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Director : Joe Carnahan – Cast Includes : Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Alexis Louder
If your a fan of the late 60s into the 70s gritty thrillers that starred the likes of Marvin, Eastwood, McQueen and Bronson then find a local cinema that’s showing this bad boy and buy a ticket… you may find yourself in movie heaven as I was listening to it’s punchy Lalo Schifrin’s Magnum Force score reverberate around the cinema, the camera work in the prison cell as it becomes home to Teddy Murretto and I loved the way this slow burning hunk of simplicity grabs you by the throat and just doesn’t let go until it’s final explosive minutes… from it’s rookie cop played by Alexis Louder who’s sooo Harry Callaghan, calm collected and ice cold, the cool as a cucumber hitman Bob Viddick played by Gerard Butler, the devious conman who’ll do anything to save his own ass played by Frank Grillo to the looney tunes psychopath Anthony Lamb brought to life by the brilliant Toby Huss who’s mobster for hire is the dogs bollocks… the writing by Kurt McLeod is slick & effective and when you consider the majority of the film is set inside the Copshop I found myself utterly invested, loving every minute of the characters banter and humor, drooling over the second half shootout and found it’s runtime just flying by : Joe Carnahan’s COPSHOP is big screen dynamite, an excellent thriller and unlike anything you’ll see this year !! ★★★★½
Director : Leos Carax – Cast Includes : Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver, Simon Helberg
ANNETTE : Henry is a stand-up comedian who falls in love with Ann, a famous opera singer. Under the world’s glare they form a much photographed and devoted couple but when Ann gets pregnent and gives birth to a little girl their lives are turned upside down : the passion & the commitment by Adam Driver in giving Henry McHenry this bat-shit crazy existence is totally admirable, from the opening tune of So May We Start to the scenes on the boat and his showdown with Simon Helberg’s Accompanist, Adam Driver is devastatingly good… as is Marion Cotillard playing Ann the opera singer and partner to McHenry, from the extraordinary sex scene to the birth scene Cotillard one again demostrates her prowess, her range of vocals and acting ability is astonishing… and don’t get me started on baby Annette (bizzare just don’t cover it)… and as for Leos Carax’s movie I can guarantee you that you will not see anything as uniquely ambitious, wildly bizzare yet quite as brilliant this year !! ★★★★½
Director : Robert Schwentke – Cast Includes : Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Úrsula Corberó
SNAKE EYES (G.I. Joe Origins): After saving the life of the heir apparent a Japanese clan called the Arashikage welcomes Snake Eyes into their world. He is taught the way of the Ninja until his past catches upto him and his secrets become known to all around : I had a good time watching Snake Eyes but just felt the PG-13 rating hampered the overall tone of the movie, if it was darker, a tad more violent as the Yakuza generally are and the lead role of Snake Eyes was someone with a bit more experience in Martial Arts in real life and onscreen then the film would have kicked ass, I’m a big fan of Henry Golding but didn’t find his character believable enough… so overall Schwentke‘s movie is nothing more than a solid slice of entertainment that fails more than it does succeed ★★★
Director : Michael Morrissey – Cast Includes : Kay Tuckerman, Chukwudi Iwuji, Lexi Johnson
THE GIRL WHO GOT AWAY (aka: Mother) : After a female serial killer who killed four young girls escapes from prison, she returns to a small town to hunt the one girl that got away : It’s been eleven years since filmmaker Michael Morrisey directed Boy Wonder his first feature and judging by his latest I hope he directs another one soon… The Girl Who Got Away is a slow burning low budget slasher that’s reminisent of Carpenter’s Halloween, the film does a great job in keeping the tension bubbling with it’s intriguing plot and fabulous turns especially from Iwuji and Johnson, some of the death scenes really caught me off guard, making me jump on a few occassions and the film has a few twists that you don’t see coming duing it’s finale ★★★★
Director : Shawn Levy – Cast Includes : Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery
FREE GUY : A bank teller who discovers he’s an actual NPC (non-player character) in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story : Shawn Levy has directed many films in his career including the likes of Real Steel, Night at the Museum and The Pink Panther BUT nothing comes close to what he’s achieved with Free Guy a film that MUST BE SEEN on the biggest screen (please stay safe and wear a mask but this is perfect Cinema material), the writing by Zak Penn and Matt Lieberman is a delight, keeping the plot fresh, funny and playing perfectly into Ryan Reynolds capable comedy turning hands… the action is break neck and Jodie Comer is ON FIRE (and without sounding creepy she’s GORGEOUS too) her chemistry alongside Reynolds is terrific handling all the action scenes with ease and the faces she pulls when delivering her pitch perfect comic moments are so damn funny… I must also mention Taika “what you talking about Willis” Waititi who’s hilarious as the film’s villain, he swaggers with the best of them and his one liners are out of this world and along with some wonderful movie injokes look out for a great cameo by Channing Tatum who had me in tears (mum can you stop the hoovering)… CINEMA feels damn good right now and FREE GUY is the summer blockbuster of the year !! ★★★★★
