I avoided the first three instalments in the ultra-violent hitman saga, John Wick as a cursory glance suggested they were ludicrous, mind-numbingly repetitive action films with about as much depth and credibility as a Fast and Furious flick. I haven’t completely abandoned that view but on the basis of latest film, John Wick: Chapter 4, there sems to be a
Read moreMy experience of the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons is limited to playing it for about 20 minutes 40 years ago. Suffice to say I’m not an expert on its intricacies and can only vaguely suggest how much has been woven into the new cinema adaptation, Dungeons And Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. Whether or not the film has obsessive fidelity
Read moreBefore it makes a bizarre misstep in its finale, Fall effectively mixes vertiginous Cliff-hanger-like ‘dangling over the edge’ thriller with a ‘young woman exorcising personal demons through physical ordeal’ drama reminiscent of the Reece Witherspoon film Wild and the Blake Lively film The Shallows. In the old ‘establish the emotional baggage’ sequence, our sensitive yet ballsy rock climbing heroine Becky (Grace
Read moreBullet Train is one of the most irritating films so far this year: a manic, juvenile, cartoonish pastiche of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino that substitutes caricature for character and a loose collection of violent, yet dull sight gags for plot. Based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka, the film sees a gaggle of professional killers: American
Read moreTaika Waititi’s previous instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Ragnarök was, at least for a while, a strikingly odd experience and refreshingly different flavour in what had become the bland cinematic equivalent of a fast-food franchise. Suddenly, droll, pisstaking Kiwi humour had entered the overblown Wagnerian Marvel superhero fantasy universe. At first, it felt quite subversive but the film
Read moreThe fun, inventive, hyper-energetic but sometimes (for adults) headache-inducing world of our little animated buddies, the Minions, continues with Minions: The Rise of Gru. This one takes us back to the mid-70 s and criminal genius Gru’s nascent years as an aspiring super villain. Here, the 11-year-old primary school student Gru (Steve Carrell) dreams of joining his heroes, a super
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