Movies 993 results

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

In some ways, Captain Jack has his swagger back. It’s a silly return to the fun of the first film and doesn’t take itself too serious. Depp charts no new ground but his original idea of channeling Keith Richards and the cartoon skunk Pepe Le Pew still works well, so well in fact that his character has become ubiquitous. Pistol and Boo would be proud.   //   The cast this time features some fresh new faces, Australian actor Brenton Thwaites as son of Will, Henry ...

John Wick: Chapter 2 Movie Review

Keanu Reeves still nails the role and having someone with limited acting chops playing the role of the proverbially ‘talk softly and carry a big stick’ kind of guy works towards the film’s success. He also has another dog this time and it’s to the film’s credit that the pouch makes it to the end credits alive.   //   The film picks up shortly after the moment where part one left off (four days to be exact) and the two would make a great side by side movie ...

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Movie Review

The casting is also spotty with Jude Law not quite inhabiting the role of the big evil, King Vortigern. He just doesn’t fill the role with near enough menace. Charlie Hunnam as Arthur also has moments where his glare reminds one too much of his definitive role as Jax Telller in Sons Of Anarchy. He is more successful as the alpha-male blonde wise cracking smart arse.   //   The film suffers from a too dark palette and the special effects seem to be missing that final ...

A Dog’s Purpose Movie Review

A Dog’s Purpose is built on the premise that dogs live life over and over via reincarnation but keep the memories of past lives in their consciousness. We follow one doggie soul through multiple lives and all of them are examinations of various forms of the human condition. Unafraid to lay down something other than just cute doggie shenanigans, some of the lives our main dog soul lives are quite sad. It’s comments on unworthy parents, unwanted pets or human loneliness give the film a ...

Alien: Covenant Movie Review

Michael Fassbender does double duty this time out and his android character poses most of the film’s questions on life and the meaning of. Non existentialists need not fear for those with less interest in large degrees of depth, there is still plenty of inventive gore and enough scare tactics to keep most audience members on edge.   //   Picking up where Prometheus left off, Alien: Covenant works well as a stand alone film as it doesn’t add all that much to the alien ...

Free Fire Movie Review

The cast is A-list, Brie Larson (following up her star turn in Room), Armie Hammer (unrecognisable under all that facial hair) and Cillian Murphy (effective as a shady dude with values), the film’s intent is decidedly not and in this case that is a good thing. No wildly improbable flights of CGI fancy or vanity visuals, just a gritty story with dire consequences.   //   Set primarily is one set, the film plays off the actors ability to drop in and out of view but still ...

Get Out Movie Review

The story revolves around leaving the big city and going out to the country to meet the girlfriend’s parents for the first time. Along the way it touches on issues as diverse as rich white privilege, social injustice, true friendship and how often times people are completely different than the first impression would lead you to believe.   //   The direction is assured and important elements of the story arrive with perfect timing. For a first time director, this level ...

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Movie Review

The visuals and set design are also ramped up to a lollie shop level of bright colours and eye candy. The underlining story is rather thin this time but does divulge further information on Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and his parents and how the animosity between sisters Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) became so intense. This lack of deep story story telling does little to distract from the fun as the script is rife with humour and running gags. This is especially true with the ...

Denial Movie Review

The film packs true emotion and proves there is still a place in modern cinema for films that are made for adults. It’s a heart wrenching look at a serious subject and one that engages the audience through a solid script and superlative acting and never reduces things to cheap theatrics. The subject, the Holocaust and its deniers is given a mature treatment and even the people in the wrong are treated with respect. It is not however just a dry courtroom drama and as the case progresses, ...

The Fate of the Furious Movie Review

The Fate of the Furious is the first complete edition of the series after the tragic death of core cast member Paul Walker and his loss in firmly felt. His character is only given one line of reference dialogue and this outing features the weakest character development in a long time.   //   To compensate for this lack of story, the action is ramped up to unheralded levels of crazy. It also shows some signs of complacency as some of the special effects are quite dodgy ...