Run All Night Movie Review
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, instead of being a ...
Chappie Movie Review
The story revolves around a computer sciences geek Deon Wilson (played by Dev Patel, he of Slumdog Millionaire, The Newsroom and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel fame) who creates an Artificial Intelligence program to help his robots achieve a level of human consciousness. His place of employment has already used his technology to build robots that the police use to enforce the law in Johannesburg. Upper management is opposed to this, so he goes rogue to complete the task. This is when the story ...
Seventh Son Movie Review
Once you get pulled into its world of crazy, it’s actually a good bit of fun. Bridges as head Spook, Master Gregory has never been more over the top (and that's saying something). A Spook in this context is one who helps deal with witches and other creatures that go bump in the night. They are also adept at hand-to-hand combat with a drink in one hand and little else.
The set up is thin with little more than a head demon to take down, this simplicity however is flushed out by the ...
Project Almanac Movie Review
First the premise that time travel actually exists must be made believable and then its rules (and there are many) must be observed. Add an engaging storyline and you have a rather large number of hurdles to clear.
With Project Almanac, director Dean Israelite cloaks his coming of age teen tale with enough silly science fiction to rival all those other teen classics like Weird Science, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Clockstoppers. It does however tick the one box that almost ...
Fifty Shades of Grey Movie Review
Nearly ten-years later, British author E. L. James publishes Fifty Shades of Grey, a story about a conservative young woman with a modest upbringing who falls in love with a dominant corporate executive - another ‘Mr Grey’. Fifty Shades of Grey follows the plot and themes of Secretary so closely it would be reasonable to suggest that the two are not unrelated insofar as the latter at the very least heavily influenced the former, if not downright plagiarises it.
As the story goes, ...
Jupiter Ascending Movie Review
The fact they never really transcend the uneasy combination of science fiction and fantasy shouldn’t deter any serious Matrix fan from giving this opus a go. Add the now almost obligatory 3D glasses and the biggest container of popcorn you can carry and you have one very current big bang cinema experience on your hands.
But this recommendation comes with a few conditions. First, if you suffer from vertigo, forget about it, as the relentless 3D action and change of perspective will have ...
Kingsman: The Secret Service Movie Reviews
Colin Firth as Kingsman agent Harry Hart is flawlessly cast as our introduction to this world of perfect gentlemanly conduct and deadly killing precision. And in stark contrast to the recent proclivity of the Bond franchise to do away with all those cool spy gadgets, this film is littered with deadly hardware that would have made the old Q more than happy.
Underlining the cool technology on display is a story based on character development, honour and paying back impossible depts. Harry ...
Mortdecai Movie Review
Film history is littered with movies that are so bad they become good. There are the unintentionally hilarious ones, the ones with such low production values, the ones with such over the top acting they never let you off the hook and then there is Mortdecai. This vehicle about a shonky art dealer starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor is one of the worst received movies in recent times, but is it so bad it’s good?
Depp plays Mortdecai; a fey British art dealer with a ...
The Theory of Everything Movie Review
The life and times of theoretical physicist, cosmologist and million selling author Stephen Hawking is told via a screenplay based on a book by his first wife of thirty years, Jane Wilde. We are given a window into his life from his early years and get to spend time with him before the revenges of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) took over his body.
While the force of the man’s will and his defiance of the medical profession’s estimate of the time of his demise is very inspiring, ...
Wreck-It Ralph Movie Review
One of the core problems with TRON: Legacy was that it completely disregarded the subsequent advances in video gaming since the first film. In an age where the first person shooter is considered de rigueur, TRON: Legacy was still playing with light cycles (Blockade/Surround) and illuminated Frisbees (Pong). Wreck-It Ralph corrects this oversight by internally chronicling the history of video games from the likes of Q*Bert and Tapper to 2D fighters' Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat to the ...
