger King Television Review
With the tradition of releasing small tidbits of information to keep you on the hook for far too many episodes firmly established, this show is a great case study of that technique Just when you think it can’t get any more bizarre, hilarious or insane, it regularly drops a bomb of pertinent information. When the main arch type sketchy lady that is used as both a rival and enemy for our mullet headed hero reaches new depths, it’s just the start.
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At one episod...
Retro Movie Review – American Hustle
The always-outstanding British actor Christian Bale lays to rest the man in black for the new man in fat. His visual transformation is just one element of his transcendent performance. He has to act his butt off just to transcend that hairdo of his. Jennifer Lawrence adds to her building resume of great performances as Bale’s on screen wife who is both hilarious and clueless.
Bradley Cooper’s manic drug fuelled performance is also outstanding. Now no discussion of great roles in this ...
Retro Movie Review – What We Do In The Shadows
Flight Of The Concords alumni Jemaine Clement as the vampire Vladislav and Rhys Darby as the werewolf Anton deliver their usual understated take on comedy, as does the rest of the cast. This is a film that is constantly amusing but not necessarily laugh out loud funny at all times. It does however have a few big laugh moments and this night’s audience was demonstrative in their approval.
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There are so many everyday life activities that the undead would experience ...
