The Disaster Artist does a fantastic job of bypassing the expectant mockery that James Franco, Seth Rogen et al. could very easily adhere to. Instead, they offer up a treatise on Hollywood, the movie industry and the notion of following your dreams regardless of circumstance and talent, a potentially incongruous premise considering its status as a semi-biopic of the making of one of the most notoriously ‘bad’ movies ever made. The Room is a film that just wouldn’t be made now

‘Tis the season for blockbusters and seasonal fare but the biggest surprise of this chock-a-block month could well be a jungle-set remake that no one was really calling out for: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Power Rangers take note, this is how you update a 90’s favourite: by leaning strictly on the family-fun side of things rather than veering down a self-serious tween path. OK, yes, we still get the outdated teenage stereotypes lazily drawn together in a quick-dash charac

Superhero fatigue, eh? Debate is a pillar of society. Whilst the old adage of opinions being like arseholes is totally true our passions, thoughts and instincts make us who we are. It’s not just those in the spotlight anymore though, you can’t eat out, travel or shop without someone already having passed judgement. Everyone’s livelihood is up for review. The notion of walking into a cinema, switching your brain off and mindlessly enjoying the spectacle is not an alien concept

The Titanic sinks. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Father. ET returns home. Endings ingrained in popular culture, but not at all damaging to the films in which they occur. The same, unfortunately, is not true of the latest adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie’s classic tale has been read, retold and adapted countless times and was rife for another big screen version. Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 vintage is a faithful translation but doesn’t quite add the bell

Marvel’s proclivity to use lesser-known, and stylistically varied, Directors throughout the MCU is to be earnestly applauded. It adds disparity, differentiates each film and phase in the series and enables each character film to feel like an evolution. This particularly elevates their latest addition to the MCU, and third this calendar year, Thor: Ragnarok. Phase Three has, so far, eclipsed all of Marvel’s achievements thus far, impressive considering we’re onto film number 1

When a genre becomes 'in vogue' it’s inevitable that the market will be saturated with copycats. The ‘Scandi-noir’ is now established, both on television and film, as is the recent upswing in serial killer thrillers based on bestselling novels. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train’s box office success and critical praise are to blame for The Snowman, the most recent example, based on Jo Nesbo’s novel which is ten years old now. Tomas Alfredson

Blade Runner fits the archetype of a cult classic. An initially poor box office return, then feverishly discussed through word of mouth upon video release, spreading to become one of the most influential science fiction films of all time and in the upper echelons of any publication’s ‘Best Movies Ever’ list. It’s a film, like Trainspotting before it, which its many devotees felt should be left well alone. Despite Ridley Scott’s numerous edits, the various short prequels and s

In politically uncertain times a historically-set film can make the entire situation seem better or worse. So it is with The Death of Stalin, the latest from life-long satirist Armando Iannucci. His decision to delve into historical context, rather than comment on today’s landscape, is a little odd but it enables him to aim his jabs and comments freely. He also decides to use a British and American cast, with nary a Russian accent in sight. Although initially jarring this, to

The old adage would tell us that bigger is always better. It’s not a rule I’d usually subscribe to cinema though, and it taints the Kingsman sequel: The Golden Circle. Matthew Vaughan’s first Kingsman was an absolute breath of fresh air. He’d already made the superhero genre look bloated and outdated with the hilarious Kick-Ass and managed to do the absolute same with the spy genre. The old boys were dead in the water and the era of the spoof, and the 80’s soundtrack, had set

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Steven Soderbergh’s name below the ‘Directed by’ credit but he’s back, and on form, with Logan Lucky. Perhaps we were too accustomed to his ‘blockbuster heist’ movies, perhaps the styling was too ‘late 90’s/early 00's’, his regular actors replaced in the market by newer, different breeds. All irrelevant as his latest hearkens back to his imperious early run and feels fresh and vibrant. Logan Lucky feels, somewhat, like the 'Southern Ocean’s

People have long talked about certain source material which is classified as ‘unfilmable’: novels, graphic novels, comics etc. which, due to complexity, content or sheer fan devotion are deemed too precious, or just too damn hard or convoluted, to put onto a screen. As technology has improved, and indeed movie studio’s greed has increased, we’re seeing more of these projects released to cinemas and, in a large number of cases, being wildly successful (see The Lord of the Ring

I imagine when you hear Tom Cruise’s name or see a trailer for his latest film you have an exact image of what to expect. That could be either good or bad: he’s so successful purely because there’s millions of people that see his presence in a movie as reason alone to see it but, point being, he’s somewhat typecast as the gung-ho action hero. Recently, however, he’s done well in beginning to branch out beyond his own status quo. Sleeper hit Edge of Tomorrow (no, it’s not call