The low-budget 80’s action-comedy TV series The Fall Guy, which starred former Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors as stuntman/ bounty hunter Colt Seavers, isn’t a show that seemed to be crying out for a cinema adaptation. It was amiable, undemanding TV, typical of mystery/crime/action shows of the late 70’s and early 80’s where everyone but the actual police solved
Read moreThe recent Hollywood Godzilla and King Kong films have been enormous, lumbering, jokey, CGI onslaughts that have offered some impressive spectacle and monster porn but (smatterings of techno jargon aside) seem to have mostly been aimed at 12-year-olds. Despite a distinct lack of cinematic nutrition, they’ve been successful enough to spawn multiple sequels and now we have the latest effort,
Read moreClever, inventive, visually breathtaking and studded with gritty action sequences, the dystopian adventure, The Creator is one of the stronger cinematic sci fi offerings of recent times. Still, a few too many conspicuous film references, structural issues and superficial examination of key issues like artificial intelligence and American imperialism lessen its impact. In scenes reminiscent of the start of District
Read moreAfter a mere 13 years comes the first of apparently many sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time. I had mixed feelings about the 2009 original which depicted the giant blue alien Na’vi people’s battle to preserve their home world of Pandora from greedy, destructive earth forces. While its central science fiction concept of people’s
Read moreThe first salvo in the Christmas movie wars for 2022, Violent Night unusually combines raunch comedy, hostage drama, violent (sometimes gory) action and the old redemption through the magic of Christmas fantasy. It’s a strange combo that recalls Die hard, Home Alone, Bad Santa and weirdly enough the skull-crunching Viking film The Norseman. David Harbour stars as a genuine Santa
Read moreThe moderately exciting, occasionally funny but mostly ridiculous Uncharted is based on a popular video game but this dubious mix of archaeological adventure and caper comedy owes just as much to a film like National Treasure. Uncharted is essentially a treasure hunt as bar tender and petty thief Nate Drake (Tom Holland) – a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, no
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