Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Movie Review
Unafraid to unsettle his young target audience (if only just a bit), Burton keeps the creepiness quotient on a low boil while interspersing the proceedings with enough lightness to keep things on the sweet dreams side of nightmares. My 9 year-old was fine with it and, indeed, loved it. Think Coraline-level macabre but perhaps a touch more grisly.
It pays to keep your wits about you in order to follow the film's mild time-bending eccentricities but, if you keep up, it's not hard to ...
The Magnificent Seven Movie Review
After working together on Training Day and The Equalizer, director Antoine Fuqua continues his work with Denzel Washington and as usual doesn’t really push the actor to step much outside his established on-screen persona. It’s the strong, sullen and silent type once again from his lead actor.
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The film’s redeeming trait however is the strength of its ensemble cast and their diverse on-screen personalities. A number of the A-list actors do follow a somewhat well trod path, Chris ...
Snowden Movie Review
Snowden was a young and prodigious computer geek that got involved in the US government network of spies and its American citizen electronic scrutiny. He got pulled in, chewed up and spit out when the morality of the domestic spying regime overwhelmed him. He ended up paying a very heavy price for his ethics.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is outstanding as Snowden and it’s almost eerie how close his portrayal comes to the real person (especially brought to light in the film’s coda where the ...
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years Movie Review
In the early years, The Beatles cut their teeth playing an insane number of live gigs (highlighted by their time in Germany) but once they became known worldwide, did not play live that often. Eventually they stopped playing live altogether and became a studio only band. This was before the reform to play benefits industry caught on, so even that didn’t bring them back together again.
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Howard’s film focuses on their last great flurry of live gigs and liberally uses live footage ...
Spin Out Movie Review
With his latest project, he has developed a film that feels nostalgic and very sentimental. It’s simplistic to the point of seeming more a wish of the present than an accurate assessment. It delivers very few surprises but instead relies on the innate charms of its cast.
Australian cast members Xavier Samuel, Morgan Griffin, Travis Jeffery and Lincoln Lewis do their best to bring life to a very predictable script. Their chemistry together adds a much needed charm and interest to the ...
The Secret Life of Pets Movie Review
Lovable lost and found hound, Max (Louis C.K.), gets his nose out of joint when his owner brings home another stray dog, Duke (Eric Stonestreet). In a fit of jealousy over the loss of his singular place in his owner's heart, Max does a series of not very nice things to Duke in order to foster disfavour between the newcomer and their owner. Duke responds by doing some not very nice things in return, the result of which is the pair getting some not very nice things done to them by a gang of ...
Sully Movie Review
Tom Hanks plays Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who after a bird strike disables the plane’s twin engines makes a snap decision that untimely saves all 155 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A320. The film starts with Sully having nightmares about a different outcome to his actions and those scenes are quite arresting.
The film continues using the plot device of the investigation of Sully and his co-pilot played by Aaron Eckhart (with his usual roguish charm). These actions ...
War Dogs Movie Review
When casting this story, one that is based on true events, the filmmakers followed the tradition of the funny man and straight guy. No guesses needed to know whom Jonah Hill and Miles Teller end up playing. Hill in particular, returns to a role we’ve seen numerous times before and the unfortunate result is the film ends up playing out like a poor man’s version of The Wolf Of Wall Street.
There are moments of true humour and more than a few situations that are extremely scary but the ...
Kubo an the Two Strings Movie Review
The film uses stop motion animation (with one of the techniques cleverly shown in the end credits), CGI and what one might possibly imagine is hand drawn imagery and looks fantastic. Voiced by an A-list of vocal talent that includes Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes and Matthew (put down those bongos) McConaughey, they are given rich text to work with.
The story is an out right fantasy voyage and while this is a genre whose charms often elude, this is so inventively accomplished, it draws ...
Australiens Movie Review
So it falls upon Andi, her absent band mate (director, Jo Bauer), their bouncer (Lawrence Silver), their bored videographer (Tamara McLaughlin) and her geekish brother (Doug Hatch) to save the world… sorry… Australia (except Tasmania) from the alien onslaught. Low budget hijinks ensue.
Tim Burton's Mars Attacks did the cheap sci-fi spoof for $80M back in 1996. As Dolly Parton once said, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap."
It's a shame Brisbane director/writer, Joe Bauer, ...
