Because Everybody Else Has One

This rather lengthy review only touches on my problems with the film but one crucial point I negletced to make in the original review was that there is an R-rated director's cut coming out in a few months when BVS is released on DVD so, while on the one hand that means that maybe some of the wonky pacing, the random dream sequences and unfulfilled character beats will be addressed (though I wouldn't hold my breath), this would mean that we will end up with an R-rated Superman movie. I'll let that sick in for a moment.  This review is also now up at Channel 24 What it's about Following the events of Man of Steel, Superman is hailed as a hero by most but three powerful individuals are less than convinced by the alien's motives. Senator Finch questions whether Superman's interests truly align with the country she has sworn to serve; genius billionaire Lex Luthor sees Superman as both a demonic force and something to be exploited for his own ends and Got...

Marvel's funniest - and smallest - movie to date. The quick plot-synopsis bit: When his ambitious and amoral protege unlocks the secret to his "Pym-particle" - a scientific breakthrough that allows for the radical growing or shrinking of anything up to and including a human being, that would be deadly in the wrong hands - former superhero and scientist Hank Pym enlists the aid of his estranged daughter, Hope Van Dyne, and good-hearted cat-burglar, Scott Lang, to help him steal his own technology back. The not-so-quick review bit: Ant-man looked all set to be the first major failure for Marvel Studios - at least since they started building their cohesive universe with the first Iron Man film. Quite aside for the usual problem of the character being one of Marvels' lesser-known faces to non comic-book fans - something that clearly didn't make an iota of difference to Guardians of the Galaxy last year, to be fair - Ant-man has had by far the most troubled ...

Sorry it's a bit late but a new Matthew Vaughn film is always worth talking about. Also, there has been a weird bit of controversy to do with the ending of the film, which is something I'll address in the post-script of the actual review. Based on the original comic book series by Mark Millar (Kick Ass, The Ultimates) and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), Kingsman: The Secret Service is the first major comic book movie of the year. It also sets the bar quite high for for what's to follow it. Director Matthew Vaughn is hardly a stranger to comic book adaptations, as he directed X-Men: First Class and, more pertinently, Kick Ass and, in spite of the existence of a Kick Ass 2 film, Kingsman feels like the real followup to that superhero-deconstructing cult hit. Again teaming up with Kick Ass screenwriter Jane Goldman and working closely with Millar and Gibbons, Kingsman: The Secret Service does for spy films what Kick Ass did for superheroes. It's not simply a deconstruc...

Judging by international box office reports, every person on earth has seen this already and have already formed their own opinions. Still, there was no way that I wasn't going to throw in my two cents, so here's my own take on what is easily the most unexpected Marvel hit of them all. Proving that the Marvel brand is all but indestructible, Guardians of the Galaxy made, in the U.S. alone, a whopping 94 million dollars on its opening weekend. Think about that for a moment. This isn't a film based on a well known comics property, nor is it one that has as its star an A-grade action hero or an even remotely commercial director at its helm. Instead - and all of its marketing has reflected this - it's an unabashedly bonkers space adventure with some seriously quirky anti-heroes at its centre, coated in several layers of cheese, a day-glo colour pallet and a gleefully now-obscure 1970s pop soundtrack. It's the kind of formula that makes Joss Whedon's brilliant b...

I don't know why the hell it has taken me so long to this review. Not only was Scott Pilgrim one of my absolute favourite films from last year - so much so that I saw it 3 times in the cinema - but it tanked at the box office so I'm always eager to try and get more people to give this wonderful piece of work a shot. Not just because I think Edgar Wright, Bryan Lee O'Mally and co. utterly deserve it but because I want to live in a world where something as original and inventive and heartfelt as Scott Pilgrim makes oodles of money. From channel24.co.za  (Originally written 3 December 2010) What it's about: Scott Pilgrimis, more or less, your average 23-year-old guy. He lives in Toronto, Canada, and shares a crummy apartment with his gay roommate Wallace. He plays less-than-great bass in a less-than-great garage band and is dating a high-schooler named Knives Chow. He has no real ambitions beyond this. That is, until Ramona Flowers, literally the girl of his dreams, e...