Four books, sixteen hours of film and a cast of hundreds and it all comes down to this. The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is the final time Peter Jackson and crew will be heading into the worlds of JRR Tolkien as it rounds out the trilogy of films based on the children's book The Hobbit. Nobody can say that this prequel trilogy has been as popular as The Lord of the Rings, … [Read more...]
Review: Horns (2014)
The Devil Inside [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=057512069X][/pullquote] Former child actors seem to have a new strategy going. While some have their famous roles and then cannot be seen as anything other than that for the rest of their career, new child actors seem to be savvier to this dangerous … [Read more...]
Review: Hercules (2014)
First things first: The Rock IS Hercules. He's long been a great action lead in search of a role worthy of him, and here, he's found it. Hercules is no classic, but it's never boring, and when Johnson bellows "I AM HERCULES!" towards the end, it's very hard not to nod and agree. … [Read more...]
Review: Dragonphoenix Chronicles: Indomitable (2013, Greek)
An crowd-funded independent Greek film, made in the fallout of the country's economic collapse, is an intriguing prospect. When you factor in that it's an epic fantasy made for a budget of €10,000, or "the cost of a day's catering on Game of Thrones", it becomes downright worrying - plenty of fantasy films have failed miserably with million-dollar budgets. Which makes it all … [Read more...]
Review: Noah (2014)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00IZEATRM][/pullquote] Courting controversy has never bothered director Darren Aronofsky before and in his Biblical epic Noah, he once again stares down a weighty subject matter with his own keen eye for storytelling. Beset with studio interference, reshoots and … [Read more...]
Review: 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00A6UHCMI][/pullquote] 7 years after the release of Zack Snyder's take on the 300 graphic novel by Frank Miller comes a wrap-around sequel 300: Rise of an Empire directed by Noam Murro. Starting after the end of the previous film before flashing back to before, this … [Read more...]
Review: The Zero Theorem (2013)
The master of the weird and wonderful Terry Gilliam hasn't been the most consistent director of recent years. After onset problems with his Don Quixote film and the documentary that came from it, his unique brand of film-making has proved difficult with regard raising any kind of production funds. However with a great cast lined up this didn't prove as difficult to create The … [Read more...]
Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The second film in trilogies are always difficult to handle. The setup is done in the first film, while the conclusion is handled in the third, so the second film has to get stuck in straight away and normally end with a cliff-hanger ending, while still trying to have its own 3 act structure to avoid pacing issues. The Empire Strikes Back is the high benchmark of middle films, … [Read more...]
Review: Stardust (2007)
It's not often you get to see Robert De Niro playing a cross-dressing pirate, but that's exactly the world you get in Stardust. Based upon the novel by Sandman legend Neil Gaiman, it is directed by Matthew Vaughn from a script penned by Kick-Ass adaptor Jane Goldman. … [Read more...]
Review: Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness (2012)
My thought process when I saw this movie in the TV guide went something like this. Oh no. They made another D&D movie? OH CHRIST. It's a Syfy Channel original?! Oh wait. It's actually named after an artefact from the game. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. … [Read more...]