I’m a sucker for these type of movies and this looks BRILLIANT – the premise looks fresh, dark & truly twisted and has a small hint of Fincher’s Seven blended with the bloody terrifying franchise we love so much !! Spiral (aka: Spiral: From The Book of Saw) is the ninth installment in the Saw franchise. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman who brought us Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV, and starring Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, and Marisol Nichols
A mob hitman tells the story of his possible involvement with the hit on Jimmy Hoffa – THE IRISHMAN is Martin Scorsese’s 25th feature film and is now on Netflix (and showing at limited cinema’s throughout the country) – the movie starts in beautiful, typical Scorsese fashion, with the camera creeping effortlessly along some corridors and into a small room where Robert De Niro’s character Frank aka: The Irishman who looks old and life beaten starts to tell his story….. due to the quality of storytelling the film’s 209min run-time flies by, you get so engrossed by it all, I mean this is one of cinema’s greatest directors with a bunch of actors who are LEGENDS of the screen in a gangster movie no less what’s not to piss your movie loving pants over – THE IRISHMAN is a towering movie experience that shows more restraint, is more personal & certainly more tragic than Scorsese’s recent films – the de-aging of it’s cast is sublime and actually mind blowing if you’ve followed these actors since their early days, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci roll back the years giving outstanding performances with the likes of Stephen Graham & Ray Romano joining the big boys league in fine fashion, Graham’s character Tony Pro has some riveting and funny exchanges with Pacino’s Hoffa that are certainly amongst the film’s highlights – Overall The Irishman may not be Scorsese’s best work but a love letter to the genre & a tribute to Four Giants of the screen it most certainly is ★★★★½
Cop Land, 3:10 to Yuma, The Wolverine, Logan and now FORD v FERRARI James Mangold’s thrill ride, a 7,000 RPM adrenaline fueled, pulsating ENERGY packed racing movie that sees Matt Damon deliver a career best, Christian Bale in infectious form, Caitriona Balfe delivering one of the film’s best moments and the race scenes WOW their pure dynamite – for me 2019 is the best year of the decade for cinematic treasures and this film continues the trend in leaving me speechless and rather emotional as I left my seat at the big screen – obviously the Le Mans track has changed through the years since the 60s so how on earth did James Mangold and his team recreate the movies focal point? it’s just mind boggling, the camera work by the Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael is sublime, his work in creating that claustrophobic yet thrilling car racing scenes is pure brilliance but for me the main reason this movie succeeds is it’s cast who are simply magnetic – what a movie and a ride you don’t wana miss on the big screen ★★★★★
So last week I was luck enough to revisit one of my favorite horror movies of all time Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece The Shining on the big screen and today I visited my local cinema to watch Doctor Sleep and let me tell you something IT is nothing short of EXCEPTIONAL !! This is director Mike Flanagan’s love letter to the Torrance family & all things that shine, how he managed to recreate such iconic sets such as the spine chilling blood from the elevator scene, Danny exploring the hotel on his tricycle, the room to room interior of the Overlook, those scary twins and of course the overheard camera following Danny’s car up towards the Overlook accompanied by that haunting score God Only Knows – Ewan McGregor is terrific as Danny Torrence, Rebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat & her power draining cult known as the True Knot are so bloody scary, reminding me slightly of the roaming blood suckers in Bigelow’s Near Dark – some of their scenes especially the one that involved No.19 the young baseball player scared the hell out of me whilst the incredible Alex Essoe literally sent shivers down my spine with her remarkable performance as Wendy Torrence – Overall Doctor Sleep is a cinematic triumph that pays homage to it’s predecessor whilst creating a creepy atmosphere & super scary horror of it’s own !! ★★★★★
Some actors make other actors and the films they appear in look better than they actually are Robert Forster was one of those, an honest hard working pro that no matter how big a part he had in that particular movie he always stood out and made that scene memorable – many knew him for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown but this New Yorker has been around since the late 60’s appearing in hidden gems throughout his career such as: 1978’s Avalanche, 1980’s monster movie Alligator, William Lustig’s brilliant Vigilante, one of my favourites Walking the Edge, Renny Harlin’s Cleaner and so many more – his latest film had just aired on Netflix where he played Ed in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie he only had limited screen time in the film but what he did with it mattered and that basically sums up the screen career of Robert Forster…… may you rest in peace !!
I have never seen Misery, Relief & Hatred captured so magnificently than in Todd Phillips JOKER – Over the years I have been lucky enough to watch every movie JOKER on the big screen and they have all been good for different reasons YET in my opinion they are all pale imitation’s of the DC character when you compare them to Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the madman of Gotham – the intensity that Phoenix brings to the role is immense, it’s a whirlwind of crazy, one that is quite terrifying to watch – The film has so many evocative scenes and it’s also possibly the best movies I can remember with night time scenes, all beautifully shot by cinematographer Lawrence Sher who also did great work on Phillips 2016 movie War Dogs – My Opinion: This is no ordinary comic book movie it’s essentially a character study, a thought provoking piece on how one of the great comic book villains came to be, it touches on mental health issues, bullying and is very dark and incredibly moving – it’s well worth putting on your happy face and visiting your local cinema NOW ★★★★★
Just caught up with BLISS from director Joe Begos (and my first thoughts are WOW just WOW !! It’s quite simply brilliant, a drug fuelled hallucinogenic nightmare that turns half way through into a bonkers blood crazed vampire movie – The movie starts very slowly so stick with as the film’s second half will blow you away – Mike Testin’s work behind the camera is gorgeous, the films color and drug sequences are wild and Dora Madison is crazy and I mean crazy good !! ★★★★½
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.
