Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Nimona – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A delightful tale of two misfits that find each other when they need them the most.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Nimona shapeshifts into a Whale

Nimona Review –

Very rarely does a cancelled film get a second chance at life, even less so with animation, but this is what we are getting today. Coming back from the dead with an interesting animation style and a story that takes no prisoners.   

So to set the scene, a long time ago, there was a kingdom at peace, but there was a monster waiting to attack, and attack it did. A glorious hero Gloreth defeated the monster and put in place champions to make sure this never happened again. One thousand years later and the new knights are about to be knighted, where generations of tradition are being put aside as a commoner Ballister Blackheart (Riz Ahmed) might become the champion over other nobles, including Gloreth’s own descendant Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang). But when Ballister’s blade was bobby trapped, and the Queen (Lorraine Toussaint) is killed, he has to go on the run when he comes across his biggest ally or trap in the shapeshifting Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz).  

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Red, White & Brass – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that brings you joy from the moment they start in a house covered in Tongan flags till those final credits roll.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The band performs.

Red, White & Brass Review –

There are many emotions that cinema can bring forth, and if I am honest, my favourite is joy. You are just sitting there beaming with a smile stretching from one side of your face to the other. It is so easy for films to come off as disingenuous that it is hard to nail joy in its purest form. However, today, we look at a movie that not only nails it, it revels in it.

So to set the scene, it is Wellington, and the 2011 Rugby World Cup is descending on New Zealand. Flags are popping up all across the city as everyone gets into the celebratory mode. But Veni (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) was not quite prepared to find his house covered, and I mean covered, in the red/white cross of Tonga’s flag. His best friend Maka (John-Paul Foliaki) has been trying to get enough money so all of his church can see the Tonga v France match live. However, when several of his schemes fall through, he discovers a way forward, but it just means getting everyone to become a proficient brass band, oh and only in a couple of weeks.

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No Hard Feelings – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While I appreciate that it is trying to have something to say about class relations and Jennifer Lawrence’s physical comedy chops, the narrative just didn’t land for me.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Jennifer Lawrence

No Hard Feelings Review –

Comedy films directed only at adults can be a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, they can go to extremes that you just can’t do in more family fair. However, it can just be an excuse to hit below the most common denominator. If you will be crass, you need to be at least thoughtful about it. Today we are looking at a film that is at least trying the latter.

So to set the scene, Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence) is an Uber driver and waitress in the summer holiday town of Montauk, New York. While she lives in the house bought by her mother, she can’t afford the property tax that has dramatically excecated as all the rich people from New York come to buy summer homes. After having her car towed, her primary source of income, she is lost with what to do until she sees an ad in the paper. Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison Becker (Laura Benanti) are concerned about their son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), who is primarily a recluse. Percy is going to Princeton next year, and they fear he will not survive. So, they are paying Maddie with a car to “Date” their son and get him out of his shell.

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Extraction 2 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It might not stick the landing, but it was a good action romp until then.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Chris Hemsworth stare down in an elevator.

Extraction 2 Review –

When I watched the first Extraction, I found it to be a film that barely had a working narrative, with just enough connective tissue to move from action set piece to action set piece. But each action set piece was strong enough to carry the film to its conclusion. But given the first film went to 100% and stayed there, was there room for them to go any further in the sequel? This is the question I sought to find out when I sat down to watch Extraction 2.  


So to set the scene, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is feared dead until he washes ashore on a river in Bangladesh, barely clinging to life. He is medically evacuated to Dubai, where they can save his life, but Tyler is faced with an immense mountain of physical therapy because of his wounds and is unsure if he has the strength to make it through it. In Kojori, Georgia, local underworld figure Zurab’s (Tornike Gogrichiani) brother Davit’s (Tornike Bziava) prison sentence was extended, and Zurab is murdering the local governor kind of upset. Nik Kahn (Golshifteh Farahani) and her brother Yaz Kahn (Adam Bessa) set Tyler up in a cabin on the side of a lake in Gmunden, Austria, to try and give him some drive to recover. When Alcott (Idris Elba) gives him a mission, he has to get his sister-in-law, Davit’s wife Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili), and her children out of the prison that Davit has locked them up in. It is a simple mission. What could go wrong?    

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Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (The Covenant) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A solid action film that knows how to craft tension from its narrative and musical score.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film.

Looking down a crosshair.

The Covenant Review –

When it comes to war films, the more straightforward the narrative, the defined sides, and the motivations, the more likely a movie will be made. This is why there are more WW2 films than, say, Vietnam. In modern times, it has been a struggle to depict the war in Afghanistan, with the gung-ho narrative falling flat, given how easily the Taliban retook the country back. Any film exploring this terrain needs to work through a myriad of complexities. Which is what the movie we are looking at today at least attempts.     