Director : Leigh Janiak – Cast Includes : Sadie Sink, Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr, Ryan Simpkins, Gillian Jacobs, Olivia Scott Welch, Ashley Zukerman, Maya Hawke
As you guys know I love my horror and especially the slasher genre, from the Italian Maestro’s Argento, Bava & Fulci to the American slice and dice Kings in Hitchcock, Carpenter, Craven & Cunningham, this blood lust is my movie jam, I love being scared so when over a week ago I sat down and watched the first in a trilogy of movies that was landing on Netflix based around the work of author R. L. Stine I was bubbling with excitement… for those in the dark Leigh Janiak is an american filmmaker, her only other feature film was 2014’s Honeymoon, she has also directed a few episode’s of Scream the TV series and the underrated Outcast… her latest is the trilogy of weekly movies titled FEAR STREET…
OMG !! firstly let me mention the cool freaking opening to Fear Street: Part One 1994 that took me back in time and kicked off this trilogy, Janiak obviously knows her shit, so the start & finish must rock your socks off right?… the setting is a bookshop in the Shadyside Mall where Heather is working late… the phone rings (the tone gives you chills like the one Casey Becker answers in Scream… you know… “You hang up on me again and I’ll gut you like a fish!”…. that one!!), the person on the end of the line hangs up and Heather continues to work until she notices books on the floor and then behind her a figure rushes past one of the book stands, Heather rounds the corner and… (well I’m not gona tell you what happened next, now am I?) Part One is all played out like a Wes Craven movie and this guy right here is lapping up every single insane minute of it… SHIT that bread slicer and that whole chaotic finale is soooo fucked up right !!
I was to discover that Part One was just the appertiser, what came next BLEW my mind and shook me to the core… in FEAR STREET: Part Two 1978 Leigh Janiak truly captures the essence of summer camp in a horror movie, that Friday the 13th vibe is everywhere, you can smell & taste that rule breaking teen, the thrills of sex and spills of guts as the body count rises, it’s killer 70s score and like the first it’s obvious nods to horror’s of yesteryear… so right from the offset we have a quick recap of what happened in Part One and then it’s over to Deena and Josh travelling to the Berman’s house in hope of finding more answers and tracking down the witches hand… I just love EVERYTHING about this movie, it’s like a big cake with so may layers and a creamy yummy centre… not only are the scares more unforgiving, the violence a darker shade of cruel but it’s story is devilishly good too, entwined with the first and contains a few twists along the road to it’s insane crescendo… and don’t get me started on the wickid young cast such as the magnificent Kiana Madiera as Deena, McCabe Slye as Tommy, Ryan Simpkins as Alice but my pick and scream queen for the day is the incredible Sadie Sink her role as Ziggy will become iconic, from those opening 10 minutes as she’s chased and bullied by some of the other kids to that breathtaking blood splattered show down with the killer, her performance is far removed from that of MAD-Max in Stranger Things, she’s tough, independent and don’t suffer fools gladly, she’s quite the revelation…
And then onto FEAR STREET: Part Three 1666 where the story takes us back to the original settlement before it became Shadyside, when the curse first struck the town folk at a time when it was common to hang or burn someone for being different… the pace of Part Three may be slower but it’s tone is as dark if not darker than than the other two with chilling moments of dread filling it’s narrative including that disturbing chapel scene, Sarah being chased in the tunnels that gave me the feeling of Jack in The Shining, I still can’t shake that moment with the baby pigs, the sight of the rotten food you can almost smell, the removal of body parts and that gut wrenching hanging… the star of Part Three is without question Kiana Madiera she’s like a magnet, sucking you into Fear Street’s conclusion, Sarah’s story is both harrowing yet beautiful, showing us her forbidden love and with the help of some familiar faces Kiana like a ribbon ties everything together…
Leigh Janiak‘s FEAR STREET is a love letter to all us horror fans… Leigh’s given us a trilogy of darkness that not only pays homage to the great’s of yesteryear but she’s also created her own blueprint on a genre that’s been in need of refreshing new material… it’s like an adults only Stranger Things I found myself overecome with nostalgia, I was unnerved by it’s brutality, in love with it’s characters and bewitched by it’s storyline… WOW !! ★★★★★
