Retro Movie Review – Robin Hood
Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is an expert archer in King Richard The Lionheart’s army who becomes disillusioned with some of the things he was forced to do while in battle and when the King is killed, he and his cohorts escape France and return to England. The boys soon arrive in Nottingham, where Robin meets Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett) and joins the town’s battles.
//
The tale of Robin Hood is one of cinema’s most well used story lines and many films and ...
Judas and the Black Messiah Movie Review
As the film’s title suggests, it’s the story of the betrayal and ultimate assassination of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) who was involved in the Black Panther Party in Chicago in the late sixties. Kaluuya whose acting style thus far has been one of reductionism expands his range to include a role filled with anger and indignation. He delivers his words with an unbridled sense of outrage.
//
At times, the words and emotion are rendered so quickly, it’s hard to ...
Watch the trailer for Judas and the Black Messiah – in cinemas March 11!
A career thief, O’Neal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). Hampton’s political prowess grows just as he’s falling in love with fellow revolutionary Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback).
//
Meanwhile, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul. Will he align with the forces of good? Or subdue Hampton and The Panthers by any means, as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) commands...
Retro Movie Review – Frost/Nixon
The film is based on a play by Peter Morgan (writer of The Queen) and features the original stars from its London and Broadway performances. British born actor Michael Sheen plays David Frost and the American actor Frank Langella plays Nixon. At first, Langella seems an odd choice to play the unlikable Nixon but by the end of the film, his emulation of Nixon’s odd body language and speech patterns become quite convincing.
//
As the interviews begin, the lightweight ...
Retro Movie Review – Zero Dark Thirty
The claim that the film glorifies torture is interesting as well as the torture scenes in question in the film yield very little useful information and actually show the futility of certain kinds of forced confessions. The film is about the global hunt for Osama bin Laden after 9-11 and he as a person is given very little exposure and as such almost becomes this mythical boogieman.
//
The politics behind his actions are given little screen time and bin Laden becomes ...
Retro Movie Review – Jackie
She married into one of America’s most infamous and wealthy political families at only 24 years old and seemed to dissolve herself into their clan. Her husband John F. Kennedy was a man used to getting his own way and the outward appearance was that she capitulated to most of his whims. There was a strength there however that she possessed that wasn’t always apparent in the sexist media coverage of the times.
//
That her life blossomed in the years after the ...
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 ...
Retro Movie Review – Dunkirk
In this context, he build tension in a masterful way. The film features very little dialogue and Hans Zimmer’s score is a major player in the film’s tone and emotional impact. The tension is fierce and relentless and never loosens its grip throughout the 106 minute running time.
//
The horror of war is never far from view but it isn’t presented in an overly graphic or bloody way. This approach adds even more to the film’s impact because it doesn’t distance ...
Retro Movie Review – Hidden Figures
The story revolves around the space race of the mid-sixties and the contribution of three extraordinary female African Americans. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe are outstanding as the three leads and their intelligence and humour illuminates every scene they are in. Their quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) dignity show a resolve few posses.
//
The Space Race as it was called back then really was a race as the threat of communism and the fact the ...
Retro Movie Review – Bridge Of Spies
Based in the murky waters of the shadowy world of espionage back in the late fifties, the film does an admirable job of keeping the audience in the know. There was such a litany of enemies (both real and perceived) of the American way of life presented back then that the story could have easily diffused into myopic rubbish. It steers mostly clear of easy slogans.
//
Hanks plays super hostage negotiator James B. Donovan as he tries to trade a Russia spy to secure the ...
