Killing crooks with kindness. That is the concept behind this original animated feature, which turns traditional methods of spying on its head. Lance Sterling (the voice of Will Smith) is an elite loner – the best of the best, who does things others can’t. Mind you he doesn’t always follow the instruction of the agency…
Blended families can be problematic. So it is when Minna (the voice of Robyn Dempsey) becomes sister to Jenny (Emma Jenkins). Minna’s dad John (Tom Hale) and Jenny’s mum Helene (Karen Ardiff) are engaged. Minna has a great relationship with her father … and her adorable hamster Viggo Mortensen. Jenny is a lot harder work….
For a long-running and successful franchise, you’d have to say the Mission: Impossible series has been one of the patchiest in memory. It kicked off well enough in 1996 as simply Mission: Impossible under the experienced hand of Brian de Palma, but the goodwill generated by that film was largely dissipated by the clunky sequels…
Much like the protagonist of Weike Wang’s debut Chemistry, Joan is the child of Chinese immigrants. But while the protagonist in Chemistry was having trouble getting her life together, Joan is very much in control of hers, possibly too much control. Joan’s world only starts to unravel a little when her father dies and she…
Skyscraper is essentially a cross between Die Hard (the best action film of the 80s), and The Towering Inferno (the best of the 70s disaster films). This is a big dumb action film, and no-one is better at making big dumb action blockbusters than the charismatic Dwayne Johnson; arguably the biggest movie star on the…
Eleanor Catton shot to literary fame by becoming the youngest winner of the Booker Prize in 2013 for her luminous historical novel The Luminaries. Ten years later she returns with Birnam Wood, much more contemporary, no less New Zealand but at the same time just as universal, a deep exploration of humanity that transcends time…
Without fear of contradiction, you could safely say that The Family Fang is different to any other clans you have come across. You see, the parents are on a lifelong artistic quest, which may – and probably will – cost them their children. Let me explain … Though they live on opposite sides of the…
Ill-tempered, rude and crude, Billy Bob Thornton returns as anti-hero Willie Soke 13 years after he first donned the Christmas clobber in the independent black comedy Bad Santa for the sequel, predictably titled Bad Santa 2. Bad Santa was the story of a cynical thief who disguised himself as a department store Santa each winter…
Eleanor’s Secret by Caroline Beecham is part mystery, part love story, and proved just right for a couple nights’ winter reading. Here’s the blurb: London, 1942 When art school graduate, Eleanor Roy, is recruited by the War Artists Advisory Committee, she comes one step closer to realising her dream of becoming one of the few…
The Power of the Dog is Jane Campion’s first feature film since Bright Star, twelve years ago. Produced under the auspices of streaming giant Netflix, this modern western, set in Montana in 1925, is based on Thomas Savage’s little-known 1967 novel. Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his brother George (Jesse Plemons) work the sprawling family…