In 1943 during World War II, a mysterious lady Maude Garrett climbs aboard a B-17 Bomber called The Fool’s Errand, during the flight the Errand is attacked by a Japanese War Plane and then suddenly Maude spots something lurking in the clouds…. as she’s travelling with with top-secret documents and a mostly male chauvinistic crew, Maude finds herself alone and it’s upto her to save the day : SHADOW IN THE CLOUD has a familiar tone reminding me a little of that episode of the Twilight Zone titled “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and “The Mission” episode in Amazing Stories, I never give too much away with my reviews but there’s no doubt that these episodes were an inspiration to Liang’s strangely bizzare, spooky and tension ridden picture : I loved it’s animated private snafu intro, it’s atmospheric synth score, the snappy runtime and even it’s bizzare plot that’s fractured, ridiculous and a tad crazy in a decent sort of way : maybe Roseanne Liang’s re-writes of Max Landis original script had a lot to do with the way the movie feels slightly disjointed, as the film ends up becoming this insanely cross-genre of World War II mystery and scifi creature flick that works on some level but also feels rather confusing if not wildly entertaining : is the movie worth watching? the answer is most certainly yes !! the early parts are gripping as we follow Maude and that mysterious box she carries onto the bomber (what’s in the box?), I love the locker posters at the beginning (keep your eyes peeled) and when the film switches tact and it’s direction goes one way and another it’s action is sublime and effects tremendous with Chloë Grace Moretz and a rather wildly out of place yet scintillating score giving Shadow in the Cloud this watchable vibe and allowing us to see the promise in Roseanne Liang as an action helmer for bigger and better things to come ★★★½
A devout community suffering from a plague is torn apart by a beautiful young woman and the forces of witchcraft and possession : I do love me a good folk horror movie, with the likes of Witchfinder General, Blood on Satans Claw, The Witch amongst my favorites in the genre, films that oooze the occult, darkly bewitched by supernatural elements, carry the stench of an evil force fighting against or part of a religious group and there usually set in some sort of rural farm community or isolated island in the middle of nowehere : Thomas Robert Lee’s The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw is another such movie, one that evokes a slow burn foreboding with flashes of unsettling scenes alongside it’s dark and eerie setting : the story in the movie is fine but does get a bit messy in parts and some it’s characters are a little underused but nevertheless there’s a trio of very strong performances from the likes of Catherine Walker who plays Agatha, Catherine was excellent in Liam Gavin’s very scary horror movie A Dark Song, Jared Abrahamson who was last seen in American Animals and Jessica Reynolds in her movie debut gives a haunting painful display as Audrey : I really felt for poor Bridget in the movie played by the wonderful Hannah Emily Anderson, she first looses her child and then this hideous curse is placed upon her to devistating effect, the tooth scene, shaving blade and that moment with the sheep is very upsetting : the idea of transporting Audrey in a box as not to be seen by the towns folk was terrific, as was the idea of Agatha’s land only producing crops, I also found the film’s sets and lighting superbly effective throughout : so overall if your a fan of these slow building, folk horror movies then The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw will thrill and chill your bones : LOVED IT ★★★★
Sometime in the future, prisoners housed in a Vertical Self-Management Center watch as inmates in the upper cells are fed while those below starve : Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s directorial debut The Platform is a trip into the depth’s of madness, a disturbing dystopian gem that’s not for the faint hearted : the movie follows Goreng a normal guy who has agreed to spend 6 months of his life in this prison centre for the promise of a diploma on the outside world, of course this is dependant on whether he makes it through his term as each 30 days spent in the center the residents are transfered to another cell on a new level, the higher the cell number the more chance of survival : the story written by David Desola is fresh & downright scary and the work by Iván Massagué in & Zorion Eguileor in bringing Goreng & Trimagasi to life respectively is paramount to how the movie plays out, I could not keep my eyes off the pair of them, it was like watching some sort of depraved stage show, the desperation and brutality in surviving their term is absolute bonkers : the woman travelling up and down the food lift looking for her kid is messed up, that dog scene and Baharat’s attempt to climb a level had me feeling utterly nauseous : overall if your looking for something new & nasty in the horror genre then look no further than The Platform it’s a white knuckle ride that had me rocking in my chair praying for some kind of merciful resolution ★★★★½
For me the rules of a great Festive Movie are quite simple : try and make the person who’s watching feel good, put a big Cheshire Cat smile on their face and spread that heartfelt message of love, hope and well wishes far & wide : each year around early December our home is full of Christmas Cheer and we love nothing more than to revisit some of our favorite movies : alternate festive treats such as Die Hard and Gremlins, classics of yesteryear such as The Goonies and Raiders but without question each and every year the Absolute Top Four always get a looking : Richard Donner’s magnificent Scrooged, Frank Capra’s emotionally acclaimed It’s a Wonderful Life, The Griswalds send me into hysterics in Christmas Vacation and Ron Howard magical family movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas : for me these movies embody everything that makes this time of year so special……. what’s you favorite festive movies?
