As his follow-up to 2003's excellent Master and Commander, Peter Weir made The Way Back, a film based on a supposedly true story about a group of prisoners escaping from a Gulag in Stalin-era Soviet Russia. Their journey takes them through the frozen tundra of Siberia, to Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, and finally over the Himalayas into India. … [Read more...]
Hard Boiled (1992) review by That Film Guy
In the late 1990s John Woo's name was synonomous with high-adrenaline action films. He's the man that gave us Hard Target, Broken Arrow and Mission: Impossible II, but before making the transition into Hollywood he had honed the art of action films in Hong Kong. Hard Boiled represents the best action film he developed during this period, and while it lacks the slick visuals of … [Read more...]
Review: The Avengers (2012)
Ever since Iron Man was released in 2008, Marvel have been building toward a huge ensemble film called The Avengers. Members of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), notably Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), have appeared in all of the Marvel films involved, including Captain America: The First Avenger, The … [Read more...]
Coming to America (1988) review by That Film Guy
There was no bigger comedy force in the late 1980s than Eddie Murphy. His two, now legendary, stand-up gigs Delirious and Raw are still best-sellers and he produced some of the finest comedies of the decade. Films such as Beverley Hills Cop and Trading Places helped to really establish him as a top comic actor. In 1988 he teamed up for a second time with another big-hitter from … [Read more...]
Alien vs. Predator (2004) review by That Film Guy
From the moment Predator was released in 1987, fans of it and the previously released Alien began speculating about a confrontation between the eponymous hunter and the H.R. Giger designed xenomorph. In 1989 a graphic novel pitted them against each other and an option was bought by Hollywood to turn it into a film. 15 years later, and after numerous script edits and changes in … [Read more...]
True Lies (1994) review by That Film Guy
In 1984 James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed for the genre-defining action film The Terminator. A decade later they teamed up again in an attempt to fulfill the promise made on from the critically and commercially panned Last Action Hero, namely a satire of the action genre. And in typical Cameron fashion they succeed through a high-tempo script, over-the-top and … [Read more...]
Silent House (2012) review by That Film Guy
Based on the original Uruguayan film Le Casa Muda (The Silent House), the abbreviated Silent House is an American remake. Claiming to have been shot in one continuous take, Silent House follows Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen) who visits a Victorian lakehouse with her father and uncle to renovate in preparation for sale. The house is in a terrible state and Sarah's father and uncle … [Read more...]
Coriolanus (2012) review by That Film Dude
When people think of Shakespeare, they usually think of Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet or Macbeth. Coriolanus is not exactly a well-known play, but with any luck Ralph Fiennes' modern update on it will help bring it to more people's attention. Granted, it isn't as good as Hamlet, but then there's very little that is. At the end of the day, there's only so far wrong you can go when … [Read more...]
Dark Shadows (2012) review by That Film Guy
Based on a low-budget Gothic soap opera from the mid-1960s, Tim Burton brings us Dark Shadows, the multi-million pound reimagining that reunites regular contributors Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter. Pitched as a Gothic comedy-horror, the film ses Barnabus Collins (Depp) an 18th Century playboy spurns the advances of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) unaware that she is a … [Read more...]
Titanic II (2010) review by That Film Klown
The tagline for Titanic II is: They said it couldn't happen twice. Turns out it could. And of course it does. The early scenes are packed with heavy handed references to what we all know must follow “ the characters discuss icebergs and lifeboats, and one sailor even mentions the ironic fact that the water is exactly the same temperature as it was when the ship's predecessor … [Read more...]