Retro Movie Review – Run All Night
The 2008 film Taken recast Neeson as one of the big screen’s true bad asses and reenergized his career. This change was helped by the actor buffing up and having the innate physicality to play those roles with enough authenticity to be featured close up in fight and action scenes. No soft filter or distant set up shots were needed to hide the fact that almost all of the fight scene featured stunt doubles (i.e. Roger Moore in all the Bond films).
//
This time out, ...
Retro Movie Review – Hidden Figures
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.
//
The Space Race as it was called back then really was a race as the threat of communism and the fact the ...
Retro Movie Review – Tomorrowland
The story revolves around a parallel universe that is not unlike the hidden world in Ayn Rand’s opus Atlas Shrugged (minus the extreme narcissism). It’s a land where science is let loose to the benefit of mankind. This gives the filmmakers a platform for some very cool wishful technology and also features a lot of fantastic set design artwork.
//
With a list of participants that includes director Brad Bird (The Incredibles and The Iron Giant), George Clooney and ...
Retro Movie Review – The Accountant
Affleck plays Christian Wolff, an autistic certified public accountant that also moonlights as an assassin. Wolff’s inability to really connect with other human beings adds a chilling reality to his actions and Affleck’s stoic portrayal feels accurate. Even the love angle is suitably underplayed.
//
The film’s structure mixes enough back-story to flush out Wolff’s beginnings but not so much as to rob the film of its forward momentum. It builds to a satisfying ...
Retro Movie Review – Alice In Wonderland
This vivid approach isn’t just limited to the visuals either. The landscapes and creatures are integral to a story that also expands the mind. One thinks that the story’s original author Lewis Carroll might have gotten hold of some of the Blue Caterpillar’s best stash before pen was put to paper.
//
Australian actor Mia Wasikowska as Alice, starts out as a dour young girl sent off to marry a man she doesn’t love and through the magic of the story becomes a ...
Retro Movie Review – Arrival
Amy Adams is Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist expert that the government recruits to help communicate with one of the alien entities that have arrived at twelve points around the globe. She is the soul of the story. Joining her is Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly, a theoretical physicist with a very well developed sense of wonder about the world.
//
The story is told in a non-linear manner and subsequently every scene must be paid attention too. The film is also shot with a ...
Retro Movie Review – American Sniper
Clint Eastwood’s take on Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s (Bradley Cooper) autobiography certainly sets a scene of dread and foreboding as we follow Kyle and his descent into the war in Iraq.
Kyle is a good old boy from Texas, a former competitive cowboy and a very proficient marksman. His entry into the service is spurred on by the events of 9/11 and his upbringing with a very strong and opinionated father. This background is revealed is very broad strokes and lacks the nuance to really allow ...
Retro Movie Review – Jasper Jones
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.
//
The cast is peppered with ...
Retro Movie Review – Boyhood
When the film starts, we catch up with six year-old Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his family, sister Samantha (Linklater’s real-life daughter Lorelei Linklater) and mom and pop (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke). What follows is a coming of age tale that touches on many elements of the modern day life, single parenthood, sibling rivalry and just trying to figure out this crazy thing called life.
//
The concept is interesting but it’s the performances that make this ...
Retro Movie Review – Split
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.
//
The movie dips into the horror film approach ...
