Loki Episode 4 review: Chaos reigns in hit Marvel drama June 30, 2021 *** WARNING: This article contains spoilers about new and past episodes of Loki *** It seems a bit misleading to call last week’s episode of Loki as uneventful, given Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) revealing a key plot point and facing the apocalypse with Loki (Tom Hiddleston). However, narratively it gave our heroes a chance to [...]
French Exit review – Pfeiffer is glorious in this surreal comedy June 30, 2021 The career of Michelle Pfeiffer is one that seems to have many comebacks, but in reality, the Oscar nominee never stopped producing good work. Despite missing half of the 2000s due to a self-imposed hiatus from acting, she still appeared in hits like Hairspray and Stardust, while the 2010s saw her feature in everything from [...]
Another Round review – drinking drama earns its Oscar June 30, 2021 A lot of films make it to our screens thanks to an interesting concept – what if there was a theme park that brought back dinosaurs, what if a man’s whole life was a 24-hour TV show, what if you could invade someone’s dreams? The idea behind Danish drama Another Round is slightly less ambitious, [...]
Black Widow review: Marvel returns with a familiar face June 29, 2021 By the time Black Widow hits cinemas, it will have been the longest we’ve ever waited for a Marvel Cinematic Universe instalment. Obviously there have been external reasons for this absence, but in a strange way the wait has been beneficial for the world’s biggest franchise. Yes, there have been two and a half Disney+ [...]
Dogtanian and The Three Muskehounds: Nostalgia nightmare June 24, 2021 The announcement of a movie adaptation of Dogtanian and The Three Muskehounds was met with nostalgic approval from movie fans of a certain age. Originally a Japanese cartoon series, the canine interpretation of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers was re-dubbed into English in the mid-80s and is affectionately remembered by those for whom post-school cartoons [...]
Loki episode 3 review – two of a kind at the end of the world June 24, 2021 *** WARNING: This article contains spoilers for all current episodes of Loki and some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe *** Last week’s episode of Loki featured a lot of Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) sharing detective theories and life philosophies. It ended with a supermarket chase and the reveal of The Variant/Lady Loki [...]
Supernova review – Tucci and Firth in heartbreaking dementia love story June 22, 2021 The follow up to his 2014 debut Hinterland, British filmmaker Harry Macqueen works with two Hollywood legends in a quiet, but devastating drama that was sadly overlooked in this year’s awards chase. Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci play Sam and Tusker, partners of twenty years laughing and bickering in their campervan on the first leg [...]
Fast and Furious 9 review – yet more brainless fun June 22, 2021 For a film about street racing that was a modest hit back in 2001, the Fast and Furious franchise has ballooned into something no one could expect. This week sees the release of the tenth instalment in the series (if you count spin-off Hobbs & Shaw), and the reported penultimate episode of the main story. [...]
Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard: Awkward title, awkward film June 18, 2021 Some sequels are made as part of an ongoing story, answering questions that were left dangling or making the universe a little bigger. Others are solely made because the first film made more cash than expected. Hitman’s Bodyguard, a mid-budget comedy with Samuel L Jackson and Ryan Reynolds, surprised pretty much everybody by becoming a [...]
Luca is an enjoyable Pixar Lite that’s in thrall to the work of Ghibli June 18, 2021 The past eighteen months has seen a complete shift in what we mean by the term ‘straight to on demand’. Once the preserve of movies that weren’t worth a cinema release, circumstances have meant a hybrid solution is now the sensible choice for a lot of new releases. That said, the big movies are still [...]