Oh, Ben Wheatley! Regarded as one of this country’s best independent filmmakers, Mr Wheatley has, over the years, produced some excellent cross-genre movies like the gangster/horror Kill List, the black comedy Sightseers, and the deconstruction of an action movie, Free Fire. Now he tackles his first big blockbuster movie, Meg 2: The Trench, the sequel…
Tag: cinema
The Beanie Bubble
There seems to be a current trend in looking back at commerce from the past that we have connected with. We had Air, about the Nike trainer; Tetris, about the computer game and Blackberry, about the mobile phone. Now we have The Beanie Bubble, a tale of the Beanie Babies phenomenon, the bean-stuffed toys that…
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan has become as big a name as the movies he directs. You know that when you see one of his films, you will get quality, a filmmaker who produces thought-provoking, often head-scratching tales. After his last movie, the complicated Tenet, we now get a biopic, of sorts, in the story of the Father…
Barbie
This weekend saw something I thought I would never see again. A cinema foyer packed with screens sold out. The reason behind this phenomenon is this weekend saw the release of two of the year’s biggest and most anticipated movies: Oppenheimer and Barbie, or as it has now been renamed, Barberheimer. Two completely different movies…
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
As a film critic, you must often stay completely impartial and never go into a film with high expectations or preconceived ideas of what you will be getting from the film. However, in the case of the seventh Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning Part One, I was excited as a little schoolboy going to an…
Elemental
One thing Pixar has been very good at is dealing with issues that young people may face daily in a way they can understand. For example, Soul dealt with death and grief, Turning Red dealt with puberty, and Inside Out dealt with emotions. Their latest film, Elemental, covers several issues. While they can be commended…
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny
1981, just two days after the wedding of Charles and Diana, my friends and I headed off to ABC 1 in Enfield for an opening day screening of a new adventure from the director of Jaws and produced by the man behind Star Wars, about an archaeologist looking for a religious relic. I remember spending…
Asteroid City
It’s not often you find people going to a movie because of a director, but Wes Anderson has such a unique voice and a style that every time he directs a new film, it’s almost a celebration. His latest outing, Asteroid City, is possibly the most Anderson-ish movie. A film packed with big screen names,…
The Flash
The Flash has had a troubled journey to get to the screen. There have been incidents with its lead actor, forcing the film to be delayed in its release and questions about the performance at the box office because of audience reactions to those events. It’s also one of the last films made before DC…
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
It is widely acknowledged that the Transformers franchise, while popular at the box office, is far from perfect filmmaking. Director Michael Bay’s bombastic style has led to the creation of a new word: Bayhem! The five films he helmed were loud, nonsensical, lacking in character and depth, and had a testosterone-fuelled attitude to violence, humour…
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
It’s not often that you leave a cinema almost breathless, having experienced something special, but I have to say Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is very special. This is more than just a cinematic experience. This work of art is more than just an animated action film. This has humour, excitement, heart, and emotion. In fact,…
The Little Mermaid
I was looking through some old movie posters and came across an advert for a film called Escape From The Dark. This was a Disney production about pit ponies in Northern England. Very dark and very moving. I remember vividly seeing this original tale and being blown away by it. A British-produced Disney live-action that…
