The first Magic Mike, it's fair to say, was far more successful than anyone could really have predicted it would be. Grossing more than $160 million from a $7 million budget and generally considered to be the beginning of the McConaissance, a sequel was inevitable, and now Mike Lane and the Kings of Tampa have returned for Magic Mike XXL. … [Read more...]
Review: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Apart from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, space opera seems to have entirely disappeared in films. As the genre often relies on extreme spectacle interweaved with political intrigue, it requires a large budget, and often space opera stories don't have enough name recognition to warrant the investment from the Hollywood bigwigs. … [Read more...]
Review: Foxcatcher (2014)
A big hit at Cannes and likely to be one of this year's awards season heavyweights, Foxcatcher is the true story of reclusive billionaire John du Pont (Steve Carell), who established a wrestling gym at his estate to train the United States team. He invited Olympic gold medallists Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) to coach the team. … [Read more...]
Review: 22 Jump Street (2014)
Spring Fakers [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00JWSVLJK][/pullquote] Ladies, nobody cared about the Jump Street reboot, but you got lucky so begins a expositional speech that lets the audience know, with a cheeky wink that they're aware just how fortunate they are. The same speech references the … [Read more...]
Review: G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
Toy giant Hasbro continues its run of films based on its merchandise with G.I. Joe: Retaliation. After continued box office success with the Transformers films, Battleship and its predecessor G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Retaliation removes most of the major characters from the first film and installs a small team lead by action favourite and WWE wrestling star Dwayne 'The … [Read more...]
Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
In the early-to-mid 1980s toy companies realised that to help boost sales of their products it made commercial sense to create cartoons as a way of advertising to children. This lead to a boom in cartoons such as Transformers, He-Man and Thundercats on television. In recent years, Hasbro, one of the biggest toy companies in the world have begun to produce feature films at … [Read more...]
Review: 21 Jump Street (2012)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00JWSVLJK][/pullquote] 21 Jump Street was an iconic American police procedural show in the late 1980s and early 1990s that is best known for launching the career of main star Johnny Depp. In an age where any and all TV shows and films are considered ripe for … [Read more...]
Review: The Vow (2012)
2012 saw the release of The Vow, not to be confused with the slightly more memorable Stalinist propaganda film from 1946. Based loosely on the true events surrounding a real life couple, Kim and Krickitt Carpenter it sees Paige Collins (Rachel McAdams) suffer a severe head trauma after a car accident that makes her forget the last couple of years of her life including her … [Read more...]