Following the loss of their son in a freak accident, a retired sheriff and his wife leave their ranch in Montana to rescue their young grandson from the Weboys, a dangerous family living deep in the heart of the Dakotas : if it’s action or light hearted entertainment your after then Let Him Go is certainly not for you, the sombre tone throughout is backed up by it’s hard hitting narrative, you’d think you were watching something by Taylor Sheridan but instead it’s directed by Thomas Bezucha based on a novel written by Larry Watson and what an excellent job he does too : watching two old pros in Lane and Costner deliver screen magic by simply talking around a breakfast table, drinking a coffee whilst on a roadtrip or sleeping the night in an empty prison cell is what I call BLISS and luckily for me there’s plenty of character investment in Watson’s sombre driven story, a real hearty, honest picture that examines getting old, loosing loved ones, abuse and fighting for what you believe in no matter what the cost : one of my favorite moments in the movie is when George & Margaret arrive at the Weboy’s for dinner and sit around the table, it’s polite until it’s not and your just made to feel as uncomfortable as the characters in the scene watching it all play out : overall Let Him Go is a real belter of a movie, it’s a slow paced, character driven mystery western that delivers an intense final act with stunning photography and a powerhouse display by Lesley Manville as Blanche Weboy ★★★★½
Born on the 18th December 1946 : STEVEN SPIELBERG has crafted one of the finest, unparalled bodies of work of any movie director, his films have touched, entertained and astonished millions across the world : his work includes some of my personal favorites such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park and E.T. and so many more that I have grown up watching, loving and revisiting as often as I can : his latest movie to hopefully land on the big screen will be the remake of West Side Story and keeping busy Spielberg is in pre-production on The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara a film based on the book by David I. Kertzer and will reunite it’s director with Mark Rylance : to celebrate Steven Spielberg‘s 74th birthday I think it’s only right that I quote one of my favorite lines from his finest movie “It’s not the years, honey. It’s the milage” (Indiana Jones)
One of my favorite Steven Spielberg quotes : “When you listen, you learn, You absorb like a sponge : and your life becomes so much better than when you are just trying to be listened to all the time”
A kid who was once celebrated in his local town, given the key to the region and free Ice Cream for life for solving local crimes is now 31, he has low self-esteem, his popularity has decreased and has become the butt of most jokes, but then a chance arrises from a client who’s boyfriend was murdered and it’s upto The Kid Detective to solve his first real case : ORIGINALITY in film is rare these days so when a movie comes out that truly blows your socks off with it’s dark humor, wild and WTF scenario’s and a new take on the private detective in small town USA then you have to pay attention, you have to rewatch it as the film’s that bloody good and then you have to find some way of telling your family and friends… “listen, this may not conform with some of your believes, it may embarrass, it will make you laugh and it will certainly make you feel uncomfortable, but hell The Kid Detective is certainly worth the watch” : what struck me most about Evan Morgan’s movie is it’s serious story arc about murder, kidnapping and adults abusing their power, it’s told with humor that’s close to the bone as you follow young Abe Applebaum through his days of youth, happiness and town stardom to this washed out, guilt ridden 31yr old who’s self pity and attitude makes you question everything about him, as the story unfolds you find yourself not agreeing with alot of his choices but somehow your still rooting for him, cheering him on nevertheless : I felt Adam Brody is outstanding, for me it’s his best role yet and along with Morgan’s original and edgy script, enjoyably quick pace, perculiar town’s folk and the flashbacks of a young Abe solving petty crimes that’s cute as a button The Kid Detective is one of the brightest films to hit our screens this year : it’s BRILLIANT ★★★★½
