The straightforward plot of Baltasar Kormakur’s Beast sees big game poachers wipe out a pride of lions, only for one to get away and go rogue. To elaborate, Dr Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) has taken his two daughters from New York to visit his old friend Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley) in South Africa. Tension is…
Jordan Peele, the creative force behind Get Out! and Us, returns with his third feature film as director, Nope. This is one out of the box – a film that’s oddly both more conventional and more daring than his other work. And at a time when the box office is dominated by sequels and re-boots,…
People and cultures collide in David Leitch’s literally fast-paced action thriller, Bullet Train. Leitch (Deadpool 2) uses his stylised but often profuse violence to great effect in this rollicking tale of intersecting characters and agendas. And while the film is hardly cerebral, I found myself swept along by it. Screenwriter Zak Olkewicz adapts Kôtarô Isaka’s…
This generic globe-trotting action thriller comes across like James Bond on steroids. The Gray Man is based on the 2009 thriller written by Mark Greaney, who was a frequent collaborator with the late Tom Clancy and is credited with writing some of the recent Jack Ryan novels. The Gray Man introduces us to Court Gentry…
The ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe (or the MCU to fans) spirals a little farther out with Taika Waititi’s second film in the Thor franchise, Thor: Love and Thunder. As much as this rather manic adventure-comedy doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, it still asks some big questions. And unlike many films of this genre,…
With a life span approaching that of many a dinosaur (30 years), the Jurassic saga comes to an end with Jurassic World Dominion. And as T. S. Eliot presaged, this fictional world ends not with a bang but a whimper. The franchise – having received a shot in the arm with Jurassic World in 2015…
I feel the need… the need for a sequel! And 36 years after the original, director Joseph Kosinski (Only the Brave) delivers a sequel that fans have been craving with Top Gun: Maverick. The film deftly walks the line between paying homage to the past while moving the franchise forward – if you can call…
Those with long memories might recall the consternation back in the early 2000s when storied horror director Sam Raimi – of Evil Dead fame – was tapped to direct Marvel’s Spider-Man (2002). Of course, it all turned out fine. After three Spider-Man movies, Raimi returned in a more limited way to his horror roots. Now…
I’m just gonna say it – The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is the greatest Nicolas Cage movie ever. That might be because it’s basically every Nicolas Cage movie ever, but still… the greatest! Writer-director Tom Gormican and co-writer Kevin Etten have created a film that celebrates everything that’s wonderful about Cage (at least his…
Multiverses are all the rage right now. From Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse to the upcoming Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, it seems like you can’t turn around without another multi-dimensional movie smacking you in the face. But Everything Everywhere All At Once is different. Yes, it’s another multiverse, but one the good folks…
