Director: J.J. Abrams Stars: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega You could feel it coming; a disturbance in the force. Gradually, as the press junkets for The Rise of Skywalker began, different members of the cast started speaking fondly of how Abrams' return felt so welcome. Abrams himself joined the fray. You could sense the urge … Continue reading Review: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Director: Jake Kasdan Stars: Karen Gillan, Danny DeVito, Awkwafina When, in combination, The Greatest Showman and Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle took more money for Sony than the last Bond film, it seemed inevitable that at least one of them would be franchised as quickly as possible. Jumanji was the obvious choice. After all, it was … Continue reading Review: Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Tim Miller Stars: Mackenzie Davis, Linda Hamilton, Natalia Reyes In hindsight, perhaps we ought to be thankful for just how dire Terminator Genisys turned out to be. That movie - which pissed all over a pretty well sodden franchise - ended with the threat of further sequels. Fortunately, those plans have been terminated (ha!). Dark Fate … Continue reading Review: Terminator Dark Fate
Director: David Leitch Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby The promotional materials for Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw are something else. Cheaply green-screened face-offs to camera in which Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Shaw (Jason Statham) shit-talk one another while a whole load of rapidly cut nonsense explodes all around them. These promos said one … Continue reading Review: Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw
Director: Gary Dauberman Stars: Katie Sarife, Madison Iseman, Mckenna Grace Ah, back again. The franchise offshoot that just won't die. Annabelle is a weird one. A series centred on an evil doll from The Conjuring which is completely inanimate, yet acts as a conduit for a cumbersome demon that wants to suck your soul out. The first … Continue reading Review: Annabelle Comes Home
Director: Tim Story Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Regina Hall Gordon Parks' 1971 film Shaft is probably the mainstream's flagship title from the blaxploitation run of the era, but it - and its sequels - are also outliers in the subgenre. The majority of the pictures that fall into this bracket were about vigilantes, … Continue reading Review: Shaft (2019)
Director: Josh Cooley Stars: Tom Hanks, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves The BBFC certificate card for Toy Story 4 confirms that it is rated U for universal, as expected, but it also advises that the film contains 'mild violence' and 'scary scenes'. A murmur ripples out across the packed cinema audience. 'Scary scenes'? This is a Pixar … Continue reading Review: Toy Story 4
Director: F Gary Gray Stars: Tessa Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, Chris Hemsworth I've been accused of contrariness before, and in fairness not without reason. Fine. But here at The Lost Highway Hotel, the name Will Smith is synonymous with entirely smug, borderline unwatchable goofiness. See also Barry Sonnenfield. As a result, the Men In Black franchise has, … Continue reading Review: Men In Black International
Director: Rob Letterman Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Ken Watanabe Let's start with an admission that should put a lot of this review in a certain shade: I've never gotten myself involved in Pokémon before at all. I've never watched the anime. I've not played the video games. I've not collected the cards. Elements of … Continue reading Review: Detective Pikachu
I’ve tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible. One paragraph talks – in the vaguest of terms – about non-specific character fates. I’ve placed the offending sentences within [ ] if you’d rather not take your chances. Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Stars: Karen Gillen, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans Problem #1. You've made a 21-part … Continue reading Review: Avengers: Endgame
Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Clark Gregg That the Marvel machine has taken 11 years and 20-ish films to get to a female-centric superhero movie is such a glaring and conspicuous oversight that Captain Marvel arrives with a hideously unenviable burden. It has to mean something. It has to be … Continue reading Review: Captain Marvel
Directors: Mike Mitchell, Trisha Gum Stars: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett Remember 5 years ago, when everything was awesome? Before Trump got elected? Before Brexit? It was a time of such utopian simplicity that none of us could possibly have appreciated it. Do you know happiness when it's happening? Back in the halcyon days … Continue reading Review: The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
Director: M Night Shyamalan Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy Extreme reactions are often not constructive and point toward a preconceived bias or clouded objectivity. My writing is sometimes deliberately subjective, and I find the line between the two porous. Still, though skeptical of M Night Shyamalan's ability to work himself out of … Continue reading Review: Glass
The Transformers franchise, formerly wretched, gets an unexpected shot of heart. Director: Travis Knight Stars: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendebord Jr. There are things that you don't expect. Interesting music from Ed Sheeran. Reasonable answers about Brexit. Stagecoach buses. You don't expect them because of experience. Because for some things the well ran dry a long time ago and waiting on … Continue reading Review: Bumblebee
Director: David Gordon Green Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Will Patton, Andi Matichak One of the creepiest things about Halloween (2018), right out of the gate, is the appearance of the Miramax logo, which hasn't been seen in many a year, and certainly not since the expulsion of the Weinsteins. Ballsy/deluded of someone to hold on to … Continue reading Review: Halloween (2018)
