Tag: actioner

Pacific Rim stands on the edge of being a halfway decent film

 

We’re roughly half way through the summer season with Man of Steel and World War Z recently past and Elysium and The Wolverine shortly approaching (among others).

As such, a little $190 blockbuster about giant robots vs. giant aliens could well pass under the radar: less superfluous than Disney’s The Lone Ranger but by no means a guaranteed money-maker, it makes sense that fantasy horror legend Guillermo Del Toro would be asked to bring some much-needed credibility to the project.…

GI Joe: Retaliation is a “Strikes Back” no one asked for

 

Cinematic adaptations of beloved 1980s toy lines are not generally renowned for their artistic qualities.

Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise may have grossed more money than the GDP of most South American nations, but its eye-popping action was more migraine-inducing than Avatar-immersive.…

Is Parker worth a trip to the cinema or just settling down in front of the telly?

A Saturday night trip to the movies with a mate, I’ve learned, doesn’t have to be to see an award worthy prestige pic (like The Master should have been at this years’ Oscars) or the newest high-profile Hollywood blockbuster (as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey proved simply to be).

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Bourne Legacy ultimately has nowhere to run

 

I’ll admit to having been been dismissive of this addition to the Bourne series when it appeared in cinemas last year.

For one thing, Paul Greengrass, director of Bourne’s Supremacy and Ultimatum, had handed over control of the franchise, and perhaps more dramatically, Matt Damon, Jason Bourne himself, would not be returning.…

A Good Day to Die Hard could mark the death of a once great franchise

 

Bruce Willis is arguably the only star of the ’80s not to have slipped into self-parody or senescence (his recent appearance in The Expendables 2 notwithstanding).

Unlike his contemporaries Schwarzenegger and Stallone, Willis is not above taking supporting roles in smaller offbeat films like Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and Rian Johnson’s Looper.…

Skyfall takes the Bond franchise deeper than ever before

 

Well, that took a while, but after four years of languishing in MGM’s cash-strapped development rooms, James Bond is finally back on the big screen, just in time for the franchise’s 50th anniversary.

The question is whether Skyfall, directed by the esteemed Sam Mendes, is a worthy showcase for half a century of martini-swilling, Aston-driving, megalomaniac-stopping, not-returning-gadgets-even-though-specifically-asked-to-by-Q-Branch-ing “spy craft”.…