Tag: Movie Reviews

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 »

Movie Review – Arrival

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Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is a 2016 science fiction film based on the short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. The film stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. Twelve extraterrestrial spacecraft appear in seemingly random places across the globe. Louise Banks (Adams), a linguist, is asked by US Army Colonel Weber (Whitaker) to join a team at the site of a craft’s landing in the middle of rural Montana to determine what it is these alien beings want. Accompanied by theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Renner), Louise makes contact with two of the beings on their ship and begins the arduous task of deciphering their written language.Read More »

Movie Review – Doctor Strange

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Doctor Strange is the latest film produced by Marvel Studios, directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The film follows Dr. Stephen Strange, a supremely talented surgeon who permanently injures his hands in a car accident, effectively ending his career. After trying everything that modern medicine has to offer, exhausting his fortune in the process, he turns to more mystical sources after meeting a man with a permanent spine injury who miraculously regained the ability to walk. He directs Strange to seek a place called Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he begins training in the mystical arts under the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Through her tutelage he begins learning how to magically travel great distances, cast spells, and manipulate reality.Read More »

Movie Review – Don’t Breathe

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IMDB Summary

Rocky, a young woman wanting to start a better life for her and her sister, agrees to take part in the robbery of a house owned by a wealthy blind man with her boyfriend Money and their friend Alex. But when the blind man turns out to be a more ruthless adversary than he seems, the group must find a way to escape his home before they become his newest victims.

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Directed by Fede Alvarez and starring Jane Levy, Stephen Lang, Dylan Minnette and Danial Zovatto, Don’t Breathe is an American horror thriller film released on August 26, 2016.

Before I knew anything about the film I noticed its unassuming poster at the theatre. It caught my eye, but otherwise seemed to be generic horror movie fare. As can uncannily happen, however, soon afterwards I started to hear a lot of the buzz that the movie started generating. This got my butt into a theatre seat and I am very happy with how things turned out.Read More »

Movie Review – Batman: The Killing Joke

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IMDB Summary

As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness.

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Batman: The Killing Joke is the highly anticipated animated adaptation of the famous 1988 one-shot graphic novel of the same name. Originally written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland, the story tells what many consider to be the definitive origin of The Joker, exploring the character’s psychology and drawing upon the similarities between him and Batman. This adaptation is written by Brian Azzarello and directed by Sam Liu.Read More »