So to set the scene, in the aftermath of 9/11, America invaded Afghanistan in 2001. It is now March 2018 in Lashkar Gah. Where Master Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal), Staff Sergeant Charlie ‘Jizzy’ Crow (Sean Sagar), Joshua ‘JJ’ Jung (Jason Wong), Jack’ Jack Jack’ Jackson (James Nelson-Joyce), Sergeant First Class Kawa Mawlayee (Kawa Mawlayee), Eduardo’ Chow Chow’ Lopez (Christian Ochoa Lavernia), Tom’ Tom Cat’ Hancock (Rhys Yates), are all inspecting vehicles at a checkpoint, when one of the trucks explodes. Returning to Bagram Air Base, they pick up their new interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). Their team is meant to be looking for Taliban weapon caches or IED factories, but after striking out the official way, they start taking unofficial measures, which is when things turn sideways.

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The Flash – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Through all its pre-production issues, the final product is a blast of fun, but I am not sure it would have the staying power on repeat watches.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

The Flash running at speed.

The Flash Review –

We are entering quite a tricky period for Superhero films. While they have been the dominant media property over the last decade, the shine is starting to come off the genre. While we will probably not see the great Western collapse again, how many players does the industry have room for? Can you still engage with a property you know is about to be rebooted? And can multiverses still work? These are some of the questions we will look at with our review of The Flash today.

So to set the scene, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is living his life as part of the Justice League, but not as a leading figure as we see when Alfred (Jeremy Irons) calls him up before his morning breakfast to help clean up some of Batman’s (Ben Affleck) mess in Gotham City. But while he is very good at catching babies, the main issue in his life is trying to get his father, Henry (Ron Livingston), out of jail. He is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, and Barry’s mother, Nora (Maribel Verdú), something Barry knows his dad did not do, but no one listened to him because he was just a kid at the time. In his frustration, Barry runs so fast that he breaches the speed of light and begins to transverse back and forwards in time, and surely nothing bad can happen from that.  

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Transformers Series Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR –.We explore the highs and lows, and lows, of the Transformers film series.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+/Amazon Prime services that viewed these films.

Transformers –

We might be in the era of nostalgia, but that does not mean that current films can capture what made those original properties soar. An excellent example of this is Transformers, a series that swings wildly in quality and in how it connects with the series it is based on, and now I have watched them all.

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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a solid entry in the series that shows that there are still legs under this franchise, even if it does end in a very predictable way.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Optimus Prime

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review –

For a long time, it felt like the Transformers Franchise was destined to but absolute garbage, maybe occasionally dipping into mediocre. Then Bumblebee happened, and for the first time since maybe 2007, it felt like someone who understood the characters was taking a crack at the series, and good things happened. However, was this an anomaly or a start of a new trend? That is what we are exploring today.

So to set the scene, on a world a long time ago, a planet is under attack in a galaxy far away. But this is not just an invasion, for the planet eater Unicron (Colman Domingo) is here to not only consume the planet wholesale, but he sends his minion Scourge (Peter Dinklage) down to secure the Transwarp Key from the Maximals so that he can warp to any planet in the Universe and consume it. Apelinq (David Sobolov) fights to give his Maximals time to escape, and the key is lost. Back on Earth, it is 1994, and it has been seven years since the Autobots arrived at the end of Bumblebee, and their short pitstop has turned into a prolonged stay as they can’t find a way off the planet. This pains Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). Still, when Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) accidentally reveals part of the Transwarp Key, he sees an opportunity, but the Autobots are not the only ones who spotted the key’s energy signature.   

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Indiana Jones Series Review – Exploring a Franchise

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TL;DR –.We look at the varied highs and lows of the Indiana Jones franchise up to now.   

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed these films

Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Image Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Indiana Jones –

There are moments when you sit around with nothing to do for a weekend and decide it is time to dive into some nostalgia from the past. With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny coming out later this month, and it has been years since I had seen the older films, some not since cinemas, it was good timing when they all appeared on Disney+ this week. Well, good time with a massive dash of marketing. So we dive back in time not quite to a galaxy far, far away, but not, not a galaxy far, far away.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A pure delight from start to finish in an absolutely stunningly realised world.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Gwen and Miles sit upside down looking at the sky line of New York.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review –

If there is ever a tough act to follow, it is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. A film that shifted an entire film production style that many movies like The Mitchells vs. The Machines and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish have taken onboard since. Indeed, I loved the movie so much that it sits on My Personal Top 10 Animated Films of All Time. There is no way a sequel could like up to that legacy … but hear me out … what if it could.

So to set the scene, It has been one year since the event of the last film, and Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) has been struggling with being all alone again after finding a kindred spirit with Miles (Shameik Moore). However, when a Vulture (Jorma Taccone) from a Renaissance-style universe trashes the Guggenheim Museum, she discovers that the Spider-verse is not closed off. But also her dad George Stacy (Shea Whigham), finds out she is Spider-Woman, and tries to arrest her. This could have ended badly without the rescue from Miguel O’Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), for a Spider-Society is protecting the Multiverse from all threats, and Gwen is the newest member.

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