One Mann's Movies Film Review: Live by Night (2017)

“Sleep by day…”. Ben Affleck’s new movie could best be described as “sprawling”. In both directing and writing the screenplay (based on a novel by Dennis Lehane), Affleck has aimed for a “Godfather” style gangster epic and missed:  not missed by a country mile, but missed nonetheless. Morally bankrupted by his experiences in the trenches, … Read more

One Mann's Movies Film Review: La La Land (2017)

“It’s very nostalgic – will people like it?” A little film. Not sure whether you might have heard of it yet? Damien Chazelle has followed up his astonishingly proficient “Whiplash” – my top film of 2015 – with a sure-fire theatre-filler in “La La Land”. The old-fashioned musical extravaganza is back, and back with style! … Read more

One Mann's Movies Film Review: A Monster Calls (2017)

  “I’ll.  Be.  Right.  Here.” The worst thing about this movie is its title. The second worst thing about this movie is its trailer. Both will either a) put people off seeing it (it succeeded in that with my wife for example) or b) make people conclude it is a ‘nice holiday film to take … Read more

One Mann's Movies Film Review: Passengers (2017)

Guilt trip. “Passengers” is not a film that you can really talk about in much depth without straying into spoiler territory, so I will break my normal tradition of my reviews being entirely “Spoiler Free” and add a further discussion (but below the Fad Rating, so you are safe ‘til there).  The backdrop for “Passengers” is … Read more

One Mann's Movies Film Review: Rogue One (2016)

Putting the “Wars” back into “Star Wars”. Expectations have been sky-high for this first in the ‘add-in’ series of Star Wars films. But with director Gareth Edwards at the helm, whose past movie track-record includes just the low-budget “Monsters” and the less than memorable “Godzilla“, I was frankly concerned. But the English guy (with the … Read more