Retro Movie Review – Senna
His career also ran parallel to the dawn of the new media age pertaining to live sport, so his life was very well documented visually, so well in fact that the film is built entirely from actual footage from his career, while a large part of the film’s dialogue comes from Senna himself.
It’s a masterful job of blending archival footage, spoken snippets from Ayrton himself and comments from some media experts that knew him well. There is also family footage that nicely places the ...
Retro Movie Review – Chappie
The story revolves around a computer sciences geek Deon Wilson (played by Dev Patel, he of Slumdog Millionaire, The Newsroom and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel fame) who creates an Artificial Intelligence program to help his robots achieve a level of human consciousness. His place of employment has already used his technology to build robots that the police use to enforce the law in Johannesburg. Upper management is opposed to this, so he goes rogue to complete the task. This is when the story ...
Retro Movie Review – Focus
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 ...
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.
//
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 American
The story revolves around a hit man played with icy cool by George Clooney who is on the lame after the tables have been turned on him and he finds himself an intended target for termination. He hides out in a small Italian town that seems familiar to him and pretends to have a somewhat normal life.
//
Unfortunately this normalcy is only applicable to someone with no discernable job but lots of money and one whose only real human contact is with a priest with a ...
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!
//
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 ...
Retro Movie Review – A Single Man
The film, based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood, does have a very distinct visual look. This at times almost robs the film of its emotional impact by being a bit too obvious but the window into the soul of its main character George Falconer (Firth) is so strong, it helps to keep the focus. George is an English Professor practicing his trade in California in the early sixties.
//
He has suffered a tremendous personal loss and is barely hanging on. His British ...
Retro Movie Review – The Wolf Of Wall Street
It’s a sign of the expertise at work here that the 180 minute long film literally flies by. It’s also helped along by Leonardo DiCaprio’s most manic performance yet. If you thought he was full on in Django Unchained, he ramps it up ten fold here. Quite a few of the support cast members also turn in career defining roles. This includes Jonah Hill, who get the mix of powerful and pathetic just right and Aussie soap star Margot Robbie’s clothing optional performance that proves her ...
Butt Boy Movie Review
When things around the house go missing, no one is the wiser but when these disappearances escalate to pets and then small children, the search is on. Getting pulled into this bizarre world is the grizzled detective Russel B. Fox (Tyler Rice). He first meets Chip at an AA meeting and later become suspicious. He then goes to his commanding officer with his hunches, this doesn’t go well.
//
With such a crazy premise, you would think the film has no where wackier to ...
Retro Movie Review – A Quiet Place
It also feature a screenplay that plants details in such an intelligent way that when things come to fruition, they make much more sense. There are no moments of the oblivious ignorance of illogical plot devices due to lazy writing that plague so many horror films.
//
The story revolves around new life forms (alien or not, it is never completely explained) that are driven by sounds, so the population now has to live in complete silence.To make even the smallest of ...
