…big screen adventures on a small island.
Watching Atomic Blonde I suddenly notice that I’m following the shot rather than the action. The shot, a prolonged single(ish)-take fight scene, is impressively staged but I’ve lost the drama within it because it isn’t captivating. The problem is that the central MacGuffin, a list (sigh), is duplicated in function and form with no real … Continue reading Atomic Blonde (2017)
I walked out of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets grinning from ear to ear and giggling like a child. Luc Besson’s adaptation of the Valerian and Laureline comic books is a breath of fresh air after what seems like an eternity of drab fantasy comic book cinema. This doesn’t feel recycled or … Continue reading Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
So, Free Fire... I like Ben Wheatley in the same way that I like Neil Marshall, I like that he's there doing his thing. I'm a big fan of his High Rise (it's not Ballard's, which I also love) and Kill List. His other films not so much but I'm glad someone is making them. … Continue reading Free Fire (2016)
I'm massively biased in favour of Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD, I would probably like it no matter what. 2000AD is one of the biggest cultural influences I can recall. It's found in my politics, the films and books that I like, my sense of humour, my sense of fairness. I fell into it, … Continue reading Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD
Whilst not entirely successful, Bushwick is an interesting, scrappy little movie that suddenly finds itself relevant… I’ll say ‘spoilers’ at this point because, although the relevance is now the selling point, I enjoyed watching this with no knowledge of what was happening and, given the form the film takes, I imagine this was the intention. … Continue reading Bushwick (2017)
Dunkirk is, so far, the best of this Summer’s big hitters. Engineered to within an inch of it’s life by Nolan, the film tells three separate stories (land, sea and air, spanning one week, one day and one hour respectively) that intersect during the evacuation. The film succeeds because it tells a visual story that would … Continue reading Dunkirk (2017)
If we’re being honest, once you strip away the technical wizardry (and it really is), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) is all rather too familiar. It feels like a film cobbled together from parts of more energetic and original genre movies. Its being spoken of as the antidote to the rest of … Continue reading Monkey Business
90 – 100 mins of Spider–Man: Homecoming (2017) are one of the best movies that Marvel has made, the remainder of the 133 min runtime is filler, most of it featuring Robert Downey Jr. It doesn’t kill the film but it does make it drag and serves as a reminder that Marvel’s worst tendencies are … Continue reading Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Hidden Figures (2016) is good old fashioned Hollywood razzle-dazzle. It takes a little known story, mixes in some smart poetic licence and instantly likeable performers, and turns out a belting piece of mainstream entertainment. There is no doubt that Hidden Figures is precision engineered to pull at your heart but it is saved from being … Continue reading Hidden Figures (2016)
Fighting for Enlightenment Values
Stuff about stuff
Comfortable with ambiguity
The good, the bad, and the stupid in manga/anime, movies, books, and more from the view of a feminist
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Film & TV Blog
On The Seventh Art In The Age Of The Digital.
An account of recovery & relapse from Depression
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