Review: Tolkien

An over-edited experience addressing the direct inspirations behind J.R.R Tolkien’s classic fantasy stories. A young boy returns to England with his mother and brother and begins to study for a scholarship. Meanwhile, fantastical thoughts of otherworldy places and languages infatuate him. With the huge success of New Line Cinema’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and…

Review: Ad Astra

An astronaut must travel on a secret mission to the edge of the Solar System in a bid to save all life as we know it, and perhaps reunite with his estranged father in the process. “Space” movies often fall into two categories, each category with a spectrum with two extremes on either end. The…

Review: It – Chapter 2

A slightly repetitive story structure does not inhibit an entertaining time! The kids from Derry, Maine, have left the town and grown up to have lives of their own. But Mike, who remained in Derry, contacts them all twenty-seven years after their traumatic experiences, and tells them to come home. The clown Pennywise has returned,…

Review: Crawl

Not entirely sure you can turn your brain off enough to fully enjoy Crawl. Haley, concerned for her estranged father who hasn’t been answering his phone, travels headlong into a category 5 hurricane to find him. Unfortunately his home has some scaly house guests. Alexandre Aja, whose career seems to be nosediving, having started out…

Review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

You are going to want to brush up on your 1960s Hollywood history before watching this! Rick Dalton is a Hollywood megastar of the 1950s and 60s just coming to terms with the idea that he is losing his edge, that younger actors are taking his place. His stuntman, Cliff Booth, despite living a far…

Review: The Dead Don’t Die

What a strange little film. The quiet little American town of Centreville is about to have a rude awakening when zombies start rising from the grave. It is up to two unlikely local cops to find a solution, and fast. You might be forgiven to think that The Dead Don’t Die looks like a cross…

Review: Toy Story 4

If you are certain Toy Story should have remained a trilogy, this will probably not change your mind. Nine years ago, Bo Peep was taken away after Andy’s sister decided she didn’t need her anymore. Now Woody and the gang are with Bonnie, their new child, and Woody finds new purpose in caring for Forky, a…

Review: Brightburn

A short but sweet horror film that riffs off of tropes that comic books have used for decades. When Tori and Kyle Breyer struggle to have a child of their own, they see it as a blessing that from the sky fell a mysterious baby boy. Raising the child as their own they couldn’t be…

Review: Men in Black – International

By all rights, it is a good concept. But while style and flare are still present, meaningful characters and humour are thin on the ground. Molly, after witnessing the MIB and an alien as a child, spent two decades looking for the agency to become one of them. Now she’s made it, she finds herself…

Review: Rocketman

Rocketman, like Elton’s flashy clothing, is a colourful mix of storytelling, reality, and daydreams. Reginald Kenneth Dwight is just a kid of the working classes in 1970s Britain, but when he sits himself down in front of a piano and immediately mimics what he can hear on the radio, his journey to become the sensational…