War For The Planet Of The Apes Review: All Of Cinematic History Has Led To This Moment

“The best and most groundbreaking film since Jurassic Park”

There can’t be a human being alive who isn’t familiar with Planet of the Apes, whether it’s the classic 1968 original starring the late Charlton Heston and the late Roddy McDowall, along with its four sequels and 70’s TV spin-off, or Tim Burton’s hugely-panned 2001 remake starring Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter, or now Rupert Wyatt/ Matt Reeves’ groundbreaking trilogy. Add to all of that the animated series, the video games, the graphic novels and all the old-school cosplay that has populated comic conventions the world over since the dawn of ape, and you have a franchise that rivals the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek, but one which speaks to the audience on a deeper level with its commentary on our society as well as our treatment of primates not so deep within its subtext.

It Comes At Night Review

Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah and their teenage son Travis, live in a cabin in the woods during a seemingly post-apocalypse, the unseen outside world having apparently been ravaged by a deadly virus. Their survival depends on a set of airtight rules, which is made clear from the offset when they are forced to shoot dead and then burn Sarah's father having discovered he is infected. But when stranger Will tries to break in one night, Paul is forced to make some new rules.

The Mummy 2017 Review

When Universal Pictures very prematurely announced that The Mummy would be the first in their cinematic universe named, ahem, Dark Universe, my eyes – like many others’ – rolled. I’ve nothing against shared cinematic universes. Hell, I’m all for it. Look at the incredible job the MCU has done, with the DCEU being taught lessons by Wonder Woman and her lasso, and even this year’s Kong: Skull Island breathing some much-needed fire into Warner Bros. and Legendary's new monster franchise. But those guys? The Wolfman, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein, Dracula et al? Really? But if the filmmakers really think it’s going to work – and they surely do given such an early promise of a shared universe, and it’s got Tom Cruise - I’ll make the effort to go watch this new reiteration of The Mummy even if it does seem overly action-focused and starring a very out of place Tom Cruise, and see what it is they've done. And that’s just what I did.

Spider-Man: Homecoming Swings Into Action This Week: And Here's The Review...

Spider-Man, Spider-Man... Where do we start? In 2002 with Toby Maguire? Or 2012 with Andrew Garfield, just five years after Maguire webbed up the suit? Or last year with Captain America: Civil War, just two years after Garfield was, like Maguire, forced to do the same? In just fifteen years we've seen - including the latest movie - six Spider-Man movies (or seven if you include Civil War) which include three separate incarnations. To call them all sinister, though, would be an insy winsy lie. 

Snatched Review

When down-on-her-luck and newly dumped Emily Middleton (Schumer) realises her life is going nowhere, she turns to the only true friend in her life; her much less-spontaneous and retired mother, Linda (Hawn). After much persuasion, Linda accompanies her daughter to a resort in Ecuador, South America, but before long things go even souther when they’re both kidnapped by a violent gang who demand a ransom from their annoying and agoraphobic brother/ son Jeffrey (Ike Barinholtz). Luckily they escape, but through much less luck they wind up lost in the jungle with the merciless gang hot on their tail.

Iceland

After New York, we headed to Reykjavik, Iceland. Intended only as a short stay and as a way of breaking up the otherwise longer haul back to Earth (otherwise known as the “UK”), Reykjavik turned out to be more of a snapshot into the country than anything else.

Kualoa Ranch: Revisited

Given the fact that my last post on this awesome place was so very heavily Jurassic Park-focused, I promised that I’d return to the popular, 4000-acre, family-owned ranch that has served dozens upon dozens of movies since the 1950s. In fact, even its Hall of Fame – a modest two walls’ worth of framed pictures – tells only a tiny fraction of the movies it’s hosted over the last sixty-plus years. Sadly this post doesn’t involve an actual revisit, but it does involve a little bit more on the movies that have been filmed there as well as some interesting facts.

A Whole New Dimension Of Ghostbusters

The infamous wax museum Madame Tussauds turned out to be quite a stressful and gruelling experience in the end. And no, it had nothing to do with our walk-through of all the famous wax models from Johnny Depp to Kim Kardashian, Anne Hathaway to Scarlett Johansson or Barrack Obama to Donald Trump (who we avoided like we would spores, moulds and fungus), but more so to do with the action we were thrust into in the second half of the tour: a Ghostbusters walk-through tour and a revolutionary virtual reality experience. Okay, stressful and gruelling might be a bit of a lie but saving the world – or the day – is no easy feat!

I Love This Town

Does the title of this post sound familiar? They're the words echoed by one of my favourite Ghostbusters – I have four in total – from the 1984 classic when the guys are covered in marshmallow after giving the giant sticky sailor what for on top of the apartment building now dubbed “Spook Central.” And seeing as you all by now know I’m a huge fan of the franchise, and having just been to the Big Apple itself, it won’t surprise you to know that said-trip involved Ghostbusters quite a fair bit, as well as the welcome onslaught of the smell of burnt marshmallow (not so much being covered in it) and even that once-creepy building as mentioned where refrigerators and kitchen counters just aren’t to be trusted.

The Curious Rockies

Vancouver

After a few days in the hugely undesirable city of Seattle, Vancouver came as a breath of fresh air. Sure it’s a city like most others, but the real difference is it’s in Canada. There might only be a marginal difference in terms of friendliness between Americans and Canadians, with the latter being the friendlier, but such a small detail makes all the difference.