APOSTLE : Gareth Evans
Dan Stevens, Michael Sheen, Lucy Boynton
Gareth Evans mostly known for his breakneck action movies The Raid and it’s sequel has just released his latest APOSTLE and it’s a horror movie…. here’s the synopsis “In 1905, a drifter on a dangerous mission to rescue his kidnapped sister tangles with a sinister religious cult on an isolated island” – Only a handful of movies have blown my mind this year and Gareth Evans APOSTLE has just become one of them – the film is an exciting cocktail of twisted storytelling alongside a revenge thriller that’s relentless in it’s brutality – Matt Flannery’s cinematography is a joy to behold, his ability to balance the varied location, dark underground shots along with the action scenes is heart-stopping – So if your a fan of the revenge style genre and love your movies with slices of brutality, great narrative and stunning photography then APOSTLE is most definitely the film for you ★★★★½
February 14th : 2019
DARK PHOENIX : Simon Kinberg
Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender & Jennifer Lawrence
So with giddy excitment I’m pleased to say that the X-Men will return to the big screen early next year in what promises to be a mind blowing start to a new trilogy of films starting with Dark Phoenix the compelling story of Jean Grey played by the Games of Thrones actress Sophie Turner and judging by this trailer I have now watched several times Kinberg’s movie could eclipse all the X-Men movies that have come before it……
This is Simon Kinberg’s directorial debut with his storyline centered around “The Dark Phoenix Saga” written by Cockrum, Byrne & Claremont and not only does Dark Phoenix look dark, gritty and packed full of emotion but the casting of Jean Grey look spot on with Turner looking made for this role – There’s a storm approaching where friendships will fall, trust will be broken and team X-Men will be tested like never before – Dark Phoenix is already high on my list of most anticipated movies of 2019 and this trailer excites me to the point of wanting to watch all previous movies featuring these cool as hell mutants – Hope you enjoy the trailer and three new stills below !!
BLACKkKLANSMAN : Spike Lee
John David Washington, Laura Harrier, Adam Driver, Jasper Pääkkönen
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen the best of Spike Lee and to be honest I really thought after that poor Oldboy remake he was on the decline, maybe putting one foot in retirement and joining some of the great filmmakers that now churn out average films for the masses failing to live up to their past glory’s, but after watching his latest in a pretty full cinema I can honestly say with a glint in my eye that Spike Lee is far from over – BlacKkKlansman is not only one of the most powerful movies of the year it’s also in my opinion Spike Lee’s greatest achievment in film with stand out performances from Laura Harrier, John David Washington & Adam Driver, an incredible score that sucks you into 1979 Colorado, some frightening obsenities shouted by Alec Baldwin’s character that sets the overal tone of the movie, some exhilarating camera work by Chayse Irvin and one helluva creepy performance from Jasper Pääkkönen – oh yeah and not forgetting that Corey Hawkins speech his delivery will stand your hair on end WOW – BlacKkKlansman is an unbelievable story, it has more humor than I expected and it’s last 20mins is a punch to the gut – SEE it on the BIG screen you won’t be disappointed ★★★★½
HOTEL ARTEMIS : Drew Pearce
Jodie Foster, Sterling K Brown, Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista
Had an absolute blast watching Drew Pearce’s directorial debut Hotel Artemis – if I’m honest it’s a movie that went right under my radar but I’m so glad I caught up with it on the big screen – would you believe it’s been 5yrs since the legend Jodie Foster graced our screens with Elysium so watching this legend of our screens trade acting blows with Sterling K. Brown & Dave Bautista in this futuristic setting is worth more than double the ticket price – Pearce’s first attempt behind the camera follows writing work on Iron Man 3 and MI : Rogue Nation so he’s no beginner when it comes to classy, stylish story arcs with intriguing characters and some insane action thrown in – Hotel Artemis combines the lot, it has a great story at it’s core, a devilishly good ensemble, sublime cinematography and is executed better than most – don’t miss this one ★★★★
It may not have the first movies ambition or the second’s intensity but The Cloverfield Paradox is actually a shit load of crazy ass fun – firstly if your a fan of 2008’s Cloverfield and it’s sequel of sorts 2016’s wonderful 10 Cloverfield Lane then I’m pretty confident you will find something in Paradox that will appeal to your movie loving heart and although the films coupled to the others in the franchise it most certainly has it’s own identity, very dark at times with a side order of light hearted Evil Dead humor – like most low budget scifi Paradox unashamedly takes from other classics in the genre and why the hell not, one minute you will be reminded of Alien the next Aliens and Event Horizon and with a genius cast that includes David Oyelowo & Gugu Mbatha-Raw, some pretty neat effects and an atmospheric score by Battlestar’s Bear McCreary it’s a movie that really does warrent enjoyment (in a popcorn style movie kind of way) and secondly it’s on Netflix so it’s free (well sort of) ★★★½
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