Putting the “ape” in “The Great Esc-ape”. 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was the one of the big movie surprises for me of that year. With staggeringly good mo-cap for the apes and a touching and memorable story it was (or would have been) a 5-Fad classic. 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet … Read more
Small Rebellions. Once again, World War II turns up another true story of quiet valour to turn into a motion picture. At a time when Trump is pontificating about so called “fake news”, here is a timely tale from history which centres on the battle against genuinely fake news: the Nazi propaganda machine. After losing … Read more
Crushingly Mediocre I’d read the bad reviews, but thought “Hey, it’s Tom Cruise – how bad could it be?” The answer is, “Pretty bad”. It’s an ominous sign when a film starts with a voice-over (even if done by the sonorous tones of Russell Crowe). Regular readers of this blog will know I generally … Read more
A summer film so cool that air-con is optional. Sorry for the lack of posts folks…. with a holiday in sunny Portugal, I’ve not been to the pics for weeks! There’s something inherently appealing about the concept of a getaway driver. A skillful ‘bad-boy’, but not normally bad enough to actually DO the nasty … Read more
“What first attracted you Dr Mann to the movie with the scantily-clad Amazonians?” Amazonians deliver! And how. The much anticipated new Wonder Woman movie is with us, and for once the film lives up to the wall-to-wall marketing hype. With a heavy dose of mythology, Diana is growing up as the cossetted daughter of … Read more