Self/less Movie Review
There is also the issue of the major name on the movie marquee being severely underutilized and contrary to the film’s trailer and ad campaign, Sir Ben Kingsley role is more cameo than leading. The film tries hard to cash in on lead actor Ryan Reynolds’ innate charm but the script gives him too little to work with. Elsewhere Matthew Goode’s icy menace is more effective.
The story line is structured to be more on the thriller side and as a results, the science of the story is very ...
Mr. Holmes Movie Review
The story here (based on the novel A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin) is told in such rich strokes, it’s sometime easy to forget that both this tale and the character of Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are both fictional. McKellen continues to amaze and his performance here while being bathed is subdued British wit burns below the surface with the frustrations of age and the decline of the mental process.
The story revolves around Holmes’ last case and the ...
Amy Movie Review
When Winehouse broke out in the early noughties, she really stood out. Here was a jazz singer that wrote incredibly personal lyrics, had great vocal chops and delivered them with a looseness that ran counter to a lot of jazz singer’s rigid professionalism. That she was a hot mess only added to the original appeal.
The film was made in the beginning with the family’s full approval but as the final cut came together their disapproval became pronounced and it’s easy to see why as her ...
Terminator Genisys Movie Review
The story throws a lot your way and it relies quite a bit on the viewer’s past knowledge of the Terminator film series and its liberal take on time travel. Most of the plot twists originate from that ethos and they are at times hard to follow. It also features a progression of special effects as the early reels show simpler CGI while the later reels try their best to blow your mind with what’s now possible with zeros and ones.
The new cast play better with Arnie than they do with ...
Inside Out Movie Review
It's no surprise that Disney is promoting Inside Out on the back of Up as (aside from the directorial connection) it is the Pixar film that is most similar to date. Both films employ very adult themes packaged in an easily digestible kiddie format.
The film beautifully visualises the thought processes and memory structures of the human mind, distilling human emotions to five fundamentals - joy, sadness, anger, disgust and fear - and represents these as little people conflicting inside ...
Ted 2 Movie Review
The storyline this time is about Ted having to go to court to defend his right to be recognized as a person (in legal terms) and it’s the weakest element of the film but then you laugh so hard throughout, it seems a minor complaint. Most of the original cast have also returned except Mila Kunis and her absence becomes part of the storyline.
MacFarlane loves to get away with incendiary social commentary disguised as comedy and his pushes the envelope as far as he thinks he can. His ...
Minions Movie Review
Its timeline starts from the beginning of time and quickly accelerates to the swinging sixties and as such makes for some very funny history lessons. It also rewards those looking for popular culture references with a wide range of improbable moments. The soundtrack is also fantastically period appropriate and the filmmakers spared no expense in securing the original songs by the original artists. The licensing fees must have been through the roof.
The core of the action eventually ...
Jurassic World Movie Review
That's not to say that Jurassic World is terrible - it's not - it's easily the second best of the franchise but it is yet another re-run of practically the same story. Again we have two children loose in a dinosaur park run amok while the park's controller (and relative of the children) attempts to retrieve them with the aid of a mercenary type.
The script throws all caution and common sense to the wind in ways that would never be allowed in the real world - how these two youngsters come ...
Entourage Movie Review
Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) has taken the job running the studio that was offered him in the crazy credits in the last TV episode and has agreed to let Vincent (Adrian Grenier) direct and star in his first big project as studio head. The film is called Hyde and is loosely based on the Jekyll and Hyde story. Vinnie is way over budget and so Ari has to go cap in hand and ask the film’s financier Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton) and his oh so creepy son Travis (Haley Joel Osment) for more ...
Spy Movie Review
Feig may have inadvertently stumbled upon McCarthy's limitations, however, as his star is strangely the least funny character for at least the first half of the movie. This is because for the first half of the film McCarthy is playing the ‘nice girl’ and ‘nice’ McCarthy just isn't very funny. Fear not, though, when Rose Byrne's villain enters the picture, McCarthy gets a sparring partner and enters ‘hard arse’ mode and hard arse McCarthy is very funny indeed.
In the comedic ...
