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…
Tag: fantasy
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…
Superman
When Richard Donner brought Superman to the screens back in 1978, it not only changed the face of superhero movies but it set such a high bar that nothing would ever touch it or even get close to touching it, especially when you have Christopher Reeve as the lead, an actor who not only looked…
Elio
When you look at the plot synopsis for Elio, you would find it hard to believe that this is an original story: a lonely boy looking for friendship finds it in an alien. Immediately, your thoughts go to E.T. Yet this is a Pixar movie, and even though the animation may be inspired by several…
How To Train Your Dragon
I have grown so tired of the trend of reworking animated features into live-action films. Disney seems to have built their studios around it recently, to the point that I have struggled to even venture to see Lilo & Stitch. When I first became aware of DreamWorks entering the same world as the House of…
Stu Loves Film 