Reviews in a nutshell
Boy A director John Crowley’s new British thriller starts by meaning business with the shocking but understated power of CCTV in its opening scenes that prompt us that we’re all under surveillance. Indeed, the UK is one of the most ‘watched’ lands, but how much good does it do us? This is one of two …
Food alive! It’s the much-awaited sequel to the 2009 film that includes marauding cheeseburgers, shrimpanzees and a feast full of colourful silliness on the menu. The relief is it’s as funny, if not zanier than the first – complete with some of the worse puns this century (check out the trailer), thanks to some new …
Continue reading “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 *****”
Jackass front man Johnny Knoxville resurrects OAP character Irving Zisman for his very own movie, Bad Grandpa. We first saw the 90-year-old’s high jinx back on MTV in 2001. He seems to be doing well and aging backwards as he’s now 86 years old in this – must be the fresh cheek of youth rubbing …
The violent, sexist silliness that is Robert Rodriguez’s Mexploitation action saga Machete, starring Danny Trejo as ex-Federale assassin Machete, is back with another equally violent, sexist, silly sequel. If you enjoyed the 2010 film, it’s much the same gleeful juvenile B-movie humour the second time around. In fact, according to Rodriguez, this film was not …
It’s safe to say, there would be little of interest to Kevin Macdonald’s (The Last King of Scotland) How I Live Now if it weren’t for the ever-beguiling Saoirse Ronan at the helm. Perhaps he knows this as the production compliments her every thought and expression in this apocalyptic story set in the not-too-distant-future in …
Some thrillers need more than a touch of style and an attractive cast; they need a substantial storyline. It’s not that Runner Runner doesn’t initially promise something meaty to bite on and the chance to watch it all play out in sunny Costa Rica, it’s just things fizzle out and become mediocre when we’ve soon …
Coming third in the People’s Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival this year, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve and Contraband writer Aaron Guzikowski’s dark thriller Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, packs a blood-chilling and sickening punch for any parent. It also questions just how far you would go to find a missing loved …
If you were a tad disappointed with John McClane’s escapades in the latest Die Hard film (A Good Day To Die, 2013), fear not, Independence Day director Roland Emmerich gives you a younger version of Willis in Channing Tatum as white-vest-wearing, gun-totting John Cale (even the name sounds similar) in White House Down. This is …
You don’t have to appreciate the world of motoring racing to enjoy Ron Howard’s latest adrenaline-fuelled film, Rush. It’s more about an intriguing character stand off, much like the director’s 2008 film, Frost/Nixon that pitted the recently departed British interviewer against an American President. In all fairness, there are the angry buzzing sounds of the …
