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.
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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.
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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.
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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 ...
Retro Movie Review – Everest
The film is incredible tense and from the first frame you feel the rising level of impending doom. Even for those that have little knowledge of the actual events of the disaster, the film fills you with that dark sense of foreboding. It frames the climbers (accurately or not) as a group of driven people with little regard for their own safety or the tons of rubbish that modern day mountain climbing leaves behind.
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The film is big in almost every way, a big cast, a ...
Special 10th Anniversary Re-release of Nolan’s “Inception” in cinemas July 16
“As cinema lovers return to theatres across the country we are thrilled to be bringing TENET, Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, to the big screen,” Said Joel Pearlman, CEO Roadshow Films. “Fans of Nolan’s work know the scope and scale of his films are made for the theatrical environment and as we countdown to the opening of this latest global film event, we are excited to offer his classic INCEPTION in cinemas on its 10th anniversary, July 16th.”
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John ...
Retro Movie Review – Fast & Furious 7
Actor Paul Walker’s passing back in the 2013 was a very sad moment and happened midway through the filming of F&F 7. It caused a number of delays while they rewrote the script. Walker was a very well established journeyman actor and was well liked by all who knew him. This plays out sombrely in the latest film as the series has always focused on a group dynamic and championed the virtues of being part of an extended family.
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The filmmakers have done a good ...
Retro Movie Review – Tomorrowland
The story revolves around a parallel universe that is not unlike the hidden world in Ayn Rand’s opus Atlas Shrugged (minus the extreme narcissism). It’s a land where science is let loose to the benefit of mankind. This gives the filmmakers a platform for some very cool wishful technology and also features a lot of fantastic set design artwork.
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With a list of participants that includes director Brad Bird (The Incredibles and The Iron Giant), George Clooney and ...
Retro Movie Review – The Martian
It is equal parts thriller and scientific exploration and focuses on the human resolve to rise to the occasion and survive despite all the odds. Matt Damon is fantastic as the hyper intelligent astronaut that due to circumstance gets left behind on an aborted manned mission on Mars.
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His approach to survival is based around his scientific knowledge and raw will to live but it is tempered by irreverence towards his circumstance and to the authority figures that he ...
Retro Movie Review – The Lego Movie
The underlying message is a positive one (believing in yourself and seeing greatness in everyday moments) but really even if the theme was completely saccharin, who could take that much offense when it is delivered by yellow plastic beings with hooks for hands!
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The jokes fly fast and furious while the filmmakers get the mix of adult humor and childlike wonder spot on. There is also the fun of identifying the voice actors. The list includes Morgan Freeman, Jonah ...
