Tag Archives: American Cinema

Gran Turismo (Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It takes what could have been a boilerplate story and brings it into overdrive with the roar of an engine that rumbles through the cinema.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Jann in his racing helmet.

Gran Turismo Review –

There have been a lot of adaptations of video games from Sony at the cinema recently, some good, some bad, and occasionally they can be fantastic. But what we are looking at today is a little bit different. Sure, it is based on and named after a video game, Gran Turismo. However, its full release title here in Australia, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, should give you a hint that something else is going on here. Something quite interesting.

So to set the scene, Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) is a marketing manager from Nissan’s England division, and he has found a problem. Young people don’t care about cars anymore. They are the generation of Uber and such. He flies to Tokyo to Nissan head office to suggest a contest to fix that issue. Because game designer Kazunori Yamauchi (Takehiro Hira) from Polyphony Digital has recreated car racing down to the minutest details in his game/simulation Gran Turismo, if they create a competition where the best drivers in the sim get a chance to be a ready race car driver, they could ignite the passions of an entire player base in driving again. Well, one of those players is Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a kid from Cardiff, who is trying to forward his passion in life when everyone else just sees it as a game, and well he is here to prove them all wrong.

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Meg 2: The Trench – Movie Review

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TL;DR –Well, Meg 2 is an absolutely abysmal film that flounders at almost every stage while it fails at every front of knowing what sort of film it wants to be.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

They walk through the Trench.

Meg 2 Review –

Well, blast, look, honestly, I didn’t see this coming. I was someone who quite liked the first Meg because it scratched that perfect dumb but fun itch that you can get with over-the-top action films. It wasn’t a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still entertaining. So, surely a second attempt at this world will at least be amusing… well, unfortunately not.

So to set the scene, it has been some time since the first film, and Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) has been working for the Oceanic Institute based out of Hainan, China, for Jiuming Zhang (Wu Jing). But on his days off, he clandestinely monitors any shady people who could be harming the environment, such as the cargo shin The Kitty Blue that is illegally dumping radioactive material into the Philippine Sea. But things go amiss when the Meg Haiqi breaks out of their enclosure, and they find that they are not the only humans at the bottom of The Trench.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Under the Cloak of War – TV Review

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TL;DR – This episode brought a smile to my face from the moment it started till the second those end credits rolled.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

USS Kelcie Mae

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

Well, this week, we get the incredible joy of having not one but two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, they could not be more different as we jump from the joyful romp of Those Old Scientists to a deep exploration of grief and loss and the wounds of war are laid bare.

So to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has rendezvous with the USS Kelcie Mae to collect the Federation ambassador Dak’Rah (Robert Wisdom) from the Prospero System. An ambassador who is a Klingon who defected during the War. This is difficult for many of the crew who fought during the Federation-Klingon War, for example, Chapple (Jess Bush) and M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), who were posted on the Moon of J’gal. How do you break bread with a man soaked in the blood of innocents? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While the individual set piece moments are as good as ever, the connecting tissue feels a bit flat this time.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise running.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review –

When I think back to the Mission: Impossible franchise, the first thing that comes to mind is solid consistency. You can know what to expect from the film before you walk in the door, and they nearly always deliver, yes, even M: I 2. I was delighted to see the next entry, even when a ‘Part One’ moniker is often a bit of a red flag and while those solid aspects are still there, some elements were lacking.

So to set the scene, we are under the Bearing Sea with the Russian submarine Sevastopol as it tests its new AI stealth drive. This drive has allowed it to approach the navies of every world power without being detected. However, when they are heading back to port, something odd happens when an American submarine suddenly sees them but disappears from their monitors after they fire torpedoes. But destruction soon follows. Two keys lead to the sub’s heart, and one ends up in the hands of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) in the Yemeni Desert. Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) tasks Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to obtain the key that every nation in the world wants because, with it, they can control the AI that is currently destroying every intelligence apparatus they have.    

