Picking up where the first chapter left off, Venom: Let There Be Carnage highlights the difficulty of experiencing life with a foreign body fighting for control for your body and mind. The forced partnership is played mostly for laughs as this modern day odd couple get drawn into the twisted world of serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson).

Harrelson has not been this over the top since playing Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers. His partner in crime Frances Barrison, is played by the almost unrecognisable Naomie Harris. Through circumstance Kasady gets to host an alien of his own and this leads to a titanic battle between well, almost every cast member.

This major skirmish exists almost completely in the world of computer generated imagery and some of the visual effects are quite impressive and more than a little repulsive. It’s a good thing the visuals are so striking as there is an almost complete absence of story and plot line. This film exists solely for the thrill of the battle and the humour of the leads. Laughs and a kick ass battle rule the day.

Rob Hudson
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Casting Vin Diesel in the lead role pretty much sums up the approach to the dialogue and having Wilson, with his long history with visual effects on both film and video games gives a clear indication of the intent with visuals. The science of the film is so dodgy, it need not be mentioned again.

The story as it is, is very minimal and revolves around Diesel’s Ray Garrison / Bloodshot character being a recycled killer. His programming is supplied by Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) who gets to ham it up big time. Comic relief and the approval to mac out on junk food is provided by Lamorne Morris as Wilfred Wigans.

In these times of overwhelming reality, escapism is needed now more than ever and the disconnect required by this work on the rocky road to enjoyment is all encompassing. Load up with snacks, create and enter your own comfort zone and engage on a level of mindless enjoyment second to none. Just don’t forget to wash your hands afterwards.

Rob Hudson
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It is also a throw back to the horror movies of a bygone era. With its rampant gore, buckets of blood and entrails o’ plenty, it most certainly lives up to its R rating. It’s an unadulterated blast to see. David Harbour (Stranger Things, The Newsroom) presented a take on the red one that came across a little off the mark in the trailer but in full movie form, he seems a much wiser choice. Having the gravitas of Ian McShane as Professor Broom is also a major addition.

Expanding the storyline to join with the myth of Merlin and King Arthur gives the film the chance to feature some cool English settings, accents and fish and chip jokes. Hellboy is every bit the wise ass he’s always been but now is given the room to develop more into the conflicted character that the comic books so richly present.

This is the kind of crazy no holds barred film making magic that the PC police have tried their best to expunge from our cinema going experiences for years now. It harkens back to a time when anything goes but it is on point with female characters that are strong and kick butt without being just window dressing. This is a closer movie realisation of Mignola’s vision than anything that has come before.

Rob Hudson
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From the pages of Mike Mignola’s seminal work, this action packed story sees the legendary half-demon superhero called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants. There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue, a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.

Hellboy is directed by Neil Marshall and stars David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, and Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Penelope Mitchell, with Daniel Dae Kim.

Hellboy releases in Australian cinemas on April 11, 2019.
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The broad strokes detail is it’s a reimagined version of Deadpool 2 that carries a lower film classification. The hope is this will open the film up to overseas markets that don’t allow the screening of R rated films. It should also open up the movie to a younger audience.

The film includes new scenes and a new cast member already know to followers of social media. The most fun in viewing the work is seeing what cuts were made, what language was changed and how they reduced the visual carnage. It’s also really interesting to see how much subversive content is still included.

Mr. Pool himself, Ryan Reynolds also used this chance to make the studio donate $1 dollar per ticket to the Fuck Cancer Charity, temporarily renamed the Fudge Cancer Charity. The new scenes are very funny and the truncated version of the original film still holds up even with the cuts. The film will be shown in cinemas on a very limited run.

Rob Hudson

Based on the ground-breaking comic book series, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the visually spectacular new adventure film from Luc Besson, the legendary director of The Professional, The Fifth Element and Lucy.

In the 28th century, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. Under assignment, the two embark on a mission to the breathtaking city of Alpha – an ever-expanding metropolis where species from all over the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence and culture.

