Downton Abbey has become almost critic-proof. No matter what people think about the movies that have come out since the TV series ended, the fans will come out to support it. The third, and allegedly, last movie, The Grand Finale, is a perfect example of how safe it is. It is possibly the worst of…
Tag: movies
The Long Walk
Stephen King seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment. With the excellent Life of Chuck recently released, a TV series based on the novel It, Welcome To Derry, coming soon, and a new version of The Running Man in November, King’s wealth of novels and short stories seems to be attracting…
The Roses
Take two of this country’s finest and highly respected actors, the director of the Austin Powers and Meet The Parents movies, the writer of The Favourite and Poor Things and a film based on a best-selling book that has already been made into a popular movie from 1989, and what do you expect you will…
The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman, TV presenter and producer, turned his hand to writing and achieved international success with his murder mystery, The Thursday Murder Club. Becoming a phenomenon, Steven Spielberg instantly bought the rights, brought on board Home Alone director Chris Columbus, and assembled a cast to die for, entering into a deal with Netflix to present…
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…
Freakier Friday
Freaky Friday was a 1972 book by Mary Rodgers that fitted the Disney family-friendly world perfectly, and so a 1976 film starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster was made. The tale of a mother and daughter who swap bodies to understand each other’s points of view was a massive hit for the studio. So much…
Bring Her Back
A few years ago, Australian directors and twin brothers, Danny and Michael Philippou, gave us the intriguing and compelling horror film, Talk To Me, about a mummified hand that conjured spirits. What made that film work so well was its originality and the fact that the directors gave us characters we cared about. Now they…
The Naked Gun
For those not familiar with The Naked Gun, it started life as a very short-lived TV series back in the early ’80s, entitled Police Squad. Starring Leslie Nielsen and created by the team behind Airplane! It became a feature film in 1988 and spawned two sequels, and they are still some of the funniest movies…
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…
Jurassic World: Rebirth
Think back to 1992, when Jurassic Park first hit the screens and how awe-inspiring it was. Dinosaurs that were not stop motion but seemed real, interacting with humans and Steven Spielberg using all the muster he had from Jaws to produce an exciting, nail-biting adventure. The next two had their moments, but it was a…
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…
Stu Loves Film 