Because Everybody Else Has One

Not the Oscar contender it probably wanted to be, but a really solid and solidly inspiring true-life drama about a couple of quite extraordinary people. This review is also up on Channel 24 . What it's about The true story of Robin Cavendish, an upper class Englishman whose blessed life in the early 20 th century takes a turn to the tragic as a case of polio leaves him entirely paralysed from the neck down. The initial despair of his new existence threatens to overwhelm him, but with the steadfast support of his loving wife, Diana, Robin finds a new lease on life when his inventor friend finds a way for him to live outside of the hospital and thereby outlive his initial prognosis of only a few months by many, many years. What we thought If you thought that the first film to be directed by performance-capture king, Andy Serkis, would be a special-effects-filled extravaganza, you would be right. Unfortunately, because his “live action” take on the Jungle Book w...

Sorkin once again proving that, West Wing as a (very, very big) aside, the big screen is really where he is most at home.  And, once again, I hope you've already seen this review on Channel 24 . What it's about The true story of Molly Bloom, whose Olympic career as a skier was cut short after a random accident on the slopes but who then went on to run some of the most exclusive, high-stakes poker games in the United States. Her fortunes soon came crashing down, however, when the government seized all her money after learning of some short-lived and fairly minor illegal activity on her part during the games – but that only proved to be the beginning of her troubles.. What we thought Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, the Social Network) has always been a writer who needs a very particular kind of director to bring visual life to his almost supernaturally verbose scripts, as well as actors who can manage to keep up with the onslaught of words that threaten to drown ...

Been on holiday for the past couple of weeks with very limited internet access so I never got round to posting this and the next film on my blog on time.  They have been up on Channel 24 for a while though!   What it's about While taking his teenage son on a tour of potential colleges, Brad Sloan is forced to confront the current state of his own life and the decisions that led him there. What we thought I hate to once again knock the work of the writer of one of the greatest family films ever, School of Rock, but after Mike White failed to deliver the goods with the simultaneously overwrought and obvious Beatriz at Dinner, he once again brings us an “indie-spirited” film that never manages to transcend its familiar “mid-life-crisis dramedy” trappings. Taking both the director's chair and sole credit for the script, White is clearly talented enough to put together a proficient enough bit of small-scale filmmaking that just about passes the tim...

A movie that really has no right being as good as it is... This review is also up on Channel 24 What it's about During detention, four high-schoolers come across Jumanji, an old video game that quickly proves to be something far more than that as they are transported into the game itself where, in the form of the “avatars” they picked, they will need to save the jungle-word of Jumanji by returning a stolen mystical gem to its proper place, if they are to ever return to the real world. What we thought I enjoyed the original Jumanji film when it came out in the mid 1990s but I would be lying if I said it ever stayed with me in the way that many of my favourite movies from my youth did. It was no Star Wars, Back to the Future or Jurassic Park, that's for sure. I find it hard to believe, however, that even the film's biggest fans, those to whom it is their Empire Strikes Back, were clamouring for a sequel. Certainly not twenty-two-years later, without any ...

Almost forgot to post this. What are the odds? This review is also up on Channel 24 What it's about Beatriz is a holistic healer of modest means and a simple, meaningful existence. She is also an immigrant from Mexico who has been living in the United States of America for most of her life. When she finds herself stranded at one of her wealthy clients after her car breaks down, Beatriz is invited to join her and her husband for a dinner with their similarly wealthy friends – and his cut-throat boss who may or may not be tied to a difficult period in her life. What we thought Clearly released now as counter-programming against the major blockbusters and kids movies released at this time of year, Beatriz at Dinner is the very definition of a “small film”. It mostly takes place in a single location, with a small group of characters, telling a story that is low on plot but – theoretically, at least – high on characterization and theme. At barely eight-minutes long...

No spoilers here, folks. The only plot details I've revealed are those that are contained in the opening crawl. That doesn't stop this from being quite a long review, weirdly enough - but don't worry, another Justice League screed this isn't. It's just as geeky, to be sure, but in a much, much, more positive way. This review is also up on Channel 24  if you prefer to check it out there. What it's about Picking up immediately where The Force Awakens left off, Rey tries to enlist Luke Skywalker to train her in the way of the Force and to return to his sister's side in the fight against the First Order. Meanwhile, with the New Republic annihilated, the rest of the resistance fight for their life against overwhelming odds as the First Order bears down on what remains of their forces. What we thought J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the Star Wars saga, drew equal parts admiration and disdain for its reverent, back-to-...

Yeah, I know I'm late with this but after some less than effusive reviews of late, I figure it's only right to highlight some films that are actually worth your time. No promises, but hopefully this will only be the first of these this week. I'll do my best to keep these short to try and make sure that happens... Before I get onto the business of praising this film to, well, the Land of the Dead, in this case, a word or two about that accompanying Frozen "short" that has been the cause of so much controversy. The backlash against it has been so bad that Disney will be pulling it from all prints of Coco - at least in the US - from this coming Friday. And rightly so. It's very bad, it's very long, it doesn't fit at all with the main feature and it took the place of one of those usually wonderful Pixar shorts that we normally get with most of their movies. It's total rubbish and their plans to use it to advertise the upcoming Frozen 2 has clearly...

I missed the press preview for this so I went out to see it the midday screening on opening day and then wrote this straight after. So, if you think my reviews are too - haha - thoughtful this should be for you! Also, this really wasn't very good. I need to review something good to balance the scales, methinks. Stay tuned... This review is already on Channel 24 What it's about Andrew and Garrett Foster are half brothers and, as car thieves at the top of their game, are literal partners in crime. When the two accidentally steal from one of France's greatest crime lords, they and Andrew's girlfriend, Steph, are forced to carry out a car-robbery for the man they stole from, and in the process get caught up in a crime war that may end up making them very rich or very,very dead. What we thought Overdrive is, by any metric, a very bad movie. The acting is universally poor, the script risible, the plot overstuffed and the characterization thread-ba...

Or, as I like to think of it: Justice League of America in the Case of the Uncanny Moustache! Seriously, I know it's not politically correct or necessarily accurate to call it Justice League of America but "Justice League" always sounds to me like only half a title. Yeah, things are probably about to get a bit nerdy... Plot: With Superman dead and the world on the brink of facing a full-on invasion by an ancient evil, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit a team of like-minded individuals to stand for Truth, Justice and the American (?) Way! Review:  After Wonder Woman proved that films set in the DCEU (DC Extended Universe, for those not keeping track at home) don't have to objectively suck - and, in the case of Wonder Woman, could actually be pretty damn good - all eyes were on Justice League of America  to see if Warners/ DC would learn from its recent success, or if Wonder Woman was just a fluke and we would be back to the low, low levels of Batman V Superman...

Anthropoid-ish? This review is also up on Channel 24 What it's about The true story of Operation: Anthropoid, where a pair of British soldiers teamed up with a small group of Czech resistance fighters at the peak of the Second World War to assassinate Reinhard Heidrich, one of Hitler's most ruthless generals and a major architect of the Final Solution. What we thought Based on the historical novel, HhHH by Laurent Binnet - inevitably, some of this story had to be based on conjecture and even pure fiction as the film will make very clear; but the basic events apparently really did happen – the Man With the Iron Heart originally shared the same title as its source novel but presumably out of wanting to spare everyone the embarrassment of having to try pronounce what is less a word than an exasperated sigh, they wisely opted to settle on this generic but far more comprehensible title. They could have also called it Anthropoid but, as it so happens, anoth...