There are some films you go to see with low expectations and back in 2011 Rupert Wyatt’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was one of those. After the Charlton Heston classic, a long series of increasingly poor sequels and a failed Tim Burton reboot, apprehension was high. But how wrong could I be.  … Read more
Biopics, especially musical biopics, often tell the blood sweat and tears story of singers/songwriters rising from deprived childhoods or troubled backgrounds (queue ‘X-factor’ style soulful music) before finding fortune and fame through their musical talent. Sometimes that high can be followed by the low of drink, drugs and early death.  But it is a characteristic … Read more
Comedy westerns have a strong legacy through classics like Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles”, “Support your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter” (with James Garner), “Paleface” and “Son of Paleface” (with Bob Hope and Jane Russell) all the way back to the brilliant “Destry Rides Again” (with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich).  Unfortunately for each of these classics there’s the … Read more
I’m always a sucker for a good story, and you have to admit that – at their hearts – some of the fairy tales are corkers.  Sleeping Beauty is a case in point. Tension, narrative drive, good vs evil and – thanks to writers Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain – a gloriously memorable Disney song … Read more
“They say we’re young and we don’t know. Won’t find out unit-ii-l we grow.”  This line of Sonny and Cher immediately takes me back to Bill Murray waking up over and over again in the classic “Groundhog Day”. Similarly the words “On your feet, maggot!” gouge themselves into your brain in Tom Cruise’s latest blockbuster … Read more