Joe (2013) – Review

Nicholas Cage’s movie career is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. I have said on more than one occasion that Cage is an excellent actor but sometimes makes spectacularly bad choices. If you check out his CV, there are pearls there, to be sure, but for every one of those, there’s at least half a dozen Ghost Rider sequels that could potentially queer his pitch.

Star Wars VII – Cast Announced

The Star Wars VII cast at the table reading earlier today

Well, we kinda knew it was coming, but really, it was expected to drop on May 4th (for obvious reasons), but here it is ladies and gentlemen, the cast list for the new Star Wars movie. Any wagers on a title yet?

Returning to reprise their earlier roles, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniel and Kenny Baker

New to to the Star Wars universe, the line-up includes John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow

 

Vampire Academy (2014) – Review

Any vampire movie that wants to be taken seriously should not have the word ‘suck’ in its tagline. Fact. It’s highly likely that this sends out entirely the wrong message to its audience. Thankfully however, Vampire Academy does not aspire to reach the lofty artistic and cinematic heights of even, let’s say, Twilight, as an example. This is a fully up-to date version of the vampire story, taking place today, with mostly fist-clenchingly nauseating American preppies as the featured protaganists.

That Awkward Moment (2014) – Review

Honestly, I don’t know why this is. No, there isn’t a word missing from the last sentence. I just really don’t get the point of it at all. Firstly, I cannot get my head around who this is aimed at. If it’s young girls that like getting screwed over by young men who see them as nothing more than one of a harem of conquests, then okay, there is your audience. But really, young girls, enamoured as they may be with any or all of the men featured here, can’t possibly be that dumb, can they? If they are, well, I’ll take half a dozen.

Pick Five #1 – Tom Cruise

Okay, so we’re going to start this new and probably intermittent feature with probably the biggest star on the planet for the past thirty years. Tom Cruise has featured as performer in a surprising forty-one movies at time of writing and he has covered a multitude of genres in his astounding career.

Garden Of Words (2013) – Review

A Capsule Review

This latest film, Garden Of Words, from visionary animator Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimetres Per Second) is above all else, gorgeous to look at. Dubbed ‘eye porn’ by some, it is hard deny the quality of the imagery on display, and Shinkai’s use of all of the elements in a scene will not be new to fans of his back catalogue. Writing and Direction credits are applied to Shinkai here and it is very clear that he is indeed fostering a continued, now familiar artistic thread throughout all of his work.

Blue Ruin (2014) – Review

Showing for the first time on our shores in February (Glasgow), despite doing the festival rounds for the best part of a year, starting in Cannes last May, cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier directs only his second feature here in the form of moody thriller, Blue Ruin. Out on a limited release in cinemas on May 2nd 2014, the film is already available on demand globally.

Almost Married (2014) – Review

Portents. You should always pay attention to them. If a naked car mechanic runs straight at you, brandishing a semi-automatic weapon, with his manhood flapping about like an ungrilled Walls’ banger, you should probably run. Or at least try very hard to hide. Very hard. I will say no more than ‘the signs were there’.

In Your Eyes (2014) – Review

Love must be in the air, what with At Middleton first and then this, an unexpected romance from the pen of Joss Whedon. Yes, unlikely as it may seem, it is indeed the same Joss Whedon responsible (writing and production) for this rather unusual tale of two people, polar opposites it would seem, that are somehow telepathically connected from a very early age, who find each other, by literal accident, twenty years later. It has been called a metaphysical love story and to be fair, the focus is on the romance rather than the supernatural, so know this before you part with your hard-earned folding paper.

At Middleton (2013) – Review

Two sisters in real life playing mother and daughter in this imaginary, albeit charming, one? How was that going to work then? I looked at the cast list, featuring both Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) and younger (twenty-one years younger, admittedly) sibling Taissa (American Horror Story) and needn’t have worried.