In a time when the debate over the good and the bad of artificial intelligence is raging, we need a movie to help with the arguments. Mercy, unfortunately, is not that movie. A silly, science fiction whodunnit in which two big-name stars are limited to being in one room, talking to each other while surrounded…
Tag: fantasy
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
One of the big successes of last year was the return of Danny Boyle to the 28 Days Later films, 28 Years Later. The end of the film left many confused, but now we get the follow-up, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and as a middle film to a trilogy, it not only manages…
Avatar: Fire And Ash
There aren’t many film franchises where I could say I don’t care. Some are bad but bearable, while others worsen progressively. Still, James Cameron’s Avatar films just don’t do anything for me, to the point that even though cinema is going through a terrible patch at the moment, I want the third entry, Fire and…
Eternity
They often say that they don’t make them like they used to. Once in a while, a film tries to debunk that accusation. Eternity is one such film, a screwball romantic comedy that takes the beats and rhythms of past movies and gives them a modern edge. While it might not be entirely successful, you…
Wicked: For Good
Last year, we had the first part of an epic musical adaptation of Wicked, the hugely successful Broadway and West End hit. Now we have the sequel, Wicked: For Good, or as it should be called, Wicked Act Two, for this is precisely what it is. The first film was predominantly the first act, with…
The Ice Tower
One of my fears about cinema has always been the lack of originality and the way movie makers rely on stories already told. This could be said of The Ice Tower, an unusual retelling of The Snow Queen, which has already inspired a huge adaptation in Disney’s Frozen. Yet this is as far removed from…
The Running Man
At the height of his career, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a sci-fi action movie called The Running Man, which was based on a story by Richard Bachman, who turned out to be Stephen King. It was a pale imitation of the original story, and so King decided to withhold his name from the material. Now,…
Predator: Badlands
The Predator franchise has been diminishing ever since the alien decided to take on Arnold Schwarzenegger back in 1987. That is, until writer and director Dan Trachtenberg came on board with his 2022 film, Prey. Earlier this year, he gave us the animated Predator: Killer of Killers, and now he takes the story to a…
Bugonia
Many people say there is little originality in mainstream cinema. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is out to prove them wrong. His films push the boundaries of what it means to be different while challenging the audience with his creative approach and unpredictability. Movies like The Favourite, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness are critical successes,…
Tron: Ares
Back in 1982, Tron took cinema to a whole new dimension. The first film to use computer-generated effects was a marvel to behold, as we were taken from the real world into the land of video games, where light cycles raced around a grid, even though the computer they used had only 2 MB of…
The Life Of Chuck
When it comes to film adaptations of books, no one has had a chequered career than Stephen King. The master of horror has some outstanding film versions from Carrie (the original 1976 version) to The Shining (although King himself hates it) to more recently It (the first part). Where he has scored highly is the…
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Of all the Marvel creations, the Fantastic Four have had the rockiest time with film versions. There were the two from the early 2000s, and the disastrous 2015 version (and let’s not forget Roger Corman’s unreleased and very cheap version. Now, Marvel Studios has the rights back and has given us their first adventure in…
Stu Loves Film 