Birdbox returns with Birdbox Barcelona – but is it any good? July 13, 2023 Birdbox became a massive hit for Netflix in 2018, not just in terms of viewership but in the way it seemed to capture people’s imagination. Where most Netflix films disappear into the algorithm, the sight of a blindfolded Sandra Bullock leading children from unseen horrors stayed with movie fans. Enter, Birdbox Barcelona… A sequel was [...]
Pixar’s Elemental shows how the animation studio needs to work harder July 6, 2023 Elemental arrives on these shores with the unwanted title of worst performing Pixar movie. Struggling to compete with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse, can the family comedy drawaudiences here? It imagines a world in which the elements – earth, fire, water, and air – are people living happily in separate communities, avoiding contact with each other. [...]
Mission Impossible: Tom Cruise is back but this franchise is showing its age July 5, 2023 Barbie vs Oppenheimer may be the summer showdown everyone’s talking about, but one movie legend would like to remind you that he’s back. Despite some occasional headline-grabbing bouts of odd behaviour, Tom Cruise is one of the last true movie stars, someone who can get crowds to turn up based on his name alone. But [...]
The Super-8 Years: A compact and worthwhile film July 4, 2023 Annie Ernaux ascended to the top of the literary world following her 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature, and is best known to film fans as screenwriter of 2021 award winner Happening, an adaptation of her novel. These accolades come after decades of success as a writer, the beginnings of which are examined in this short [...]
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken review July 3, 2023 If you have children that haven’t stopped singing Part of Your World since seeing The Little Mermaid, prepare for more underwater obsession. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, the folks behind Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has a lot going on beneath its awkward title. X-Men actor Lana Condor voices Ruby, [...]
Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny review: A nostalgic treat June 28, 2023 One of the most beloved heroes in cinema history returns for a fifth and final crack of the whip. Normally, nothing is final in Hollywood, but given star Harrison Ford is 81 next month, his claim that he’s done with the character should be taken seriously. It’s 15 years since audiences last saw him in [...]
No Hard Feelings is a comedy short of an audience June 26, 2023 Adult comedies have been a tough sell recently. Reaching their peak in the early 2010s with The Hangover films, Bridesmaids, and Ted, audience tastes have veered away from low-brow laughs. Looking to reverse that trend is No Hard Feelings starring Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who gives her all as Maddie, a hard up Uber driver [...]
Asteroid City review: Wes Anderson plays those pretty, pretty hits June 26, 2023 Of the directors that broke through in the late 1990s, Wes Anderson has been one of the most successful – but also the most divisive. With a distinct visual style and love of nostalgia, some celebrate him as a genius while others call him a one trick pony. Either way, 25 years on from his [...]
It’s no John Wick, but Extraction 2 still delivers where Extraction 2 counts – in thrills, kills and chills June 15, 2023 Action movie Extraction was a bold gamble for Netflix, which reportedly spent big on what they hoped would be their first big movie franchise. But while it boasted huge viewing figures, it’s not exactly talked about in the same breath as John Wick. Nevertheless, Chris Hemsworth is back as Tyler Rake in Extraction 2. He [...]
The Flash is a fantastic blockbuster and closure to DC Universe June 15, 2023 In the spirit of the film’s theme, here’s a very quick explainer of The Flash’s offscreen origins. Producer James Gunn was recently brought in to oversee a complete reboot of the DC Universe films using The Flash’s Multiverse time travel plot to essentially start from scratch. This turning point has been hampered by star Ezra [...]
