Maleficent (2014) Review

Maleficent (2014) Review

It would have been easy to throw a bunch of lavish CGI special effects at the screen and simply restage the classic 1959 as a live-action remake, but thankfully, that’s not what Disney have done here. Real love and care have been lavished on this production, teasing out an entirely new perspective on the timeless ..

Craggus’ Christmas Countdown Day 20: Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)

Craggus’ Christmas Countdown Day 20: Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)

It’s a wonder it took so long for someone to attempt to make a film about Santa Claus being a kind of super hero. It’s less of a wonder that the people to give it a try would be the same people behind the ailing “Superman” franchise, whose most recent film “Supergirl” had been a ..

Craggus Comfort Movies: Krull (1983) Review

Craggus Comfort Movies: Krull (1983) Review

Ludicrously lavish and, by turns, lavishly ludicrous, “Krull” is a wonderfully wasteful, overindulgent high fantasy misfire that still manages to entertain even as it baffles and frustrates in equal measure. When The Beast’s star-travelling space fortress crashes onto the planet Krull, it interrupts the wedding of Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) and Princess Lysse (Lysette Anthony ..

Godzilla vs Kong (2021) Review

Godzilla vs Kong (2021) Review

Godzilla Vs Kong finally brings us a big-screen showdown where whoever loses, the audience wins. There’s something reassuringly predictable about GODZILLA vs KONG, an adherence to convention that lets you stop worrying about some out-of-left-field twist or clever subversion and just sit back, relax and watch the monster mayhem unfold on screen. I mean did ..

Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016) Review

Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016) Review

While 2010’s “Alice In Wonderland” may have left critics unimpressed, audiences embraced its restless, kooky energy as Lewis Carroll’s mastery of the absurd and impossible was filtered through the dark kaleidoscope of Tim Burton’s vision. Six years later, “The Muppets” & “Muppets Most Wanted” director James Bobin has been tasked with delivering the sequel, “Alice ..

Warcraft: The Beginning (2016) Review

Warcraft: The Beginning (2016) Review

Before this film, my knowledge of “Warcraft” was pretty much restricted to the brilliant “Make Love, Not Warcraft” episode of “South Park” and that YouTube video of Leeroy Jenkins. Luckily, you don’t need any knowledge of the various other iterations of the franchise to enjoy this rollicking sword and sorcery adventure. With Draenor, the Orc ..

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (2013) Review

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (2013) Review

When the decision was made to expand “The Hobbit” from two films to three, there was always a risk the material would feel too stretched and if the strain was going to show anywhere, it would be in the middle section, “The Desolation Of Smaug”. And the strain does show, there’s no denying it. “The ..

Dark Disney: The Watcher In The Woods (1981) Review

Dark Disney: The Watcher In The Woods (1981) Review

As part of In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood’s Third Annual Bette Davis Blogathon, I’m taking a look at the 1981 family horror movie “The Watcher In The Woods” and kicking off my own mini-series looking at a strange period of movie history when Disney went dark. Towards the end of the 1970s, ..

Last Christmas (2019)’s heart is in the right place, but it still flatlines.

Last Christmas (2019)’s heart is in the right place, but it still flatlines.

Based on the most Dad-joke reading possible of the first two lines of the Wham! song “Last Christmas”, Paul Feig’s slight rom-com wears its genre clichés on its sleeve and uses copious fairy lights and tinsel to distract from its threadbare plot. Kate (Emilia Clarke) is a cynical, self-destructive Christmas shop worker, estranged from her ..

The BFG (2016) is a scrumdiddlyumptious too-good-for-summer treat.

The BFG (2016) is a scrumdiddlyumptious too-good-for-summer treat.

Shining like the most gloriumptious bottled dream, “The BFG” bestrides the lacklustre summer blockbuster season like a magical Colossus of Rhodes. A welcome big-screen return for the wonderful imagination of Roald Dahl and an even more welcome return for the Spielberg of old, the master of childlike wonder and spellbinding fantasy. When orphan Sophie is ..

Across The View Askewniverse: Dogma (1999) Review

Across The View Askewniverse: Dogma (1999) Review

His confidence and box office credibility restored, 1999 saw Smith take his most ambitious and provocative step ever with a free-wheelingly blasphemous road trip which dives deep into Catholic lore and expands the View Askewniverse to a positively cosmic scale. “Dogma” is a high concept ecumenical caper which simultaneously satirises and reaffirms faith. In amongst ..

Pan (2015) Review

Pan (2015) Review

Unnecessary. That’s the inescapable word that plagues “Pan” throughout its hefty 111 minute running time. It saddles the impish, carefree character of J M Barrie’s timeless tale with a hackneyed chosen one narrative so crushingly unsubtle that the characters actually use the phrase ‘chosen one’ near constantly. Abandoned on the steps of an orphanage as ..

The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016) Review

The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016) Review

So, is “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” a prequel or a sequel? In truth, it’s a bit of both, forming a wraparound tale which actually turns the original film into the dull middle chapter of a decent fantasy trilogy. “Winter’s War” takes us back to the beginnings of the Evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) and we ..

Love And Monsters (2021) Review

Love And Monsters (2021) Review

Part monster mash, part post-apocalyptic teen adventure, Dylan O’Brien makes for a likeable hero as he sets out on a family-friendly quest for love in a post-apocalyptic wilderness. When an asteroid headed towards the Earth is destroyed, it showers the planet with a chemical fallout which causes all cold-blooded animals to mutate. As these giant ..

Good Omens is a nice and accurate adaptation of the book, but not much more.

Good Omens is a nice and accurate adaptation of the book, but not much more.

“Good Omens”, starting on BBC2 tonight after an exclusive first run on Amazon Prime is a nice and accurate translation of a long-thought unfilmable book to the small screen, but that’s about it. Despite note-perfect casting, decent special effects and the presence of Neil Gaiman himself as showrunner, somehow the series ends up less than ..

About Time (2013) Review

About Time (2013) Review

“About Time” isn’t quite your typical Richard Curtis fare – it feels a little different from “Notting Hill”, “Love, Actually” and “Four Weddings And A Funeral”. It’s more a romantic fantasy than a comedy and although some of the Curtis archetypes are present – kooky vulnerable sibling, curmudgeonly morose cynic, quirky bumbling relative – they’re ..