Tag Archives: Gal Gadot

Disney’s Snow White (2025) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it is not the disaster that everyone fears, you can still see the narrative decisions that held it back from being quite remarkable.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Snow White.

Snow White Review –

Now, I have not been the biggest fan of the current batch of Disney films that turn their classic animated works into live-action works, or if you are The Lion King ‘live-action’. They tend to struggle because they have a hard time finding a new voice when they are anchored to the past. Well, today, we go all the way back to the first-ever animated feature to see if it follows a similar fate.

So, to set the scene, in a kingdom of complete happiness, singing, and lots of apple pie, one snowy day, a princess was born. She was a delight for the whole kingdom and the King’s (Hadley Fraser) and Queen’s (Lorena Andrea) pride and joy. But when the queen unfortunately dies, and the king remarries a sorcerous, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot), things start to change. Even more so when the King is sent away to the southern kingdom and never returns. Now Snow White (Rachel Zegler) is a servant, and the kingdom has fallen into darkness. Until one day the Evil Queen visits her Magic Mirror (Patrick Page) and discovers that she might not be the fairest one of all.

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Heart of Stone – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A shallow experience that never finds its feet.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

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

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

Stone walks across sand dunes.

Heart of Stone Review –

We have seen many different films attempt to capture the allure that James Bond has over the spy genre. In fact, in the last year, streaming services alone have tried Citadel, Ghosted, and The Gray Man, to name but a few. But all of them have fallen flat. However, there always is a chance that the next attempt will be the one to land, and this is what we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, it is the Italian Alps and Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot) and her MI6 team are targeting Europe’s biggest arms dealer. Stone is just a tech assist, but this mission forces her into the field when she needs to hack a phone to let Parker (Gal Gadot) and Yang (Jing Lusi) deeper into the complex. However, when things go to pot, we discover that Stone is no lowly tech analyst and is not just playing for MI6. She works for Charter, a clandestine spy organisation that works above national borders. But who watches the watchers?   

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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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Fast X – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A high-octane blast from start to finish, with a bombastic style that only this series can pull off.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – There are many flashing lights in this film

Dom drifts his car.

Fast X Review –

If you had asked me which new film from 2001 would spawn so many sequels that you could legitimately call it a Saga, it would not have been The Fast and the Furious. I mean, it was not a bad film. Indeed it was an interesting spin on a standard narrative setup. But I struggled to connect with the series until I watched Fast Five. It was then that I got it. I bring this up because we might be at the 10th film, but we are diving back into the past.

So to set the scene, we open ten years in the past as Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) rip a vault out of a police station and onto the streets of Rio de Janeiro. It was a great success, but in the process, they kill Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida) and knock his son Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) into the bay. Ten years later, Dom is teaching his son Brian Marcos (Leo Abelo Perry) how to drive, and all is well with the family when a knock on the door reveals a wounded Cipher (Charlize Theron). She warns him that someone is out to get him and his family, which is a problem because Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), and Han (Sung Kang) are in Rome, and no one can contact them.

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Shazam! Fury of the Gods – Movie Review

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TL;DR – When it is working, it is a delightful blast of a film   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene

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

The whole family in super form.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review –

When the first Shazam! film came out. It was at this odd moment for the DCEU. There had been a hard pivot away from the dark and brooding movies like Batman v Superman towards something a little lighter. And I, for one, liked the change. While Shazam! and Aquaman were not perfect films, there were at least supremely entertaining. But I wondered if lightning could strike twice because, much like last time, Shazam has to do some repair work after a string of failures.

So to set the scene, since Billy (Asher Angel) was given the powers of Shazam (Zachary Levi) by the last council of the wizards, also called Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), he has tried to be a superhero. However, he is still just a kid; if ever there is an imposter syndrome, it is this. However, life does not give him the time and space to process this change because the two daughters of Atlas, Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and Hespera (Helen Mirren), have returned to Earth. They are there to rectify their position and see Billy and his family as a threat and an affront to everything they stand for.  

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Death on the Nile – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A sequel that boosts in individual performance while lacking in the ensemble.     

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ streaming service that viewed this film

Poirot sitting in front of the Sphinx.

