See cinema differently
Director: Chad Stahleski Stars: Keanu Reeves, Asia Kate Dillon, Ian McShane Last time we saw John Wick (Keanu Reeves) things weren't looking good for the ruthlessly efficient assassin. Having broken the sacred contract of sanctuary at The Continental Hotel in New York, Wick was deemed 'excommunicado' by its manager Winston (Ian McShane) who, out of …
Director: Leigh Whannell Stars: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson Do you fondly recall the late 80's/early 90's boom in pulpy, violent sci-fi thrillers? Leigh Whannell sure does. The creator of Saw and Insidious returns here with a terrific ode to these pictures of yesteryear, employing many of their tics without resorting to cheap-shot homage or empty …
Director: Antoine Fuqua Stars: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders Back when I was a teenager I had a VHS copy of U.S. Marshals, the also-ran sequel to The Fugitive. That film's star Harrison Ford had bolted the fledgling franchise. Instead it was Tommy Lee Jones who reprised his role, hunting down Wesley Snipes with …
Director: Christopher McQuarrie Stars: Tom Cruise, Sean Harris, Henry Cavill Tom Cruise is 56. For a long time he was the single most bankable star in Hollywood. The fantasy of millions. He's still an extraordinarily bankable star. Right up there. But what can he do to keep a hold of that glossy immortality? American cinema …
Director: Stephen C Miller Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Xiaoming Huang, Dave Bautista This review was written while in the grip of both a fever and a migraine and, like the film, probably shouldn't have been attempted at all. Reader discretion is advised. Escape Plan was an enjoyable enough pile of crap, five years ago, which saw …
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han Around the time that Arnold Schwarzenegger hung up his spurs as the most gigantic action hero in the world in order to play governor, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was amping up his transition from the sports world to our movie theatres. It took him …
Director: Brad Peyton Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan Why did the gargantuan albino gorilla, the armor-plated alligator and the spiny bat-wolf cross the road? To get to the evil-frequency-emitting beacon atop the corporate assholes' skyscraper of course. Bless Dwayne Johnson. He's become Hollywood's official Most Charming Man. When he's not sticking up for …
Director: Roar Uthaug Stars: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins Films adapted from video games suck. We all know this. We've all been down this road and been burned too many times before. Even the occasional arguments to the contrary - the first Silent Hill movie, for instance - are, if we're honest, only ever kinda …
Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein Stars: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Jesse Plemmons As I sit writing this, the snow from this week's weather front is thawing on the roof and cascading down the side of the house. The gutters - already a problem - are overflowing from the melt; fat, heavy droplets spattering on …
Director: Ryan Coogler Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira Black Panther is against binaries. It's against simplistic divisions such as seeing the world as East and West; Northern and Southern hemispheres; first world and third. It's against selective thinking that reduces arguments to black and white; selective thinking that can slice a crisis along …
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Stars: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson It's strange that the Taken films kickstarted this hugely lucrative second phase in Liam Neeson's career seeing as how they're all - all - dreadful, artless, xenophobic slogs. But sometimes the means aren't as interesting as the ends. They've brought us to this point, here and now, …
Director: David Leitch Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella Mad Max: Fury Road posed a question that required an answer; why, in this day and age, aren't there more great female fronted action movies? It's not that such a thing doesn't exist (though they're scarce), its more that they're all too often bogged down …
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson There are movies that are greater than the sum of their parts. Movies that, in spite of inherent flaws or elements you might think would play against the whole, manage to coalesce into something better, something beautiful even. This is because a piece of …
Director: Chad Stahelski Stars: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Riccardo Scamarcio John Wick was a happy curio in the post-award season wastes of 2015; a self-aware twist on the trad US action B-movie bolstered by a refreshed Keanu Reeves and the visual discipline of its creators - former stunt players Derek Kolstad and Chad Stahelski - …
Year: 1993 Director: Steven Spielberg Stars: Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler), Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Iain Malcolm), Samuel L Jackson (Arnold), Joseph Mazzello (Tim), Ariana Richards (Lex), Wayne Knight (Nedry), Bob Peck (Muldoon), Martin Ferrero (Gannaro) Genre: Adventure / Sci-Fi After 2016's rather blighted season, it's quick, …
The Lost Highway Hotel 