Logan Movie Review
The great thing about the Wolverine spin off films is that they're more humanist drama/action movies than they are traditional comic book adaptations. This applies even to the much-derided X-Men Origins: Wolverine. They represent a maturation of the comic book films that are freer to explore other genres outside the literally derived, primary-coloured storyboard format.
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James Mangold's two Wolverine films - this one and its predecessor, The Wolverine - are a ...
Kong: Skull Island Movie Review
The cast is chock full of Hollywood A-Listers including a man of the moment, Tom Hiddleston, the always popular Samuel L. Jackson (in a bad guy role) and even an attempt at some form of indie cred with Brie Larson, here getting her best Lara Croft on following her star turn in Room. The other A-Lister is that big bad monkey man, who this time out is big but not so bad.
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The locations are exotic and the sets are stunning and the emergence of the big guy is played to ...
Jasper Jones Movie Review
The story is set in a small town in Western Australia and it mirrors small town life with a loving feel. The surrounds are idyllic and its inhabitants are not portrayed as yokels but as a community with compassion but one coloured by conservatism and some degree of racism. Into this mix we focus on Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller), a soft spoken and sensitive 14 year-old boy who is about to get pulled into a world previously unknown to him.
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The cast is peppered with ...
T2 Trainspotting Movie Review
The main players that lived through the first film are all back and Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie are as dysfunctional as ever. The story set twenty years later borrows heavily from the novels Trainspotting and Porno. Boyle’s technique of injecting scenes from the original work gives T2 a strong and believable link to the past. This continuity does author Irvine Welsh proud.
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The story revolves around Renton (Ewan McGregor) returning to his old stomping ...
Hidden Figures Movie Review
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.
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The Space Race as it was called back then really was a race as the threat of communism and the fact ...
Patriots Day Movie Review
Casting Mark Wahlberg as one of the heroes of the piece seems a no brainer as it’s a role he has played time and time again. To his credit this time his portrayal of a somewhat flawed character rings truer to real life than many of his previous roles. The story revolves around the domestic terrorist bombing that occurred during the 2013 running of the Boston Marathon and the events that followed as seen through the victims, authorities as well as the perpetrator's eyes.
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Split Movie Review
McAvoy is in top form and uses all the means in his substantial bag of thespian tricks. He commandingly inhabits the central character of Dennis, who suffers from multiple personality disorder. It’s a twitchy and mesmerising performance that keeps the audience in an almost constant state of unease. He accomplishes this almost entirely with physical acting that uses a minimal amount of make up and costume support.
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The movie dips into the horror film approach ...
Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life
On the surface of it, Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life looks like a stock tweenager movie in the mould of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. But there are layers to this film that you don't expect. Aside from the obvious Wimpy Kid influence, it also draws ideas and themes from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Shark Boy And Lava Girl, Pump Up The Volume, Dead Poet's Society and another film I shan't mention as to do so would spoil a major twist.
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Equally, the performances in ...
Jackie Movie Review
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.
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That her life blossomed in the years after the ...
La La Land Movie Review
The casting pays real dividends as Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are perfectly cast and their on-screen chemistry is palpable. The film is also quite clever in its sometimes non-linear structure and the what ifs? provide the audience with more than one view of the on-screen proceedings. It’s clever in a way that doesn’t draw attention to itself in that look at me kind of way.
The story involves living in Los Angeles, being so close to grabbing the brass ring of success and what ...
