Who would have thought that a new Puss In Boots movie was the sequel we needed? It was 2011 when we saw this character in cinemas and we did think it was the last time we would have any more connections with the Shrek franchise. Well now, Dreamworks Animation has decided to bring a new…
Author: Stuart Wren
Magic Mike: Last Dance
Before we start looking at the latest in the Magic Mike series, Last Dance, I have to say that I am obviously not the target audience for these movies, but I really enjoyed the first two movies. Unfortunately, this new edition does for the first two movies what Staying Alive does for Saturday Night Fever,…
The Fabelmans
Lockdown obviously brought out memories for some filmmakers. Kenneth Branagh took us to his hometown in Belfast, while Sam Mendes told us tales of his mother and his love of cinema with Empire of Light. Now Steven Spielberg has joined this new cinematic universe with The Fabelmans, a fictionalized account of the director’s early years…
The Whale
It is one of the most talked about movies of the year. It has given a former Hollywood star his best role in years. It’s from a director who often produces controversial and diversive films. It has been lauded with awards and award nominations. Yet does it manage to match the hype? Is it the…
Babylon
I am a huge admirer of director Damien Chazelle. His previous films have all been in my top 20 best movies of the year. Whiplash was extraordinary. La La Land I fell in love with, and First Man was a visual treat. Now we get Babylon, a breathtaking, roller-coaster ride through the early days of…
Tár
The thought of watching a 2-hour 37-minute drama about a female concert conductor with an odd title may not be the most inviting thing you will hear. However, forget about the subject matter, for this is an extraordinary piece of cinema from a director whose last film, Little Children, was made 16 years ago. It…
Corsage
There has been a lot of interest in Empress Elizabeth of Austria recently. At least five TV and film productions have been produced of late, including this, Corsage, which follows the year of the popular Empress as she approaches her 40th birthday. Yet for those unfamiliar with the lady, and while this looks magnificent and…
Top Ten Movies of 2022
Here we are again with another list of movies that I thought were the best of the year. This year, regardless of what you may have heard, was tricky. There were better movies than bad, so narrowing it down to ten films was tough. As usual, I have a list of films that didn’t quite…
Avatar: The Way Of Water
It was 13 years ago that James Cameron, still riding high on the success of the terrible Titanic, broke his own records with the surprisingly dull Avatar, a movie which can be explained quite simply as two hours of tree hugging and the final act where they blew up the trees! I wasn’t holding my…
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel Pinocchio, has been a source of many a film adaptation. Disney’s 1940 version is probably the most famous, although their recent remake by Robert Zemeckis is a pointless exercise. Now, merely months after that version, Academy award-wining director Guillermo del Toro has delivered a stop-motion animated film that takes the premise…
Violent Night
If you are a fan of the movie Scrooged with Bill Murray, you will remember the start has an advert for an up-and-coming TV movie with Lee Majors called The Night The Reindeer Died. The premise was Santa Claus was under attack by terrorists, and only Lee Major could save them. Somebody had obviously thought…
Stu Loves Film 