Dune Movie Review
Herbert’s 1965 tale was originally serialized in the American magazine Analog (the first issue was published in 1930) and more than paved the way for Star Wars. The similar plot points are abundant but where the original Star Wars movie played it cute and cuddly, Villeneuve’s vision is dark, foreboding, and quite monochromatic. Life is harsh on Arrakis even for the ruling class.
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Things play out in a slow burn fashion with tension never far below the surface. ...
Encanto Movie Review
The cast is filled with an interesting mix of voice actors from both North and South America. Northerners include Stephanie Beatriz Bischoff Alvizuri (Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine), John Leguizamo (John Wick), Diane Guerrero (Maritza Ramos in Orange Is the New Black) and Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama (Fez in That '70s Show). While Columbian actors María Cecilia Botero (La Bruja), Angie Cepeda (Pobre Diabla) and Carolina Gaitán (Narcos) also star. The cast’s comfort with both English and ...
The Card Counter Movie Review
As the film plays out you discover there is much more to the story than just gambling. The details about Tell’s past put his actions into a completely different context and the revelations are not pleasant ones. Tell served time in the military and in prison for crimes committed while wearing the uniform.
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Schrader’s pace is measured but he jolts you out of complacency with shocking scenes and increased aural dynamics. The volume and actions displayed leave ...
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Movie Review
Picking up where the first chapter left off, Venom: Let There Be Carnage highlights the difficulty of experiencing life with a foreign body fighting for control for your body and mind. The forced partnership is played mostly for laughs as this modern day odd couple get drawn into the twisted world of serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson).
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Harrelson has not been this over the top since playing Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers. His partner in crime ...
Last Night in Soho Movie Review
The story while set in the present uses a clever plot device to go back in time to London (specifically Soho) in the swinging sixties. The dress code of the period is also brought to full colour as are the rocking hairstyles. The overall effect is quite intoxicating and it highlights how bland and limiting the current sense of fashion can be.
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Eloise "Ellie" Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) is a countryside girl who follows her muse for fashion by moving to the West End ...
British Film Festival – The Duke Movie Review
The film starts when his protest against the TV levee that the Poms inflicted back in the sixties lands him in jail where he does time. Broadbent is perfectly cast as the heart of gold Bunton as is the always impeccable Helen Mirren as his long-suffering wife Dorothy. His activities escalate until he is accused of stealing a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by the Spanish painter Goya.
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Getting the components correct for a true feel-good experience is not an easy ...
British Film Festival – The War Below Movie Review
The story is built around the actions of William Hawkin (Sam Hazeldine) a family man and miner rejected for active duty due to the early onset of miner’s lung. His shame at not being able to serve drives him and his men to extraordinary lengths in the undertaking. There is also a critical look at the military’s penchant for staid and possessive thought in disregarding these non enlisted men's heroics.
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Lacking the budget for big set pieces and special effects ...
No Time To Die Movie Review
The tale this time out is a continuation of the storyline that has underpinned all the Daniel Craig Bond movies. When Casino Royal launched back in 2006, it introduced a much more visceral 007. It began at his inception and featured his first kill. Then throughout successive films, his character weathered huge loss and discord with the realities of his chosen profession.
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It’s always been the threat to the world at large that powered his immense sense of King and ...
British Film Festival – My Father And Me Movie Review
Telling the tale of his father Maurice Broomfield who is now considered one of history's finest industrial photographers, filmmaker Nick Broomfield delivers a brilliant story that works on so many levels. His father vividly recorded the post World War II height of the British industrial age with still photos that are amazing in their technical brilliance and humanist subject matter. These frame the most human of stories, that of father and son.
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Nick's relationship ...
Eternals Movie Review
The balance between exposition and action feels out of kilter. There are ideas and plot devices that can’t be fully expressed in mere sentences and the Marvel movie's proclivity to build to a spectacular final reel seemed unavoidable. This does little to enliven the final results.
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The expansion of ideas taps into some interesting avenues and things look dire for most of the human race until the final crescendo. That there is hope for humankind by film’s end is ...
