Casino Royale (2006) Review

Casino Royale (2006) Review

After the bloated extravaganza that was “Die Another Day”, the franchise had crashed back down to Earth. But for once, the behind-the-scenes legal wrangling would work to Bond’s advantage as a series of trades, deals and mergers finally unified the Bond film rights under a single studio. With Brosnan nearing his 50th birthday as the ..

Dark Shadows (2012) Review

Dark Shadows (2012) Review

“Dark Shadows” is a reboot of the long running, ever so slightly ludicrous daily TV supernatural horror soap opera which ran for five years from 1966 to 1971, managing to rack up 1,225 episodes. I had a vague awareness of “Dark Shadows” but had never seen any of it beyond the odd clip of low ..

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2016) could be Professor X’s pre-school.

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2016) could be Professor X’s pre-school.

Marvel movies are notoriously not allowed to use the ‘m’ word and you’ll find it curiously absent from Miss Peregrine’s… even if it feels like an “X-Men” story co-written by J K Rowling and Roald Dahl. When his grandfather dies in mysterious circumstances, Jake (Asa Butterfield) decides to visit the children’s home that featured in ..

300: Rise Of An Empire (2014) Review

300: Rise Of An Empire (2014) Review

A belated follow-up to 2006’s “300”, this part prequel/ part ‘side-quel’/ sort of sequel by necessity discards much of the principle cast of the first film to focus on events in the rest of Greece around the time of the Battle of Thermopylae. Cobbling together a handful of sort of related historical events and taping ..

Dumbo (2019) has a surprisingly metatextual moral for the House of Mouse

Dumbo (2019) has a surprisingly metatextual moral for the House of Mouse

There are nice nods to the twee opening of the original “Dumbo” as we’re treated to knowing shots of storks flying across the sky to portend the less romanticised arrival of baby Dumbo but in nodding to the animated classic so soon, this live-action remake tips just how weak its hand is. When circus impresario ..

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014) Review

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014) Review

It’s taken nine years to summon up the courage to crawl back to Basin ‘Sin’ City, and the old town hasn’t changed much in the intervening years. Oh, sure, Clive Owen looks a lot like Josh Brolin now and I’m not sure Miho is the same (Jamie Chung replacing Devon Aoki) but the city still ..