Category Archives: Film Review
Review: 12 Years a Slave (2013)
12 YEARS A SLAVE is a beautifully crafted film about an abhorrent subject. It’s quite an endurance test all-in-all, and I’m not sure whether I’ll ever be able to put myself through it again; not because of the quality of the film, … Continue reading
Review: Warm Bodies (2013)
WARM BODIES is the sweetest zombie movie ever made. Not the funniest (that’s SHAUN OF THE DEAD), not the most visually striking (28 DAYS LATER) or the most affecting (COLIN), but certainly the sweetest. When I say sweet, I don’t … Continue reading
Review: American Hustle (2013)
AMERICAN HUSTLE has glimmers of brilliance, but as a whole it’s an underwhelming experience, and director David O Russell’s least complete feeling film to date. The story takes place in the late 1970s, and is loosely based on the real … Continue reading
Review: The Lone Ranger (2013)
It’s rare thing that a film so completely divides critics in the USA from the rest of the world. Star Armie Hammer claimed that “If you go back and read the negative reviews, most of them aren’t about the content … Continue reading
Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES might not have the joke hit-rate of Ron Burgundy’s debut, but when the gags do hit, they hit hard. Aside from an apocalyptically over-the-top sequence towards the end, nothing in the film is particularly … Continue reading
Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
I haven’t had more delirious fun with a film this year than I did with THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG. The first film, for all its merits, was a bit of a slog at times, but the same can’t be … Continue reading
Review: Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
KICK-ASS 2 is a pretty solid black comic superhero movie, but the title is wrong. Kick-Ass 2 should really be called Hit-Girl. If the first film was the titular not-quite-hero’s journey, then the sequel is definitely more geared towards telling … Continue reading
Review: Man of Steel (2013)
MAN OF STEEL is a much better sci-fi movie than it is a Superman movie. If Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer had been as interested in what Superman represents as a character on Earth as they evidently … Continue reading
Review: Gravity (2013)
GRAVITY is equal parts wonderment, sheer terror and life affirmation. The ever-reliable Alfonso Cuarón has crafted a aesthetically flawless, hypnotic space horror that manages to be intimate and epic at the same time. Scientist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is … Continue reading
Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition (2013)
Who didn’t see this coming? This month Peter Jackson released a special extended cut of THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY just in time to promote the second chapter, THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, which is set to be released in cinemas … Continue reading