REVIEW: Gunpowder Milkshake [Sky Cinema]

Gunpowder Milkshake is the latest in a line of hyper-stylised, neo-noir action-thrillers going back to John Wick.

At the time it was a welcome change of pace from the no-frills, Liam-Neeson-on-an-x that was dominating the genre. Seven years, though, all that neon is beginning to pall.…

REVIEW: Honest Thief


Action thrillers starring Liam Neeson are a mixed bag at the best of times, but Honest Thief may be the first I’ve seen that doesn’t even have a decent elevator pitch.

There’s been “Liam Neeson rescues his daughter” (AKA Taken, the granddaddy of the whole “Liam Neeson does stuff” genre), “Liam Neeson protects his son” (Run All Night), “Liam Neeson on a plane” (Non-Stop), “Liam Neeson on a train” (The Commuter), even “Liam Neeson on a snowplow while avenging his son’s death (Cold Pursuit).…

PODCAST: Bombshell, Bad Boys, & A Very Naughty Boy [The Movie RobCast]

The Movie Robcast reaches its 80th episode, so we have a fittingly bumper show in store, opening with a tribute to the late, great Terry Jones, who died on 21st January 2020, aged 77 after a long battle with dementia. The two Robs were raised on Life of Brian so have words of praise for the Python polymath.

REVIEW: Terminator: Dark Fate

The Terminator franchise is one based on a contradiction.

The future is not set might be the mantra at its heart, passed down from father to mother to son and back to father, but that long, dark road always circles back round to one inevitable outcome: robo-apocalypse.

REVIEW: The Shape of Water & Brawl in Cell Block 99 (LFF Day 6)

Okay, so I may have skipped a few days, but both of these films were fresh in my mind and my thoughts on them actually seem to have made it onto the page in semi-presentable form.

 

The Shape of Water

With The Shape of Water, Guillermo Del Toro has delivered a film that is at once a luminous love letter to ‘50s sci-fi and a pricking commentary on prejudice.

REVIEW: Kingsman: The Golden Circle

When, in 1977, Carly Simon sang “Nobody Does It Better” in reference to Britain’s favourite secret agent, 007, she couldn’t have foreseen the coming of Eggsy Unwin (Taron Egerton).

While the idea of a working-class lad OHMSS had been covered in slightly more low-key form of Harry Palmer, Matthew Vaughn’s comic-book-inspired Kingsman: The Secret Service was the first to do so while embracing the fundamental silliness of the whole super-spy concept.…

REVIEW DOUBLE BILL: American Made & The Limehouse Golem

American Made

Scarface, 1932 and ‘83. Goodfellas. The Wolf of Wall Street. War Dogs. American Made is just the latest film to take aim at the dark, opportunistic side of the American dream.

“Based on a true story”, as such films generally are, American Made is the story of Barry Seal, a pilot extraordinaire turned TWA lifer, recruited by the CIA in 1978.…

REVIEW GRAB-BAG: The Dark Tower, Logan Lucky, & The Hitman’s Bodyguard

The Dark Tower

Or How to Make Soup out of Stephen King’s Keystone Series.

In brief: Take an epic eight-book series inspired by both Lord of the Rings and Spaghetti Westerns, strip away the character and the uniqueness, boil down the mythology and the plot, and reduce to 95 minutes.…