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They Cloned Tyrone – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A weird and fascinating film, full of style and an ending that does not hold back.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

losing lotto card.

They Cloned Tyrone Review –

Blaxploitation films are a genre I am familiar with but not nearly as versed with as I should be. It is a world, a vibe, a style of filmmaking, and a world that I need to know more about. There is no better time than the present; if it stars one of the current generation’s best actors, that is just gravy.

So to set the scene, Fontaine (John Boyega) runs a drug empire in the local neighbourhood, but one constantly under threat by people moving into his territory. It is a dangerous world, and one day as he tries to get money owed to him by Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), danger catches up to him as he gets gunned down in his car. Fontaine is dead, dead-dead, making it all the more interesting when he wakes up in bed the next day.  

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Oppenheimer – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A visual spectacle and a masterclass in dissecting a complicated life.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains a scene that may cause distress.

Exploding Flames.

Oppenheimer Review –

Every now and again, my old life and new life collide in interesting ways. All those years of teaching and exploring Arms Control and Disarmament finally became relevant in my current career. The story of the Manhattan Project is fascinating, as was the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose scope I doubt even three hours can completely cover. But given my general love of Christopher Nolan’s work [see Inception and Dunkirk], I knew I could not miss this one.

So to set the scene, the world is at war as Germany marches across Europe and Japan across the Pacific. This is already a dangerous predicament, but the world of theoretical physics has been running leaps and bounds forward, and everyone can see the endpoint, a bomb, a bomb of devastating potential. What happens if the Nazis get a bomb that can destroy cities? As the world scrambles, only one person in America can lead the Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). However, his past might contain more problems than the government can handle.

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Barbie – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A deeply sincere film, swinging for the fences. Not everything lands, but you can’t dismiss the passion.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Barbie and Ken.

Barbie Review –


If you had asked me which film would have captured everyone’s attention in 2023, I honestly would not have expected it to be Barbie. That is just my biases being shown in full light for all to see. But with every set photo, every casting announcement, and every trailer, you could feel this surge of excitement, and it shows just how good the marketing team behind the movie is and the building excitement to see what a live-action Barbie film could look like. Well, today, that wait is over, and we can dive into a world full of pink where life might still be plastic, but it’s fantastic.

So to set the scene, in Barbie Land, we have a world where a day is not a day without a blowout party with a bespoke song and extensive choreography. In this serene world with pink buildings and gleaming coast lives Barbie (Margot Robbie). Things are looking good. Well, when you have a waterslide from your bedroom to the pool, that is a certain wondrous luxury. But in this wonderous world, Barbie starts to have an existential crisis that manifests itself in different ways, like flat feet. Trying to find a purpose, Barbie decides, after some pushing from Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), to visit the real world to find the truth about the universe, oh and Ken (Ryan Gosling) stowaways for the ride as well.  

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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While some aspects don’t quite work, I would say this is a nice epilogue to the Indiana Jones franchise.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Indy in a tomb.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Review –

We have seen many films try to recapture the past with a middling effect, hoping that nostalgia will lead to a quick buck. But rarely do you see them try to pivot that nostalgia to create a swansong for a character. Well, that is sort of what we get today, with a legacy film that is not looking to pass the torch but raise one last drink before the bar closes.

So to set the scene, it is the closing months of WW2 and Indy (Harrison Ford) is trying to infiltrate a castle in the French Alps that the Nazis are using as a staging post to ship back all their looted goods as France is reclaimed. He and Basil (Toby Jones) are after the Lance of Longinus [the spear that pierced Christ’s side], but it is whisked away on a train. While the Spear turns out to be a fake, on the train, Nazi physicist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) discovers something much more valuable. It is now 1969, and Indy is feeling bitter with the world after the death of his son and the failure of his marriage, but when Basil’s daughter and his god-daughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), arrives looking for the item they stole from that train, darker forces might be just on her heals.

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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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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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