JyroJyro

An excellent presentation of how the Climate Crisis has been addressed in the past 20 years. Our obsession with material wealth, power, social media and hedonistic desires are all bluntly represented through each of the talented actors on screen.

Disappointing overall. Weak character development and a number of ridiculous 'get out of jail free' moments almost obscure the weird realisation that there isn't actually a main plot to this movie. I did find it to be amusing in places though, and Adam Driver is excellent as the seriously unstable Kylo Ren.

An auditory & visual masterpiece that stays true to the original film whilst also feeling suitably futuristic and nuanced in a number of different ways. I did feel it was a little too ponderous at times, but this is still a seriously mesmerising sequel from Villeneuve.

Hilariously silly plot, hilariously bad script. Fortunately, the talent of Jackson & Reynolds is fully utilised with their snappy relationship/consistent clash of personalities.

Despite being inferior to the novel that it is based upon, there is a definite display of creative ingenuity within the screenplay at times (e.g. the recurring astronaut metaphor). Unfortunately, it is the cringe-worthy lack of chemistry between the two leads that is most frustrating, along with the total implausibility of the final 30 minutes.

It was a good choice to pitch Peter Parker as a teenager, as his youthful naivety and enthusiasm is rarely seen in the Marvel movies. An entertainingly menacing villain and some brilliantly engineered action scenes offset the predictably convenient ending.

It's rare to find a movie as subtly innovative & original as Baby Driver, especially when the musical nostalgia is this consistently strong. The opening scene is especially glorious, and sets a new benchmark for modern cinema to compete with.

Gal Galdot isn't exactly a great actress, but the rest of the film excellently offsets this casting flaw. There is a certain sense of authenticity and trepidation to particular scenes (reflecting the real consequences of WW1), and ultimately it vastly triumphs the two previous DCEU movies in both the screenplay & action scenes.

The songs aren't great and Beast has the appearance of a second grade Chewbacca, but I left with a half smile on my face. This was mostly due to the brilliant casting of Emma Watson, but also the screenplay being so hauntingly spellbinding in particular scenes. Unfortunately, I feel it's just being a little too lazy in its attempt to copy the original so closely.

Apart from being stupidly cliche, everything is beautifully seamless in La La Land. The emotions flicker through the seasons, the songs skip & drag with the characters mood, and both Gosling & Stone deliver the performance of a lifetime. Everything is a metaphor in this silly, soulful throwback to Hollywood's infatuation with hope & desire.

A near-pointless addition to the Star Wars franchise notwithstanding, this is actually a brilliantly competent action movie. Jones & Mendelsohn are great, rinsing everything they could from the rather lacking script, and the cinematography is frequently stunning. Oh, and that final Darth Vader scene is a true pleasure.

A surprisingly original & thought provoking take on loneliness and human weakness... that is until the final act disembowels the original premise and becomes completely generic. Interestingly, it isn't a particularly good sci-fi or romance film, but it succeeds as something else completely.

Despite a great cast, the film flounders in almost all areas. It's simply trying too hard to be funny (although what can you expect with such a ridiculously dull premise). A few chuckles arose from the eventual mayhem, but there really isn't anything of substance here.

Disney has struck gold here! The visuals, the music and the sense of adventure are all wonderfully presented in a colourful conglomeration. It doesn't follow a particularly groundbreaking narrative but everything somehow feels sea-air fresh.

Arrival is a beautifully enthralling sci-fi thriller, which masterfully balances an actually intelligent 'alien invasion' story with heart-wrenching emotion. Amy Adams is sensational.

It's a perfectly acceptable barrage of glittery insanity which offers the occasional funny joke. The story feels very formulaic but that is forgivable given the enthusiasm that every line is delivered (whether it be spoken or sung!).

It's a weird blend of childish silliness and gritty seriousness but it just about fits. A charming world with an array of equally charming (and uncomplicated) characters.

The stylish explosion of reality bending visuals in Doctor Strange is truly awe-inspiring, and manages to successfully offset the generic 'world is about to be destroyed' storyline. It's also genuinely funny.

Slow, fairly dull, and a central story that is depressingly generic - it is only partially saved by the inspired acting of Cruise & Yarosh. The action scenes were great even if the villain wasn't.

A surprisingly successful third outing for Bridget Jones, as pregnancy related hilarities ensue. It's a little too rooted in 'cringe' comedy to be consistently funny, despite the decent performances of the main cast. A fairly safe but satisfying end to the trilogy.

An inventive & occasionally funny foray into the animated feature universe. The pace of the film is mind-numbingly chaotic at times, although this will likely appeal to the target audience (as will the slapstick comedy).

A sincerely creepy & tense thriller which masterfully uses the sensation of futility and claustrophobia to generate the fear. The characters and their backstories are fairly one-dimensional, but Stephen Lang's portrayal as their unhinged adversary redeems the rest of the cast.

It's another colourless zombie movie littered with zombie clichés, but the moral dilemmas that haunt the latter part of the film are clever & intriguing.

Kubo and the Two Strings is a breathtakingly profound adventure of love & life. Bolstering a beautiful story, excellent voice acting and a particularly heart-wrenching soundtrack, it is genuinely one of the best films I have seen for a while. The ending is a little emotionally incoherent but is still delivered with a touch of magic.

A rather dull remake that makes the fatal mistake of following too closely to the original story, whilst simultaneously failing to deliver it in a comparably epic way.

