From scriptwriters Jim Rash and Nat Faxon comes the latest Indy-spirited coming-of-age comedy-drama The Way, Way Back. Awkward teenager Duncan (Liam James) is dragged to a beach house by his mum Pam (Toni Collette) and her new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell). Watching as the adults in his life regress to their younger days, Duncan struggles to fit in, until a chance bike ride … [Read more...]
About Time (2013) review by That Film Student
One would expect nothing less than a charming and quintessentially British romantic comedy from Richard Curtis, and that is exactly what you get from About Time. Underlined with subtle humour, Curtis surpasses our expectations with this wonderful story involving time-travel managing to get the balance right between a Doctor Who sci-fi side and a sentimental romance without … [Read more...]
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) review by That Film Guy
After the original Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief took a healthy $200m+ at the box office, the sequel moved quietly into production. … [Read more...]
Planes (2013) review by That Film Guy
After the commercial success of Cars and Cars 2 it's not surprising to see another instalment in the anthropomorphised vehicle Universe. With Planes the focus has switched from Radiator Springs to a Grand Prix race for aircraft and the production has switched from Pixar to Disney. What is less of a surprise is just how underwhelming and soulless this instalment in the … [Read more...]
The Grudge (2004) review by That Film Brat
Between 2003 and 2010, horror remakes seemed to be all the rage. This can most likely be attributed to Michael Bay's production company and the plethora of horror remakes they produced. The vast majority of the time, this films have been bad. They've been very bad. In fact, I can't think of a single one that wasn't bad. So it was was great caution that I decided to watch The … [Read more...]
Mulholland Drive (2001) review by That Film Journo
Few directors have such a cultural impact that a style of film is named after them. Hitchcockian, Kubrickian, Tarantinoesque are the few that spring to mind along with Lynchian. And no-one makes films like David Lynch. … [Read more...]
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) review by That Film Guy
When released in 2010, the Matthew Vaughn directed Kick-Ass became something of a revelation. Surrounded by increasingly po-faced comic book superhero films the original film followed the story of a normal teenager donning a wet-suit to fight crime and took great big pot-shots at the genre. It successfully subverted every aspect of a superhero origin story with childish glee. A … [Read more...]
Pain and Gain (2013) review by That Film Brat
After the mega-blockbuster smash hit Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Michael Bay, the infamous filmmaker that consistently churns out terrible film after terrible film yet keeps making embarrassing amounts of money, comes back to our screens two years later with his, quote, "great character piece". Pain & Gain is an odd film to review, since it's based on the true story of … [Read more...]
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) review by That Film Guy
The Harry Potter franchise was a lot to answer for. After it's incredible commercial success any book series that covers vaguely similar ground got pushed into production. In the case of the clunkily titled Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief it bears more than a passing resemblance to the boy wizard from Surrey, and directed by Chris Columbus the opening … [Read more...]
Review: The Conjuring (2013)
Riding a wave of critical success in the States, The Conjuring has outsold almost every big budget blockbuster of the summer with a meager budget of only $20m in comparison. Directed by James Wan, the man who kick-started the torture-porn sub-genre a decade previously, The Conjuring is a surprisingly blood-free horror that bears more in common with his last work Insidious than … [Read more...]