REVIEW: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

It’s weird to call a blockbuster an unexpected hit, but 2018’s Venom was a rather modest affair for a superhero movie.

Intended to spin-off Sony’s part ownership of Spider-Man into a cinematic universe of their own, Venom made more than $800 million at the global office; a sum to rival Sony’s Jumanji reboot from the year before.…

REVIEW: Breathe (LFF Day 1)

Breathe is a film about which it’s easy to be cynical.

The directorial debut of Andy Serkis, the film was commissioned by Serkis’ Imaginarium Studios co-founder John Cavendish as a tribute to his father, disability advocate Robin. As such, it seems designed to squeeze every breath of uplift you from Robin’s already inspirational story.…

REVIEW: War for The Planet of the Apes is a hugely ambitious genre-jumping blockbuster

Is there anything more perfectly, absurdly cinematic than an ape riding on horseback through the snow?

“If man evolved from a monkey then why are there still monkey?” Reportedly a favoured argument of creationists, the answer to this question is relatively simple in layman’s terms: we went one way; they went another.…

Star Wars: The Force Awakens recaptures much of the old magic, but leaves it to future installments to take the risks.

 

 A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

After the prequels more or less managed to strip the gloss off the franchise1, it seems apt that the opening lines of Star Wars: The Force Awakens refer to a sort of redemption.2

This long-awaited, almost mythical follow-up to the Holy Trilogy3 has the added advantage/burden of returning to the three characters we actually care about; namely Luke4, Han, and Leia.