HorrorHello, cupcakes! Sweetie G here with a look at Paramount’s new comedy-horror “Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse”. I loved this film! It has been a loooooooong time since I literally laughed out loud at the cinema and I was still giggling in the car on the way home. If you asked me to pin ..
MoviesTrigger warnings abound in Josh Lawson’s frank, taboo-breaking but surprisingly sweet directorial debut as he charts the ups and downs of the love lives of a select group of suburban couples. The five loosely interwoven stories are played for laughs but aren’t afraid to go to some dark and potentially upsetting places as they explore the ..
Doctor Who*SPOILERS* Brushing off the experimental disappointment of last week, “Face The Raven” sees the superlative ninth season of “Doctor Who” soaring back to the top of its game on black and deadly wings. In a season which has already seen atmospheric homages to the eras of previous Doctors, “Face The Raven” tipped its hat to ..
![A good man goes to [prevent] war in Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies (2015)](https://i0.wp.com/thecraggus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/bridge-of-spies-1.jpg?fit=1009%2C1495&ssl=1)
MoviesIn these troubled times, America and the world could do worse than to look to the pages of history for some salutary lessons on how to deal with the current volatility we live with. It is serendipitous, then, that Steven Spielberg’s magnificent true-life drama “Bridge Of Spies” arrives in cinemas this week to provide the ..
MoviesAdapted from his own play, based on his memoir, Alan Bennett’s “The Lady In The Van” is a wonderfully poignant meditation of the nobility of the human spirit and the importance of kindness, compassion and understanding. It tells the [mostly] true story of Bennett’s unusual friendship with an eccentric homeless woman called Miss Mary Shepherd, ..
MoviesEnjoying a cinema release in America today and available on home media in the UK right now, “Man Up” – like “I Give It A Year” before it – is a lightweight British Rom-Com seeking to tap into that early Richard Curtis ‘Four Weddings’ vibe. When Nancy (Lake Bell) accidentally steals someone else’s blind date, ..
MoviesGiven its troubled route to the big screen, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that “The Good Dinosaur” isn’t Pixar at its very very best. However, we’re nowhere near the nadir of “Cars 2” here and any talk of “Inside Out” being merely a blip after the lacklustre “Brave” and “Monsters University” is wide ..
Doctor Who*SPOILERS* “Love And Monsters”, “Blink”, “Midnight”, “Turn Left”…“Doctor Who” has often been happy to experiment with its storytelling format (but thankfully only dabbled once in fellatiory paving stone humour). “Sleep No More” pushes the boundaries further than ever before, and in doing so reminds us why those boundaries existed in the first place. The episode ..
MoviesWeighed down by its own unbridled portentousness, the final chapter of “The Hunger Games” saga grinds into cinemas, bleaker and more brutal than anything that’s come before. Unfortunately, it also brings with it the narrative sluggishness which has plagued the franchise and its utter reliance on its leading lady almost brings the story to breaking ..
ChristmasFor a 23 minute thinly veiled cash grab advertising an expensive auxiliary Christmas disciplinary deterrent ruthlessly marketed as an adorable Christmas tradition that also subtly indoctrinates the youth of today to be comfortable living within an overt surveillance state, “An Elf’s Story” actually isn’t all that bad. The cheap and cheerful computer animation is decent enough and the ..
MoviesRediscovering Star Wars *SPOILERS* Rediscovering? Yeah, right. An old geek like me had forgotten “Star Wars”. Of course not, I still remember the giddy, obsessive adoration “Star Wars” produced. I remember buying a copy of The Sun on the way to school in late 1982 because it had an article about what was rumoured to ..
Doctor Who*SPOILERS* I wonder if there was a thematic echo of last week’s ‘Let me be brave’ motif as, a mere two weeks after the failed experiment of “Sleep No More”, Steven Moffat brings us another bold twist on the usual “Doctor Who” format? Materialising in a mysterious fortress, the Doctor finds himself stalked by an ..
Doctor Who*SPOILERS* For me, this is the first time this series that a first episode of a two-parter hasn’t set the bar particularly high for the conclusion to come. In fact, I really hope this turns the whole convention on its head and next week’s “The Zygon Inversion” retrospectively manages to salvage something from this dull, ..
Doctor Who*SPOILERS* Oh me of little faith. After lambasting the overstuffed and eventless “The Zygon Invasion” last week, my expectations for this week were rock bottom. Even with such an easy hurdle to clear, “The Zygon Inversion” soared way, way above my expectations and fully restored my faith in series 9. Opening, as is now par ..
HorrorVirgin on the ridiculous, The Final Girls succeeds thanks to a slick understanding of its target. Nineteen years ago, “Scream” turned the slasher movie genre on its head by introducing a bunch of movie-savvy teen protagonists, in a self-aware, metatextual commentary on the horror movies of the 80s to great effect. “The Final Girls” takes ..
MoviesCharting the comeback of a talented but reckless chef following a self-imposed exile, “Burnt” feels like the sequel to a film we’ve never seen. Bradley Cooper plays Adam Jones, a chef who, we gradually learn, shone so brightly in Paris years ago until his addictions got the better of him and destroyed his life. He ..