Gangster Squad Movie Review
The story line mainly focuses on real-life gangster Mickey Cohen and the extremes the authorities back in the day used to bring him down. Cohen’s real life story makes for fascinating reading but the movie only taps into a fraction of that but the parts they do use succeed in making Penn as Cohen one of the most over the top villains in screen history. He chews up and spits out so many gangster clichés, it become quite hilarious.
The original cut of the film was modified after the ...
The Expendables Movie Review
Which is why it is especially perplexing that The Expendables has so many talky bits in it and lengthy ones at that. Do we really care about Jason Statham's endless diatribes on his lucklessness in love? Um… no. Do we care about how Randy Couture got his cauliflower ears? Hmmm… not really. Do we want more shooty bits and explosions? Oh, yes please!
Sly Stallone's new flick is the epitome of WYSIWYG movie making, what you see is definitely what you get. With an all-star gym-jockey ...
Fast Five Movie Review
For although the F&F films are well known for their dubious (albeit spectacularly exciting) car play, the opening scene in this episode stretches implausibility to a level which is hard to swallow even for these movies. It pays to only follow this film in the broadest of strokes as the details rarely add up.
The tagline from the previous film – ‘new model, original parts’ - is even truer this time around as Fast Five nicely consolidates all the entries to date by drawing ...
Fast & Furious 6 Movie Review
The Fast and the Furious (2001) was practically a carbon copy of Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break and Fast & Furious (2009) had elements very reminiscent of Bill Duke's Deep Cover. Finally Furious 6 presents an original script that doesn't completely suck like its predecessors: 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast Five.
The film begins with a nice round up of all the films so far over its opening credits, foregoing the big opening action sequence of its ...
Your Highness Movie Review
Your Highness is the kind of ride where they throw so many jokes at you that a few are bound to strike the bullseye and when they do, laughter can be found. It also has one of the highest percentages of groan worthy moments of any film in recent memory. It’s like the writers got really herbalized, wrote a scrip that threw every stupid joke they could think of in that altered state, passed out and then later forgot to go back and edit their altered musings.
Setting the film in a fantasy ...
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Movie Review
The character of Ron Burgundy played with consummate cluelessness by Will Ferrell relies heavily on the audience’s approval of said actor. In the first film this worked out into a successful formula, but one that was more humorous in remembrance than in first viewing. In the second they ramp up the crazy (a lot) to make up for this shortfall and miss the target.
As cringe comedy, it is filled with moments of nervous laughter but the new set pieces fall flat and Ferrell try as he might ...
American Hustle Movie Review
The always-outstanding British actor Christian Bale lays to rest the man in black for the new man in fat. His visual transformation is just one element of his transcendent performance. He has to act his butt off just to transcend that hairdo of his. Jennifer Lawrence adds to her building resume of great performances as Bale’s on screen wife who is both hilarious and clueless.
Bradley Cooper’s manic drug fuelled performance is also outstanding. Now no discussion of great roles in this ...
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Movie Review
It’s set in India and uses that colourful and frenetic local as an integral part of the storyline. It’s a tale of redemption amongst an older generation of Brits that are bucking against feeling like they have reached their used by dates. They end up at a hotel in India under false pretences and find that the luxury hotel the ads spoke about has been replaced by a run down complex run by Sonny (played with good humour by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire).
The set up is somewhat ...
Elysium Movie Review
The story follows Max (Matt Damon), a downtrodden underclassman vying for asylum in the privileged celestial city of Elysium. Like his poverty-stricken brethren, Max is an oppressed would-be saint crushed under the iron heel of an elitist upper class that is evil beyond redemption.
Emotionally-laden key words such as 'homeland security' and 'no-fly zone' are bandied about to ensure we don't miss the point and one of the bad guys is Apartheid incarnate with his penchant for authoritarian ...
District 9 Movie Review
Perhaps taking its cue from Banlieue 13, Pierre Morel’s thrill ride of 2004 set in Paris where the worst offenders existed in a walled-off ghetto, District 9 (set in Johannesburg) follows a similar theme except this ghetto’s populated by aliens with a taste for cat food. Eventually dark influences exploit the residents flavoured by, among other things, interspecies prostitution and with trouble following quickly, the government are left with no alternative but to create a new ‘haven...
