Cowa-Bungled [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00MI1X58S][/pullquote] It's like candy, people love candy, says Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) to April O'Neil (Megan Fox) when talking about her disgruntled attitude to reporting on less-than-serious news. But like many pseudo-meta comments in this limp … [Read more...]
Review: The Maze Runner (2014)
Lost of the Flies [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00DHJT6WO][/pullquote] Based on a best-selling novel by James Dashner, The Maze Runner is the latest in the never-ending stream of young adult film adaptations. Fortunately as the genre evolves films like The Hunger Games and Twilight provide the … [Read more...]
Review: As Above, So Below (2014)
Lara Croft and the Philosopher's Stone [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00LSW70MU][/pullquote] There is an old saying with films that it's better to start weak and finish strong than start strong and finish weak. John Erick Dowdle, the director of the latest found footage horror As Above, So Below … [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: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
The Viking Empire Strikes Back [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B003BIFPG2][/pullquote] Dreamworks used to play second fiddle to Pixar in the hit animated movie stakes but not anymore. … [Read more...]
Review: Maleficent (2014)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00IXGU8YG][/pullquote]If you hadn't worked it out from the Princess and the Frog, Frozen and Brave, then you will certainly learn it from Maleficent “ the all-powerful Disney brand is now well and truly on a new path. … [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: Divergent (2014)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00IALP3KS][/pullquote] The scourge of young adult (YA) adaptations was at all time high in 2013, where we got Beautiful Creatures, The Mortal Instruments, The Host, and Catching Fire all in the same year. It seems to be slightly less in volume this year, but with 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...]