Best and Worst of 2023

2023… It has been a difficult year for me personally, and I welcomed the increase in cinema this year since the pandemic as it was a means of escapism and distraction. But it has also been a difficult year for cinema! The start of the year (in the lead up to award season) saw several…

Review: Ferrari

Director Michael Mann can be hit or miss, but Ferrari is definitely a hit. Enzo Ferrari, owner of the most prestigious brand of race cars in Italy after the end of the war, is faced with bankruptcy if he cannot get more interest in his cars. Compounding this, his business partner and estranged wife, and…

Review: Eileen

A moody, retro, psychological thriller. 24-year old wallflower Eileen exists in an unfulfilled void between her job at the local prison and living with her alcoholic father. But when co-worker Rebecca arrives at the prison, Eileen’s life is about to be electrified. Directed by William Oldroyd (Lady MacBeth), Eileen is adapted from the 2015 novel…

Review: Killers of The Flower Moon

For all its good performances, it is too long for not much intrigue. In the 1920s, the Native American Osage tribe’s land was rich in oil, bringing them riches and prosperity. But their servants, primarily white Americans, look to marry into these families… But some of them want even more. Based off the book Killers…

Review: The Creator

A solid science fiction vision; we need more movies like this. Ex-special forces officer Joshua is called back into action in a war against simulants, artificial intelligent lifeforms who co-exist with humans, as a new weapon to end the war has been created. Director Gareth Edwards has shown huge growth and masses of potential with…

Review: Oppenheimer

Don’t ask director Christopher Nolan how a car works. You will get an answer, but it will probably be elaborate and overcomplicated. As Nazi Germany invades Poland, the United States turn to any solution to end the war. They turn to a theoretical physicist named Robert Oppenheimer, and so begins a secret arms race to…

Review: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One

Mission: Impossible continues to impress in its penultimate entry. Ethan Hunt and his crew are still seen as rogues who get the job done. But when an algorithmic AI goes missing and appears to be a threat to global digital security, they might be on their most difficult mission yet. Directed and co-written by Christopher…

Review: Hypnotic

This is definitely a movie that thinks its smarter than it actually is. Danny Rourke, a cop whose daughter mysteriously vanished without a trace, finds clues to her whereabouts when a bizarre bank heist occurs. But as the strangeness unfolds, his life is turned upside down. Directed and co-written by Robert Rodriguez (a man with…

Review: John Wick – Chapter 4

Despite the franchise rapidly running out of road, this entry was a solid effort! After being betrayed by those closest to him, John Wick has recuperated and is out on the warpath to bring down every member of The High Table in hopes of earning his freedom. But those he targets have everyone gunning for…

Review: Cocaine Bear

That sure was a bear on cocaine! A drug cartel’s supply of cocaine is ejected out of a plane only to scatter across the American Georgian forests, only for a black bear to go on an addiction rampage. Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear is… well, it is what the title implies. Probably up there…