ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD : Quentin Tarantino
Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino
JULY can’t come quick enough – one of cinema’s greatest filmmakers QUENTIN TARANTINO will take us back to 1969 Los Angeles where a television actor and his stunt double embark on an odyssey to make a name for themselves in the movie industry.
Sadly one of cinema’s finest actors ALBERT FINNEY has died aged 82 – his movie roles range from the likes of Tom Jones, Daddy Warbucks in Annie, George in Alan Parker’s brilliant & possibly my favourite Finney movie Shoot the Moon, Leo O’Bannon in gangster thriller Millers Crossing, Geoffrey Firmin in Under the Volcano, Ed Masey in Erin Brockovich and Bloom Snr in Tim Burton’s magical Big Fish and so many more – Albert Finney made a name for himself as an outstanding character actor, one that could play a mean bastard, a great detective, a prime minister and a loving father – he was loved by his peers and will be missed by all who love movies.
WOW !! It’s not very often that I’m completely and utterley SPEECHLESS but for 2 breathtaking hours I was transfixed to the IMAX screen where filmmaker’s Rodriguez & Cameron transported me deep into their dangerous & wonderfully exciting world full of a war torn darkness, futuristic games such as Motorball and all sorts of badass characters that are trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic world – ALITA BATTLE ANGEL is as IMMERSIVE ASTONISHING and AWESOME as scifi movies get and if your a movie fan and love this genre then I aplaud you to GET yourself and all your friends to your local cinema, find the BIGGEST and BADDEST screen, pay the extra dollar for 3D and you will have the movie time of your life – a few hours of past since I watched the movie and I’m still gushing like a child in a candy shop and can’t wait for a rewatch – a big shout out to the incredible age-less & totally kick ass actress Jennifer Connelly and I thought Rosa Salazar’s motion capture was magnificent, loved Ed Skrein’s epic turn as bounty hunter Zapan and Keean Johnson was great as Alita’s human boyfriend – Overall if I had one critisism it would be that I just didn’t want it to end ★★★★★
Having raved these last few years to anyone and everyone over James Wan and his ability to scare one half to death with his sublime horror movies The Conjuring, Insidious and Saw it’s actually quite satisfying to see him take on a huge comicbook adapation and completely and utterly destroy it – So I’ve just come out of AQUAMAN on Imax 3D and the first thing I have to say is what an incredible ride the movie is, it’s 143mins of mouth watering, adrenaline fueled action that’s looks totally insane on the big screen – If you take splashes of Pirates of the Caribbean, little drops of Phantom Menace and a tidle wave of Raiders of the Lost Ark then you get a comicbook adaption unlike anything you will have ever seen. I really dug the casting too from Amber Heard’s kickass warrior Mera who has an absolute ball alongside Jason Momoa’s hero, Nicole Kidman is great in everything and her role as the Queen of Atlantis was sublime, Patrick Wilson reuniting once more with Wan for a villanous turn as Orm the half-brother of Aquaman and I really enjoyed watching Yahya Abdul get his teeth into the role of Black Manta and boy doesn’t he do a great job. It never ceases to amaze me what they can produce in movies these days and James Wan’s Aquaman has so many WOW HOLY SHIT how on EARTH did they do THAT moments so do yourself a favour and grab a ticket as this movie REQUIRES some serious BIG SCREEN viewing….. ★★★★½
OVERLORD : Julius Avery
Wyatt Russell, Jovan Adepo & Mathilde Ollivier
THE GRINCH: Scott Mosier & Yarrow Cheney
Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Cameron Seely
Don’t you just love Christmas? the feeling of love & happiness, the sounds of jingle bells and smell of winter in the air, it’s that time of year that most of us are happy and for me watching Christmas Movies only adds to this special time – well across the world Christmas has come early in the form of Cheney & Mosier’s THE GRINCH a modernised, animated version of Dr Seuss’s 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Now I knew going in it would take a Chrismas Miracle for this movie to even compete with Ron Howard’s classic and I was right but nevertheless I had a blast – the film is sooooo funny, the animation is beautiful, the writing sharp as a holly branch and the vocal talents of Cumberbatch, Jones and Seely are quite brilliant – I found Danny Elfman’s score magical and even The Grinch’s snowy home on Mount Crumpit had a cool looking update and don’t even get me started on how adorable Fred the Reindeer and Max the Dog come across !! – If you need some cheering up and love the story then take yourself to Whoville for 90mins where I’m pretty sure your face a beam like a child at…….. you got it CHRISTMAS ★★★★
ATERRADOS aka: TERRIFIED: Demian Rugna
Ariel Chavarria, Maximiliano Ghione & Noberto Gonzalo
“When strange events occur in a neighborhood in Buenos Aires, a doctor specializing in the paranormal, her colleague, and an ex police officer decide to investigate further” It’s a rarity these days with Hollywood remaking, rebooting anything and everything that you come across a slice of original horror that makes your skin crawl, your palms sweat and your heart race so fast you feel like it’s gonna explode – Demian’s camera work, his use of light and the slow lingering photography are just perfect in building the atmosphere, the bathroom scene is one of the most disturbing horror moments in the last few years and the young boy at the dining table is chilling to say the least – so if your a fan of the paranormal or horror in general and are looking for something to creep you out this witching season then take a look at Demian Rugna’s ATERRADOS it’s a quick paced latin america horror movie that will make you jump out of your skin, lock all the doors and check beneath the bed before turning in – Demian Rugna has crafted something special and downright scary right here ★★★★
