The title is a misnomer, this isn’t very bright. In an alternate reality where humans live alongside orcs and elves, the LA police department learn about an ancient magical artifact designed to return The Dark Lord to life. Officer Ward and his new recruit, an orc named Nick, find themselves in the middle of an…
Review: Pan’s Labyrinth
Of course I’ve seen this film before. I am having a “me” day: this is my favourite film. During the chaos of the Spanish civil war, a young girl cares for her mother who is pregnant with the child of a fascist army captain. But the girl finds herself captivated by another world that beckons…
Best and Worst of 2017
2017 has proven to be a critically successful year, but in terms of genre films it has given some pretty divisive experiences. Personally, this is the first year that Disney / Marvel Studios has failed to deliver a Top 10 worthy experience. While their three heavy hitters this year, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor Ragnarok and Guardians…
Review: Life
A competent claustrophobic sci-fi horror, but it does require a lot of suspension of disbelief to enjoy. A damaged reconnaissance probe returning from Mars returns to the orbital station above Earth so that scientists on board can study what it brought back. But to their surprise and initial joy, the probe brought back signs of…
Review: The Villainess
Incredible action sequences laboured with one too many twists which feel somewhat familiar. A woman forcibly inducted into a secret organisation of assassins finds herself at odds with her missions when events from her bloody and tragic past resurface. “Korean John Wick” is an easy sell, but that is probably the best way to describe…
Review: Hacksaw Ridge
Something of a cliched war movie, but it has a great focal point in Andrew Garfield. Based on the true story of Desmond Doss, an American army medic sent to Japan in World War 2, who takes part in the siege of Hacksaw Ridge and would become one of the most decorated soldiers for bravery…
Review: Tomorrowland
Finally getting around to watching this and it is a complicated one to discuss. Casey Newton is a dreamer. An intelligent girl who sees the world around her floundering to reach its potential, when one fateful day she finds a pin badge that seemingly teleports her to a blissful utopian future of Earth. But the…
Review: Star Wars – The Last Jedi
Disney have given the keys to director Rian Johnson for an entire trilogy after his work on The Last Jedi… I have no idea why. Episode VIII feels messy. The First Order, having decimated the Republic, now hunt down the remaining rebellion forces who are desperately on the run. Meanwhile, as her powers grow, Rey…
Review: The Disaster Artist
More of a celebration of what the cult phenomenon now is rather than an honest telling of the disaster it had been. Two words stood out to me while watching this: Guerrero Street. The Disaster Artist is a biopic comedy based off of the novel by Greg Sestero, a young actor who in the late…
Banter: The Last Jedi Predictions
My predictions for The Force Awakens proved reasonably popular, and not wholly inaccurate, so I’d like to try my hand at the second film in this new trilogy. There are two ways of preemptively thinking about The Last Jedi: 1) It is going to be the same story beats as The Empire Strikes Back. 2) Everything…