‘It is a universally acknowledged truth that a zombie in possession of brains must be in search of more brains.’ Thus begins Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – the movie adaptation of the novel that married Jane Austin’s social satire to the zombie apocalypse. All the important plot points (and best lines) from the novel […]
Tag: Movie Reviews
The Finest Hours Weathers the Storm!
Disney’s The Finest Hours is based on a book about the greatest small boat rescue in the history of the Coast Guard. Bernie Webber and his crew (four, counting him) rescued thirty-two sailors from the aft half of the Pendleton, a tanker sheared in half by a blizzard in February of 1952. The film, which […]
The 5th Wave Is Just Too Obvious!
The idea of a teenaged girl leading the forces of good to victory over seemingly overwhelming odds is one of the most used tropes in YA fiction. The 5th Wave is only the latest movie to riff on that idea. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, it’s just too easy to figure out […]
Dirty Grandpa – Vile, Ugly, Crude & Funny!
Dirty Grandpa finds an earnest corporate lawyer being persuaded to drive his grandpa to Florida the day after his grandma’s funeral – and a week before his own wedding. If the movie’s title, TV spots and online trailers haven’t made it clear, Dirty Grandpa is a loud, crazy, vulgar farce that attempts to mix crudity […]
Band of Robbers: Tom & Huck Still Looking For A Place to Belong!
Brothers Aaron and Adam Nee clearly believe that the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are timeless – otherwise, why try to update them in the first place? Between them, the Brothers Nee have written and directed one of the loosest, strangest and most interesting takes on Mark Twain’s wily and unique protagonists.
Svengali – Wistful Rock & Roll Love Story!
Dixie knows more about music than anyone else in Wales and, with his girlfriend Shell, he figures he can get to London, persuade them to let him manage them and make them massive. Svengali is a love story – between Dixie and music and between Dixie and Shell. It’s wistful, a bit melancholy and gently […]
The Revenant – Elegantly Brutal Western Revenge Tale!
Revenant: 2.A person or thing reborn (Wiktionary). Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant is adapted from a novel that was based on real events, so it comes by its PR as ‘inspired by true events’ the long way round – but that does not lessen its impact. The Revenant is a riveting tale of brutal survival […]
The Hateful Eight, Not Tarantino’s Best But Still Worth A Trip! Michelle’s Review
Every Quentin Tarantino film comes across as a vanity project, which is both good and bad. I’m not entirely clear why it bothers me more for The Hateful Eight than anything else he’s done. Maybe it’s the weird release strategy of having two separate cuts of the film, a standard Digital Release that will go […]
The Hateful Eight – DCP Ain’t 70mm But It’s Not Bad!
I saw The Hateful Eight a few hours ago and even though we might not have a 70mm house in town, it’s still a great ride on a more or less standard screen with digital projection.
Point Break: An Intense Remake of a Fun Film!
Point Break takes the basic plot and characters from the Patrick Swayze-Keanu Reeves cult classic and fashions them into a gorgeously shot, intense thriller that hides its characters’ one-notedness behind brilliant cinematography and ridiculously cool stunts.
Concussion – The NFL Vs. Bennett C. Omalu MD!
Dr. Bennett C. Omalu is the Nigerian-American coroner who identified the brain damage that was the cause of mental health issues for ex-NFL players. The story is, as they used to say, ‘ripped from the headlines’ – and given that the NFL has just backed out of a concussion study at a Boston University, its […]