Independence Day: Resurgence is a regurgitated mess of sci-fi epic

They’ve back, just when we might have dared to hope that we were safe the next wave of big-budget blockbusters with meaningless subtitles sweeps into cinemas.

Just as Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice failed to set the world alight by treating its material with undue reverence, Independence Day: Resurgence fails to set the world alight — while narratively doing exactly that — by treating its material with no reverence whatsoever.…

Tale of Tales: a baroque fairy-tale full of gilt and gore

Tale of Tales is The Brothers Grimm as Terry Gilliam should have made it.

Inspired by Giambattista Basile’s Pentamerone — from which the film gets its name — and directed by Gomorrah’s Matteo Garone, it weaves together three archetypal fairytales: the jovial king (John C.

Adult Life Skills neatly sidesteps the trap of the twee


Adult Life Skills is one of those low-key, quirky dramedies that, if executed poorly, has the potential to be be near enough unwatchable.

Fortunately, as executed by first-time writer-director Rachel Tunnard and her more than able cast, the film is instead a mopey, mirthful study of making magic out of mundanity.

There’s more to The Neon Demon than meets the eye

 

Like its predecessor, Only God Forgives, Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn’s latest, The Neon Demon, was also booed at Cannes. Unlike its predecessor, only the film’s final third might merit any such reaction.

The film starts as a glossy, lurid scrutiny of beauty and what it elicits.

Huge dividends, dramatic or otherwise, are unlikely with Money Monster

 

Jodie Foster’s most recent directorial effort after 2011’s The Beaver, Money Monster seeks to combine the hostage dynamics of Dog Day Afternoon with the financial acumen of The Big Short, but lacks the portfolio to pull it off. 

George Clooney stars as Lee Gates, a smirking Wall Street whiz who makes a living giving out overblown stock tips on a bells-and-whistles cable show called Money Monster.

Remainder is an open-ended tale of obsession and recreation

 

A pale, distracted young man (Tom Sturridge) limps across a busy road, leaving a wheelie case behind him.

No sooner has he crossed, however, than there’s a shower of glass from a nearby skyscraper. A moment later he’s creamed by a plummeting mass of wires and plastic — his blood pools around him.…

The Nice Guys is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with a fun ’70s retrofit

 

The Nice Guys is your standard Shane Black neo-noir buddy comedy with a ’70s retrofit but that’s no bad thing.

The film is a wild and seedy ride from the top of the derelict Hollywood sign, through — occasionally literally — the deluxe shag pads of Beverly Hills, and all the way down through the mean streets of L.A.

Victoria: a one-take thrill ride through night-time Berlin

 

One take, 138 minutes. From a strobe-lit club to a pale Berlin dawn, Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria plays out in real time over the course of a single eventful night.

Twenty-something Spanish barista Victoria (Laia Costa), drinking alone at a bar, hooks up with a gang of happy-go-lucky chancers, including punch-drunk Brando-alike Sonne (Frederick Lau).…

X-Men: Apocalypse blows through quickly and entertainingly enough

 

In the hinterland between the extreme competency of Marvel and the trainwreck-clusterfuck that is the DC Cinematic Universe there lies the X-Men.

With its respectable (but by no means perfect) batting average and increasingly dysfunctional relationship with continuity, the franchise is a fairly unique position with regards to superhero movies.…

REVIEW: The Angry Birds Movie can flock right off

A paper-thin, family oriented animation about a dysfunctional bunch of multi-colored, flightless birds (the only particularly angry one of whom, Red, is voiced by Jason Sudeikis), The Angry Birds Movie spends 97 tedious minutes working its way towards recreating the central mechanic of a mobile phone game from half a decade ago — knocking down the city of a bunch of evil, egg-pilfering pigs via use of a catapult.…