Review: Bullet Train

A hi-octane, violent, funny action movie that ticks all the right boxes. Multiple trained assassins board a bullet train in Tokyo, only to find out their objectives are intertwined. Directed by David Leitch (director of Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, and co-director of John Wick) Bullet Train is a marvellous piece of escapist action. It is…

Review: The Irishman

Martin Scorsese’s three hour gangster epic, based off true stories, is an impressive spectacle if a little drawn out. Set over the 60s and 70s, the story follows Frank Sheeran, a war veteran-turn truck driver who becomes part of the criminal underground. Spanning over several decades, we see Frank’s friendships, alliances, dangerous betrayals, and sacrifices….

Review: Yardie

Great soundtrack and great style doesn’t fully disguise a paint-by-numbers screenplay. D. (for Dennis) a boy living in Jamaica falls into the service of one of two rival gangs after his brother is killed in the crossfire. The gang’s boss, King Fox, hires him for a job in London, delivering cocaine. But D. isn’t one…

Review: Hotel Artemis

A smart-mouthed thriller set in a hospital for criminals, Hotel Artemis is a decent time at the cinema. When their bank heist goes awry, two brothers take shelter inside a converted hotel ran by a nurse who treats the world’s top criminals and assassins. But when the leader of a crime syndicate is due to…

Review: John Wick: Chapter 2

So many guys killed! To criminal syndicates and Mafia across the globe, John Wick is a name to be feared. Death’s emissary they say. Before, he massacred a crime lord’s entire operation because they stole his car and killed his dog, now those in power see Wick as an asset again; out of retirement. Now…

Review: The Nice Guys

This comedic crime thriller is a classic experience from writer/director Shane Black. A recommended watch. An alcoholic private investigator is bewildered when he is asked to track down a dead porn star who died mysteriously yet believed to still be alive. During his search he meets an unlicenced investigator with anger management issues, both men…

Review: Black Mass

Johnny Depp headlines this Boston crime lord biopic with a transformative performance, but excellence isn’t only reserved for him. Between 1975 and 1986, James Bulger started out as a low level criminal, but with a friend from the school yard now in the FBI and a senator for a younger brother, Bulger gained immunity for…

Review: I Saw the Devil

Korean cinema once again blurs the line of good and evil while at the same time twisting your stomach and fraying your nerves. This film isn’t Oldboy but it is certainly memorable. When a police officer’s fiancee is tortured and killed by a serial killer, he vows revenge by hunting the killer down and… instead…

Review: Pain and Gain

You actually have to remind yourself this is a Michael Bay movie. Mark Wahlberg is Daniel Lugo, a bodybuilder and fitness trainer who, inspired by little more than movies, brings together two equally dimwitted friends in a bid to attain his American Dream. How? By kidnapping a man and stealing all of his money. But…

Review: The Family

A funny, if a little glib, black comedy from one of my favourite directors Luc Besson. Giomatti Manzoni (Robert De Niro) is a husband and father and once respected head of an American mafia clan, only now he and his family find themselves relocated to France under a witness protection scheme. While mafia hitmen look…