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DEADPOOL (2016)
Let’s start with the good news: this version of Deadpool is a hundred times more entertaining than the first outing for the offbeat superhero, in the atrocious X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland), director Tim Miller, and producer-star Ryan Reynolds know exactly what they’re doing with their version of this cult…
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PRIDE & PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES (2016)
Based both on Jane Austen’s classic Pride & Prejudice and Seth Grahame-Smith’s parody novel of the same name—adding re-animated corpses into the equation—Pride & Prejudice & Zombies retells the familiar Austen story that’s been adapted almost a dozen times already. This time, though, author Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) uses a zombie outbreak to change the…
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THE LOBSTER (2015)
It has been clear for some time that the leading lights of the ‘weird wave’ of Greek cinema would not be able to remain in Greece for much longer. For obvious reasons, in Greece, there’s simply no money to make movies with. This never held back Yorgos Lanthimos, as the director made Kinetta (2005), Dogtooth…
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THE X-FILES – ‘Home Again’
When I first heard Glen Morgan would be writing an episode entitled “Home Again”, I envisioned an unexpected sequel to infamous season 4 episode “Home”, about a family of inbred murderers, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, this was a decent hour that suddenly means The X-Files’ revival could end its maddeningly short run with…
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HAIL, CAESAR! (2016)
The Coen brothers’ filmography is heavily populated with desks and the men who sit behind them. In the Coens’ universe, desks serve to define the power dynamic for the characters sitting on either side of them; for the person behind it, the desk signifies control or, in the case of characters like Fargo’s Jerry Lundegaard…
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DAD’S ARMY (2016)
Among the fine tradition of classic British sitcoms, few stand as revered—or, indeed, as British—as Dad’s Army. Set during World War II, this beloved BBC comedy followed the aged members of the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard: a loose military unit patrolling their quiet coastal town. They were a collection of doddery old geezers and the sort…
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GOOSEBUMPS (2015)
If you grew up in the ’90s, there’s a good chance R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps books were one of your formative forays into fiction. A series of very accessible mild horror novels, his stories were renowned for their sense of humour and notorious for their twists. They were many children’s window into not just reading, but also the horror/fantasy…
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Seven’s Heaven: The Best Coen Brothers’ Films
Want to start an argument fast? Just ask the people nearest you to pick their favourite Coen Brothers movie. It’s a subject nobody agrees on. In part that’s because the Coens oeuvre spans 16 films (their latest, Hail, Caesar!, marks their 17th in just over 30-years), and almost as many genres; covering everything from westerns…
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THE X-FILES – ‘Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster’
Darin Morgan may not be a household name, but he’s a writer every X-Phile knows. The younger brother of writer-producer Glen Morgan, Darin got his start on The X-Files hidden behind layers of latex, playing the sewer-dwelling ‘Flukeman’ creature from season 2’s “The Host”. He then helped develop the episode “Blood” with his brother, which…
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THE WALK (2015)
The Walk is by no means perfect. In fact, it’s all too easy to pull apart, if you so desire. The dialogue is very expository, the performances are heightened towards caricature, and it’s hard to argue there’s much need for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ever-present narration. However, the simplicity and spirit of the whole endeavour make it…
