When modernising a 1970s film starring James Caan about an intelligent professor whose melancholy outlook leads him into a merry-go-round of gambling addiction and self-destruction, you might not expect Mark Wahlberg to be your go-to leading man. But it's exactly what the director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rupert Wyatt has done in The Gambler. … [Read more...]
Review: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Following on from the mega-smash Frozen, Disney look to an obscure Marvel comic book for there next animation; Big Hero 6. Following the successful branching out from the plain old romantic stories to exploring the sisterly relationship, this does the same but with brothers. … [Read more...]
Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Imagine a man who out-suaves Connery's Bond, who out-ass kicks Kick Ass and whose belief in manners are an excuse to brutalise an entire pub. This is Colin Firth's Harry Hart in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Director Matthew Vaughn fresh from his exploits with the X-Men returns to the comic book genre with an adaptation of The Secret Service by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, … [Read more...]
Review: Son of a Gun (2014)
Part of a growing movement of gritty Australian thrillers comes Son of a Gun starring Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites. It marks the directorial debut of wirter Marcus Avery. … [Read more...]
Review: Ex Machina (2015)
Writer Alex Garland is without a doubt one of the most talented writers of the 2000s. His writing had consistently impressed with his efforts with director Danny Boyle, those being the absolute classic 28 Days Later and the almost classic Sunshine (if not for it's terrible final act). He has also written great screenplays away from Danny Boyle, including Never Let Me Go and the … [Read more...]
Review: American Sniper (2014)
Directed by Clint Eastwood, American Sniper is a true-story war drama about Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history, racking up 160 confirmed kills in his four tours of service. Saying almost anything else could be considered a spoiler, as with most biopics, as it has less of a traditional narrative and has more of a series of events that … [Read more...]
Review: Taken 3 (2015)
The fact that the phrase ˜the Taken franchise' is a truth in the film industry is possibly the most baffling thing in recent movie memory. The first Taken film was a standalone story; an ex-secret agent's daughter gets kidnapped by a ring of Albanian human traffickers, and so he goes on a crusade to shoot some bad guys, torture some bad guys, and pretty much murder half of … [Read more...]
Review: Into the Woods (2014)
Belting its way into cinemas anyway is this rather odd adaptation of stage impresario Stephen Sondheim's musical Into the Woods. The script is written (or rewritten) by original co-writer James Lapine, while Rob Marshall (of Chicago fame) shakily points his camera and hopes for the best as the worlds of many beloved fairytale characters intertwine before being subverted and … [Read more...]
Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
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: The Theory of Everything (2014)
A biopic of Professor Stephen Hawking is a goldmine for Hollywood. He is arguably the most influential living physicist, akin to Albert Einstein. he has a crippling disease and was only given a few years to live, but recently celebrated his 73rd birthday. The Theory of Everything is based on the memoirs Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen of his first wife Jane and … [Read more...]