The Lost City of Z(2017)
Director James Gray encapsulates the same tipe of spirit that Werner Herzog brings to his work in this clash of epic adventure and inner soul searching.As Col.Percival Fawcett wades into the Amazon Jungle in search of a legendary civilisation.Grand in scale with a tremendous lead turn from Charlie Hunnam.
8.5/10
Tomb Raider (2018)
This is a reboot of the previous Tomb Raider films but is it gonna good?. As most people know it’s based on the reboot Tomb Raider game that appeared on the PS3/PS4 and 360/Xboxone And PC, The story does follow the game right down to the action set pieces but at the sam time it does do certain things differently do not to too much of a copy of the game.
The cast are great in there roles, Alicia Vikander plays a Lara Croft very well and nailed her character and with the training sessions she had for the role really shows with her physical role some people have complained she doesn’t look the character and forget she’s just a video game character lol,Walton Goggins fantastic actor and very under rated plays a good villain, Dominic West and Daniel Wu were good supporting cast. The special effects were good in the movie too but there were little issues here there.
Now the negatives it is slow to start off with and the pacing in the first act does effect the movie, some of the special effects you can tell were green screen a problem which most films seem to suffer from these days.
Being a video game it’s hard to translate and here’s why when your playing a video your in control of character and narrative all th story is preset your invested in character whether it’s when they die, solving a puzzle or exploring especially if it’s rich story when your watching on screen your taking out that experience or that sense of control hence why video games have a hard job of working on the big screen take Assassins Creed what you can do in the games it’s pretty much endless what you can do and that sense of accomplishment then just seeing on screen takes that away. Also I wish some of characters had a little more charm, there are places in the film where graphically it’s a bit nasty. I enjoyed the film and hope there is a sequel and hopefully they improve a few things, now is a good video game movie yeah but that’s not saying much has it set the standards for a video game to movie honestly no but as I said you can find enjoyment in the movie and it’s better then the previous attempts at doing Tomb Raider on screen.
7.2/10.
Pacific Rim: Uprising
a very enjoyable fun sequel to the excellent Pacific Rim which is set 10yrs after the first Pacific Rim and just like with the first Pacific Rim the special effects & action sequences are excellent and it does what it says on the tin.
John Boyega is very good as Jake Pentecost, the son of Stacker Pentecost from the first Pacific Rim played by Idris Elba and the rest of the cast play their part including some returning characters from Pacific Rim and there is a mid credits scene that sets up Pacific Rim 3
8/10
Going in Style - 8/10.
A funny, kind of heart warming story, I highly recommend giving it a look.
The General Died At Dawn(1936)
A great thriller from Lewis Milestone based on the screenplay by Clifford Odets that tells of a mercenary who travels to China in order to overcome an evil warlord.Gary Cooper and Madeline Carroll are excellent in the lead roles,as are William Crawley,Dudley Digges,Akim Tamiroff and Porter Hall in support.
7.5/10
Pacific Rim: Uprising
I have a somewhat personal attachment to the first movie. I remember seeing it, being reminded of Power Rangers in my youth. I then went back and watched that, leading me to the japanese source material and by extension, the Kaiju and mecha tokusatsu shows that it was very clearly homaging. I owe my current ongoing obsession with Tokusatsu and Japanese superheroes to Pacific Rim. It's Guillermo del Toro's big homage to all that stuff, and the heart in it very clearly shows.
This new one wasn't quite that experience, but damn I had fun. Still very much in that world, the Kaiju/Jaeger hybrids seem like a very Japanese move (Kiryu/Mechagodzilla in the early 2000s was a robot built around the skeleton of the original Godzilla that went haywire at times), and I get the feeling if we see a third film (and I hope we do), We will see a lot more of their world.
John Boyega is Hollywood's latest "let's make this guy a thing" project isn't he? He's not bad, though.
Deepstar Six(1989)
Going with the trend of marine sci-fi along with Leviathan and The Abyss that year,Sean S.Cunningham's film is less starry but enjoyable all the same as a group of naval engineers and researchers run afoul of a hostile creature they disturb during a deep sea mission testing the stability of the ocean floor for future colonisation.Old school miniatures,matte painted backgrounds and a decent live action creature from Greg Nicotero that you don't see until over an hour into the film give the proceedings a certain charm whilst Greg Evigan,Helen Everhard and Miguel Farrah handle the acting side of things.
6/10
Unforgettable (2017) 3/10 - a boring and predicable fatal attraction style thriller that not even the presence of Rosario Dawson and Katherine Heigl can save.
Love Me Or Leave Me(1955)
Directed by Charles Vidor and starring Doris Day,wonderful in a dramatic role as famous 1920s singer Ruth Etting.Taken to the top but driven to drink by her controlling,racketeer manager played brilliantly by James Cagney.
8/10