Focus Movie Review
Will Smith plays a hyper intelligent and suavely smooth career con man with one major flaw and it’s one you have to wait until film’s end to assess. He plays off the somewhat naive Jess, played by Margot Robbie in her first major role after her breakout appearance in The Wolf of Wall Street.
In line with most flicks of this ilk, there is a large group of co-conspirators and victims and it’s very enjoyable to find out which is which. The sets and background locations are also very ...
Seventh Son Movie Review
Once you get pulled into its world of crazy, it’s actually a good bit of fun. Bridges as head Spook, Master Gregory has never been more over the top (and that's saying something). A Spook in this context is one who helps deal with witches and other creatures that go bump in the night. They are also adept at hand-to-hand combat with a drink in one hand and little else.
The set up is thin with little more than a head demon to take down, this simplicity however is flushed out by the ...
Fifty Shades of Grey Movie Review
Nearly ten-years later, British author E. L. James publishes Fifty Shades of Grey, a story about a conservative young woman with a modest upbringing who falls in love with a dominant corporate executive - another ‘Mr Grey’. Fifty Shades of Grey follows the plot and themes of Secretary so closely it would be reasonable to suggest that the two are not unrelated insofar as the latter at the very least heavily influenced the former, if not downright plagiarises it.
As the story goes, ...
The Theory of Everything Movie Review
The life and times of theoretical physicist, cosmologist and million selling author Stephen Hawking is told via a screenplay based on a book by his first wife of thirty years, Jane Wilde. We are given a window into his life from his early years and get to spend time with him before the revenges of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) took over his body.
While the force of the man’s will and his defiance of the medical profession’s estimate of the time of his demise is very inspiring, ...
What We Did On Our Holiday Competition
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A hilarious journey through an unforgettable family holiday as a couple attempts to keep their impending divorce secret from their extended family.
Doug (David Tennant) and Abi (Rosamund Pike) and their three children travel to the Scottish Highlands for Doug’s father Gordie’s (Billy Connolly) birthday party, where it’s soon clear that when it comes to keeping their secret under wraps their children are their biggest liability.
From nine year old Lottie’s notebook to ...
American Sniper Movie Review
Clint Eastwood’s take on Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s (Bradley Cooper) autobiography certainly sets a scene of dread and foreboding as we follow Kyle and his descent into the war in Iraq.
Kyle is a good old boy from Texas, a former competitive cowboy and a very proficient marksman. His entry into the service is spurred on by the events of 9/11 and his upbringing with a very strong and opinionated father. This background is revealed is very broad strokes and lacks the nuance to really ...
The Imitation Game Movie Reivew
It had a high profile cast (for its time) in Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, Jeremy Northam and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who would, later on become much more famous as a pivotal character in an obscenely popular medieval TV show. There's a problem with Enigma, however and it's the fact the filmmakers substituted the real-life homosexual mathematician, Alan Turing, for a fictional heterosexual mathematician named Thomas Jericho and indeed the story centres around his very hetero...
Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Movie Review
Mexican writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu has delivered a story inside a story about a past his use by date movie star, Keaton, who previously reaped the riches and empty adulation that went with his role of playing the big screen superhero Birdman. He is seeking redemption (artistically and humanly) by writing, directing and starring in his own Broadway play.
Alejandro uses music masterfully as the first three quarters of the film is set to a drum solo and not the ...
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review
The plague created by Will Rodman's Alzheimer's ‘cure’ has spread throughout the globe and decimated the human population and, presumably, empowered ape populations worldwide. Caesar's simian refugees build a growing community in the redwood forest while a splinter group of human survivors eke out an existence within the ruins of San Francisco. The diminishing fuel supply the human's require for electricity generation inevitably bring them into contact with Caesar's community who ...
Jersey Boys Movie Review
It should be noted that Eastwood's film is not a musical but rather features performances of The Four Seasons' music to signpost defined periods within the band's chronology. Correspondingly, the film is perfectly suited for those who love The Four Seasons music but do not possess a commensurate love of musicals (like me!) and as such appeals to a slightly different market. A smaller market it would seem given the film does not appear to be as successful as its theatrical predecessor.
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