After losing his wife in a car accident, a father relocates to a new home with his daughter, but things go horribly wrong when strange things start to happen and his daughter vanishes after being cared for by a local nanny : with shades of the Ring and James Wan’s Insideous Kim Kwang-bin’s THE CLOSET is a chilling ghost story that tells of personal grief and trauma of others : apart from a short back in 2011 this is Kim Kwang-bin’s directorial debut that he also wrote, and what a spooky way to start your career behind the camera, the film is dark, it deals with disturbing images and has a haunting message that you’ll discover deep inside the belly of Kwang-bin’s storytelling : there’s moments during every good horror movie when the penny drops and during The Closet the real pay off comes with a small flashback scene involving Myung-jin and what happened to her, it’s disturbing and is certainly a choke you up moment that I didn’t see coming, the combination of supernatural elements, creepy characters and eye peeling effects mixed with a bunch of relatable characters creates the perfect balance in the movie and one I found extremely fun to watch : I loved the father and daughter played by Ha Jung-woo and Heo Yool both are excellent in their respective roles, Heo Yool’s Yi-na especially is quite innocent to begin with and then changes when the evil gets hold, super scary and those rolling eyes GULP, I also found the local exorcist played by the superb Kim Nam-gil who involves himself with the father in helping him find his daughter was a brilliant touch adding that bit of Poltergeist/Insideous element to proceedings : overall The Closet is worth every minute of your time, it’s a thought provoking, gut twisting ghost tale that packs a punch ★★★★
An ex-private investigator is hired to look into a suspicious death in the town of Wander : First film I’ve seen by Canadian filmmaker April Mullen and hopefully not the last : WANDER is one of them small town, nothing is quite what it seems type of movie that I found engrossing from the start, those early scenes of conspiracy theorists Arthur played by Aaron Eckhart and his faithful sidekick Jimmy played by old timer Tommy Lee Jones sat in the desert recording their latest deep web podcast that goes out live under the stars had me hook, line and sinker : with his bushy beard, big wide eyes and a limp Aaron Eckhart gives Wander it’s beacon, a lighthouse of a performance that shines throughout, he shows us the pain and trauma of his character who was once a family man, had everything going for him until a car accident kills his young daughter and leaves his wife in a comatose state : Arthur now lives in a camper van in the desert, in the middle of nowhere and spends his days looking after his dog Charlie, pod-casting with Jimmy and visiting his wife in a nursing facility…. one day he receives a visit by a women who wants to aquire his services as a Private Investigator, hiring him to look into her daughter’s suspicious death and so starts the domino effect, paranoia blurred with reality…. Arthur is down the rabbitt hole and he’s scrambling to get out : Wander is one of the better movies to come out of this crazy year, a small time GEM that’s well directed by April Mullen, well acted by it’s superb cast and has some beautiful New Mexico photography, it’s 90mins of character driven intrigue that delves into mental illness, the feeling of loss whilst touching on government cover-up, conspiracy and murder : ENJOYED very much ★★★★
An historical film directed by Steve McQueen, about the Mangrove restaurant in west London and the 1970s trial of The Mangrove Nine : I recently watched MANGROVE which is the first part of Mcqueen’s ambitious Small Axe, a collection of five movies that tell individual stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London around the 60s & 70s : at the heart of Mangrove is it’s powerful and riveting storytelling that revolves around a restaurant in the Notting Hill area and as the movie touches upon became known as the place for the community to eat, drink and discuss local issues, the Mangrove was run by the main character in the movie Frank Crichlow played by the amazing Shaun Parkes : in all honesty I didn’t know a great deal about this particular story and was facinated from the get-go, the march scenes and clashes with the local police were harrowing, the constant police harassment was diabolical and in the second half of the movie which was mostly about the trial I found the emotion delivered by it’s cast phenomenal, those closing arguements were tough to watch and when the jury were delivering their verdict, through gritted teeth a smile lit my face : Mangrove also manages to capture the film’s time & place, it’s authenticity is top draw with the streets of Notting Hill, the surrounding area and the costume design utterly fantastic : all credit to the likes of Steve McQueen for bringing these important stories to our screen, giving them voice and reminding us all of the many atrocities that took place ★★★★½
The Mangrove Nine are Frank Crichlow, Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish & Godfrey Millett
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