Category Reviews
Director: David Leitch
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz, Julian Dennison, Brianna Hildebrand, T.J. Miller, Terry Crews, Rob Delaney, Eddie Marsan
Cert: 15
Running time: 119mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Unhinged, fourth wall smashing superhero Deadpool aka Wade Wilson aka Ryan Reynolds is contentedly separating regular criminals from their limbs. But, he must form a band of super crimefighters, including X-Men old and new, to protect young mutant Russell (Dennison) from the murderous grasp of time-traveling warrior Cable (Brolin).
What’s the verdict: Deadpool 2 opens with the indestructible motormouth informing the audience the first movie’s $363m domestic gross was almost the highest ever for an R...
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Director: José Padilha
Writer: Gregory Burke
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan, Lior Ashkenazi, Denis Ménochet, Nonso Anozie
Cert: 15
Running time: 107mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: In 1976 four anti-Israel terrorists hijack an Air France plane. Over seven days they hold the hostages at Uganda’s Entebbe airport, under the eye of tyrant Idi Amin. The Israeli government debates whether to take offensive action.
What’s the verdict: Director José Padilha helmed the Brazilian drug cartel movie Elite Squad and its impressive sequel. He oversees the similarly hard-hitting series Narcos (for sake of argument we’ll ignore that ill-advised 2014 RoboCop remake).
Padilha directs with the immediacy he brought to the documentary Bus 174, his searing debut and a true Fi...
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Director: Ron Shelton
Writer: David Ayer (screenplay), James Ellroy (story)
Cast: Kurt Russell, Scott Speedman, Michael Michele, Brendan Gleeson, Ving Rhames, Jonathan Banks, Dash Mihok, Kurupt, Lolita Davidovich
Cert: 15
Running time: 118mins
Year: 2002
FILM:
EXTRAS:
What’s the story: On the eve of the 1992 LA riots, corrupted police officer Eldon Perry (Russell) watches his world of power and control begin to collapse.
What’s the verdict: Ask most people to name Kurt Russell’s best performance and you’re likely to hear The Thing’s MacCready, Escape From New York’s Snake Plissken, Tombstone’s Wyatt Earp, The Hateful Eight’s John Ruth, or Elvis’, er, Elvis.
There may even be some who cite The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes’ Dexter...
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Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana, Tom Holland, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pratt, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Danai Gurira
Cert: 12
Running time: 150mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Galactic warlord Thanos seeks the remaining infinity stones that will make him ruler of the universe. The Avengers, led by Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, must battle him on Earth and beyond the stars to stop this.
What’s the verdict: 10 years since Iron Man hit box office pay d...
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Director: Michael Pearce
Writer: Michael Pearce
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Geraldine James, Trystan Gravelle, Shannon Tarbet
Cert: 15
Running Time: 107 minutes
Year 2018
What’s the story: On a remote island, twenty-something Moll Huntford (Buckley) is haunted by a past random act of violence that puts her at odds with her family. The answer to Moll’s woes may be sun-bleached handyman and part-time poacher Pascal (Flynn). The only snag is, he may be responsible for a spate of sex murders in their isolated community.
What’s the verdict: It’s D.H Lawrence with serial killers as Moll, the ingénue with more than a touch of the vapours, is seduced by bohemian bit-of-rough Pascal...
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Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Zak Penn, Ernest Cline (screenplay), Ernest Cline (novel)
Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg
Cert: 12
Running time: 140mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: 2045, Colombus, Ohio. In an over-populated world where trailer parks have become cities, the masses seek enjoyment in the virtual reality world of the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation). Expert gamer Wade Watts (Sheridan) and others attempt to win a competition that awards them vast wealth and control of the OASIS. Evil corporate CEO Sorrento (Mendelsohn) unleashes an army to ensure no mere gamer wins the ultimate prize.
What’s the verdict: Tron. The Matrix. Ready Player One...
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Director: Yûji Shimomura
Writer: Benio Saeki
Cast: Tak ∴, Akio Ôtsuka, Yura Kondo
Cert: 15
Running time: 100mins
Year: 2016
What’s the story: Former special forces soldier Toshiro (Tak ∴) works in a small convenience store in rural Japan, caring for the orphaned Sachi (Kondo). But, dangerous enemies from his past, led by the mysterious Phantom (Ôtsuka), force him to settle old scores.
What’s the verdict: With action films arriving faster and thicker than kicks from The Raid’s Iko Uwais in a particularly foul mood, they had better come strapped with a good USP.
Re:Born’s is the close-quarter knife-fighting style practiced by both hero Toshiro and his most lethal opponents...
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Director: Brian Taylor
Writer: Brian Taylor
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zachary Arthur, Robert Cunningham, Samantha Lemole, Lance Henriksen
Cert: 15
Running time: 83mins
Year: 2017
What’s the story: Brent (Cage) and Kendall (Blair), both in the grip of mid-life crises, live in a state of increasing resentment with their kids Carly (Winters) and Josh (Arthur). Then, without warning, parents all over the country begin violently turning on their children.
What’s the verdict: Reportedly, Nicolas Cage declared this the most enjoyment he has had making a film in ten years. We’re right there with you Nic. What seemed like another direct-to-rental dud, Mom and Dad is a short, sharp, sensational satirical shock.
American Beauty meets 28 Weeks Later, this is a film for...
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Director: Christian Gudegast
Writer: Christian Gudegast (script), Christian Gudegast, Paul Scheuring (story)
Cast: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, Dawn Olivieri
Cert: 15
Running time: 140mins
Year: 2018
What’s the story: Career bank robber Ray Merrimen (Schreiber) is planning the ultimate heist. Can loose cannon LA County Sheriff’s Dept. cop “Big” Nick O’Brien stop him?
What’s the verdict: Den of Thieves is a film so derivative it would be simpler to list the ways in which it fails at being Heat.
Michael Mann’s 1995 crime opus was an icy-cool, blue-tinted study of flawed cops, code-bound criminals, and the blurred moral distinction between them. The type of film of which Jean-Pierre Melville would have been proud.
Den of Thie...
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