Category: Movies

Movie Review – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

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IMDB Summary

A dark force threatens Alpha, a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a 2017 French science fiction action/adventure film, written and directed by Luc Besson. It stars Dane DeHaan as Valerian and Cara Delevingne as his partner Laureline. It is based on the French comic book series Valérian and Laureline, which was first published in 1967, with a final installment released in 2010. A decorated and influential series in European pop culture, its impact can be felt here as well, where echoes of the series’ ideas can apparently be found in other science fiction films and franchises such as Star Wars.Read More »

Movie Review – Spider-Man: Homecoming

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IMDB Summary

Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May, under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark, Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

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Spider-Man: Homecoming, directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, is the sixteenth and latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It is the second appearance of Spider-Man in the MCU, but his first feature. Once again we have a reboot of Spider-Man on film. It’s hard not to understand the cynicism around that, considering this is the second reboot in the span of a decade, and the third interpretation. Despite this, I’ve never felt that negatively about it. I love the character generally, his appearance in Captain America: Civil War last year was promising, and his joining the MCU pretty much guaranteed for me this film was going to be a unique take on him.Read More »

Movie Review – It Comes At Night

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IMDB Summary

Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.

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It Comes At Night is a 2017 psychological horror film written and directed by Trey Edward Shults. It was a movie I’d heard little about going in, other than a trailer and the look of the poster. It was the title along with the poster (above) that particularly enticed me. What I got from the movie wasn’t what I expected.Read More »

Movie Review – Wonder Woman

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IMDB Summary

Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when a pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers and her true destiny.

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Wonder Woman is the latest DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot as Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman. Though the latest in this cinematic universe, this film chronologically takes place much longer before the others, almost entirely detached from the modern day concerns of the films we’ve seen thus far.Read More »

Movie Review – Alien: Covenant

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IMDB Summary

The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

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Alien: Covenant is a new sci-fi horror film directed by Ridley Scott. It is the follow-up to his 2012 film Prometheus, and is a part of the Alien franchise. Like many other fans of the franchise I was excited to see that this film would once again star the iconic creature we’ve come to fear and love. The alien was a little missed in Prometheus, but there was still a lingering concern for me that the xenomorph’s involvement would be largely superficial. It was looking like this film would explore the origin of the creature too, which had promise thanks to the groundwork laid in the previous film, but was also a risky prospect.Read More »

Movie Review – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

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IMDB Summary

Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage.

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While I do very much enjoy how interconnected the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is, there’s something to be said about the independence of the Guardians of the Galaxy films. They have loose threads that lead back to the rest of the MCU, with the team presumably going against Thanos alongside the Avengers next year, but more than any other Marvel film they are able to do their own thing, far away from Earthly concerns.Read More »

Movie Review – Logan

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Logan, directed by James Mangold, is the tenth and latest installment in the X-Men series of films and the third in a trilogy specifically focused on Wolverine. The film stars Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan and Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, each actor said to be reprising these roles for the final time. Set in the year 2029, mutants are all but wiped out; there hasn’t been a new one born in 25 years. Logan, formerly Wolverine of the X-Men, is aged substantially as a result of his miraculous healing abilities degrading. Along with the mutant Caliban (Stephen Merchant) he works as a limo driver to help care for Xavier, who suffers from a neurodegenerative disorder in his advanced age. Coasting along through this meagre existence Logan gets caught up escorting Laura (Dafne Keen) — a young girl being hunted by a shadowy organization — across country to safety in North Dakota.Read More »

Movie Review – John Wick: Chapter 2

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John Wick: Chapter 2 is a 2017 neo-noir action thriller, directed by Chad Stahelski and starring Keanu Reeves once again as the titular character. Following the conclusion of the first film, John tracks down his stolen car to a chop shop run by Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare), the brother and uncle of the antagonists in the first film. After making “peace” John tries to return to a normal life, only to be visited by Italian crime lord Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), who sees John’s recent rampage as an opportunity to collect upon a blood oath that John swore to him many years prior. Unable to refuse, despite wanting to, John is thrust back into the world of killing and carnage with hopes to free himself and return to a quieter life once again.Read More »

Movie Review – John Wick

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John Wick is a 2014 neo-noir action thriller film, directed by Chad Stahelski and starring Keanu Reeves as the titular character. Having lost his wife to an unknown illness, ex-hitman John Wick receives a beagle puppy named Daisy as a surprise parting gift from her so he does not have to grieve alone. After driving around with the puppy all day, he is followed home by a group of punks led by Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), who break into his house, knock John unconscious, and kill Daisy before stealing his car. This act of cruelty brings John out of retirement, unleashing a torrent of vengeance upon the men that wronged him.Read More »

Dissecting my Feelings on Rogue One

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a highly-anticipated film, and its plain to see why. It works hard to recapture the look and feel of the original trilogy, being set just before the events of A New Hope, and it promised a grittier, more war-torn take on the franchise. Force-users and the Jedi are largely absent, instead giving us a better look at everyday combatants in the Rebellion and the insurmountable tasks they had to accomplish against a vast Empire.Read More »