Death on the Nile Review –

When COVID struck, nearly every major film was bumped from the schedule. For many, this gave them a moment to release in a time when people could see them safely. However, for others, the delay meant that it was released after a significant scandal decoupled one of its major stars. Alas, with this outing, we get a film that was the latter. But the question I had when going in was, could it overcome it?  

So to set the scene, we open in the trenches of WW1, where a well-moustachioed Captain is told that they need to take a bridge, a death note. However, a young Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) tells of a different way to attack the bridge that won’t leave them exposed. It worked, but a tripwire kills the captain. After the events of Murder on the Orient Express, Poirot finds himself in Egypt and the company of his friend Bouc (Tom Bateman) and Bouc’s mother Euphemia (Annette Bening) as they tour down the Nile. They are part of a wedding party, of a whirlwind marriage of Linnet “Linny” Ridgeway-Doyle (Gal Gadot) and Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). But there is more danger on the Nile than the crocodiles lurking under the water.

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Red Notice – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Personality can only go so far in covering over narrative shortcomings   

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this film

Red Notice. Image Credit: Netflix.

Red Notice Review –

Heists, betrayals, double-crosses, and more. Look, these films are usually my jam. Watching two groups try to outmanoeuvre each other, not knowing if a plan will succeed or fail, is a lot of fun. When you get a film that fails on that front, it can be more disappointing than usual.   

So to set the scene, apparently, when Cleopatra and Mark Anthony married, Marc presented her with three ornate eggs. With their deaths, the eggs were thought a myth until two were found by accident. Today, one of the eggs is held in the museum in Rome … or is it. For FBI profiler on art crime John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) has had a tip-off that notorious thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) is about to steal it. Insert action scene here.

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Zach Snyder’s Justice League (The Snyder Cut) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A better film than the original, but some of the old flaws are still there, and with some new ones to boot.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

End Credit Scene – There is no end credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge subscription that viewed this series.

Zach Snyder’s Justice League Review –

When the first Justice League came out, there were whispers of its difficult production but no hints about what went on behind the scenes. Looking back on my review of the first film, I don’t think I was as harsh with the film’s final cut as many other people were. However, that may have just been the feeling of inevitability as to where the DC Expanded Universe was heading. Since then, rumours of the Snyder Cut have permeated popular culture, creating a less than ideal back and forth between the different sides. Well, today, we get to see that original vision of the director come to pass, with the official cut being released on home media.

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Wonder Woman 1984 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – In many respects, this is a messy film, but it is also engaging and entertaining from start to finish   

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Wonder Woman 1984. Image Credit: Warner Brothers.

Wonder Woman 1984 Review –

Of all the film franchises that have had a rough go of it in recent years, the top of that list would have to be the DC Extended Universe. For a long time, it felt like it was trying to find an identity after the first attempt fell flat and it kept swinging wildly trying to compensate. The first Wonder Women film came out, and for the first time in the franchise’s history, it actually stuck the landing. The question then becomes ‘can they do it again?’ and the answer is apparently yes, yes they can.

So to set the scene, we open back on Themyscira when Diana (Lilly Aspell) was a young girl. It is a festival day where the warriors of the land compete in a grand obstacle course, and of course, Diana wants to join in. It is here where she learns the important lesson that there are no shortcuts in life. As time goes on, we see little snippets of Diana’s (Gal Gadot) life as she hides among the humans but every now and again she dons the mantle of Wonder Women to fight some crime. What she didn’t expect is this crime would unearth something that should have stayed buried.

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Movie Review – Ralph Breaks the Internet (Wreck-It Ralph 2)

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TL;DR – A solid family film,with some great moments, but I am not sure it will have the same impact as the first film.     

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene

Ralph Breaks the Internet. Image Credit: Disney.

Review –

Creating films about the internet is something we are seeing more of as filmmakers try to incorporate this major part of our lives into the cinematic landscape. However, because the Internet is something that is both instantly familiar but also completely abstract, it actually is a difficult task to pull off as long as you don’t mind adding a crane shot into a cable. In the last year or so we have had the bad with The Emoji Film, and the amazing with Searching (see review), and today we have another entry into the genre with Ralph Breaks the Internet, which while not amazing, is still a fun ride.  

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