Like much of Seth Rogan's work - mildly amusing, but mostly just crude and over-cluttered with sex jokes. The premise was great, the finished product is a little lazy.

Bad Moms falls short of ever being laugh-out-loud hilarious, instead relying on the rebellious tale **** friendship that develops from the acceptance of personal parental flaws. The cast have great chemistry but the story isn't memorable.

A somewhat lazily written fourth outing for Matt Damon as Bourne, which capitalises a little too much on his frowning face & troubled backstory rather than an actually refreshing sequel. He's still badass nonetheless, and that insane Las Vegas chase scene is truly magnificent.

The Shallows is a tense & energetic B-movie throwback to shark hysteria, in which Blake Lively surprises us all through her decent performance as a semi-naked sea prisoner. It's a very simple plot though, and one that has been done a thousand times before.

Dory is an heartfelt & enjoyable sequel with some wonderful voice acting (especially from DeGeneres). The somewhat thin plot is well written as to last almost 2 hours, but you can't shake the feeling that they were capitalising on the popularity of the first film for this to be such a financial success.

An interesting premise that aims to appease both social media addicts and those who despise social media. The script is cliché and the acting is pretty awkward, but you'll be too distracted by the dizzying pace of events to even notice most of the time.

The brilliant visual presentation of Suicide Squad is unfortunately not enough to counter the clumsy mangling of generic backstories and the underwhelming/unintelligent central plot. Margot Robbie does well to outshine the rest of the cast by some margin.

Spielberg fails to create anything of real magic here, but taken purely as a old-fashioned children's tale it is befitting and works nicely. Mark Rylance is impressive (as always).

A likeable continuation of the Star Trek reboot franchise. Nothing new on show here, but the ensemble characters (beyond Kirk & Spock) are developed further, even if the exploration side of things isn't. The script is well written with the cheeky quips continuing to amuse.

The cheesy half-witted feminist humour plagues this poorly written *remake*, although the enthusiasm of the new cast nearly redeems the script. Very disappointing when compared to the original...

Whilst the chemistry and humour between Dwayne Johnson & Kevin Hart is brilliant, the lazy action sequences and monotonous story isn't quite as appealing. It is far better as a comedy than it is an action film.

I'm genuinely surprised this film made it past the editing studio. Forced jokes, shallow characters and cringe worthy acting from the ageing cast. 'Absolutely' awful.

A trivial sequel that aims to impress the viewer by baffling them with a strange array of goofy tricks and comedy cheese. Its certainly ridiculous, but also occasionally enjoyable as the ensemble cast try their upmost to be as silly as the film.

A trip through the jungle that is far too long and far too obsessed with classic clichés. In saying this though, Christopher Waltz actually plays a rather brilliant cliché bad guy. Despite some excellent cinematography (the opening scene is especially gorgeous), the preposterous ending ruined all sense of seriousness that the film was attempting to invoke.

An incredibly cheesy script and unoriginal plot are the biggest hinderances here as the jaw-droppingly amazing CGI does little to disguise the fact this is essentially a second-rate remake of the original Independence Day.

Despite some hilariously out of place one-liners, the story is just too infuriatingly bonkers & the dodgy CGI looks several millennia out of date. The worst part of it all is the ending - which hints eagerly at a sequel.

A strong cast is wasted on this somewhat forgettable endeavour. With a pretty straightforward plot, the film manages to somehow straddle a near impossible line between serious comedy and carefree thriller.

Me Before You seems to be every tragic love story rolled into one largely goofy teenage rom-com. There was the occasional funny moment, but the weak chemistry & acting of the two leads spoiled anything that could have come from the thought provoking premise of this story.

The Nice Guys is the latest endeavour to join the recent bandwagon of films and TV shows set in the 70's - and it is a great display of middle-aged nostalgia triumphing over present-day youth lunacy. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling have a surprising amount of chemistry here, and it's entertaining to watch the understated hilarity ensue. Its just a shame the central story is so forgettable.

If you completely ignore the fact that this is based on the video game 'Warcraft', this is a pretty decent fantasy/action film that takes several stylistic cues from Tolkien's movie adaptations. Unfortunately, the story is quite hard to follow and the acting is absurdly bad. This is a film that needed to take itself less seriously to succeed.

The young X-Men characters' backstories were brilliant here, and Fassbender delivers another amazingly sincere performance as the troubled Magneto - but the plot is just too sluggish and familiar. With an almost pathetically benign villain taking centre stage, it was always going to be difficult for this X-Men film to deliver.

It appears the genders have simply been flipped in this hit/miss sequel, where the crude jokes fly fast and the laughter is few & far between. The story isn't really original considering the first film, and it is often flaunting an annoyingly inconspicuous grab for feminist based humour. It was however saved in part, thanks to the light-heartedness of Seth Rogan & Rose Bryne's characters and their questionable parenting techniques.

Some brilliant fight scenes between an ensemble of very different characters and a surprisingly thought-provoking story is countered with the **** reminder that we have essentially seen this kind of movie multiple times over the past few years.

A haunting movie at times, highlighting the inadequacies of drone warfare and its tendency to create collateral damage. Often slightly repetitive, although I admit it is difficult to maintain tension with this kind of story. Helen Mirren is awesome - playing a convincingly believable emotionless colonel.

The concept of this movie is simply ludicrous but Kevin Costner seems to believe in it - in fact, he is the best feature of this strangely undecided sci-fi/thriller/espionage film. There was tremendous leeway for ethical issues to be explored here, and in that sense it is a slightly missed opportunity.