But a dark force threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets. Valerian and Laureline must race against time to identify this threat and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.

Directed by Luc Besson and starring Cara Delevingne, Dane DeHaan, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke and Rihanna, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is in cinemas August 10!
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Competition will be drawn 09 August 2017, winners will be notified by mail.

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.

Peter Parker in comic book form has always been a geeky kid and the new Spidey, Tom Holland gets those nuances just right. He plays awkward as endearing. The story starts right after the Battle of New York and we get an early view of both Spider-man’s progression (further along than the radiated spider bite) and the political machinations that helped to create his new nemesis.

The thoughts of restarting the franchise again are rapidly lost as the charm and humour of this latest edition sweep you away. It gets the balance of action, storyline and character development just right and as such is a blast from beginning to end.

Rob Hudson
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With Batman versus Superman, however, it’s not quite so easy to see the conflict as they are both clearly on the ‘hero’ side of the equation. But director, Zack Snyder, does a reasonable job of pulling this together by tapping into a problem that many viewers had with his prior film, Man of Steel.

Batman, like many of us, heavily resents the heavy public toll resulting from Superman’s urban clash with General Zod. This is understandable but when Batman determines to kill Superman in response, whoah, that’s a whole different level again and Snyder never quite convinces why two honourable superheroes would wish to assassinate each other. Not even a zero tolerant Megacity judge with a penchant for police brutality went there!

In contrast with popular opinion, it seems, I quite like what Snyder is attempting with the Superman tale. It’s a fascinating prospect to put this extra terrestrial Man of Steel into a contemporary setting and look at how, in all likelihood, the public would react to an alien with almost limitless power. In messianic fashion, some would surely revere this figure, but the bulk would treat him with suspicion and fear of what he could do to us were he to turn ‘rogue’.

This is very close to the line Christopher Nolan took with his Batman films, of course, (and it’s notable that Nolan is a producer of Snyder’s Superman films) but Snyder is not the storyteller that Nolan is and the result is a Superman film that is grubbier than even Nolan’s Batman. Indeed, Snyder’s rendering of the Batfleck is just plain nasty and psychotic as he steamrolls through Gotham, branding criminals with his hot iron knuckle batdusters. Snyder has taken Nolan’s balanced grubbiness – and Watchmen-ified it. Substitute Superman for Mr Manhattan and Batman for Rorschach and you pretty much have it.

But while this tone may be passable in Gotham, it sits a little less comfortably with Metropolis. Superman is a messiah figure and dragging him through a Gotham-like quagmire of corruption and dishonour besmirches his brand to its detriment. It’s an uneasy and uncomfortable mix for our Kryptonian white knight and Snyder only narrowly gets away with it.

On the whole, I quite like Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, (I even saw it twice) but I like it more for the ideas that Snyder is attempting to relate rather than his success in reaching that goal.

Stuart Jamieson
www.batmanvsuperman.dccomics.com

Ryan Reynolds is the perfect man for the job and his ability to act the class clown and emote even with his face covered in a silly red and black mask is outstanding. He has finally found a role that utilizes all of his talents. Animator Tim Miller makes his directing debut with Deadpool and his sense of pace is spot on. He throws so many jokes and unique ideas your way that the fun doesn’t stop from the hilarious opening credits to the very end crazy credit (don’t miss it).

By now most will have seen a trailer or two so no real synopsis is needed to describe the chaos that is afloat here but the thing that does surprise is how well the tender moments are handled. Wade/Deadpool’s relationship with Vanessa played by Morena Baccarin (Homeland, Serenity) comes across as real as they both share the same sense of absurdist humour and disdain for convention. Their onscreen chemistry is intoxicating.

If you fail to find Deadpool funny, it might just be that you are too old, but that’s OK, just work through that temporary roadblock and enjoy what is one of the funniest films of this fresh new year.

Rob Hudson
www.foxmovies.com