Articles by:

Alex Mullane

‘Ghost Stories’ play review

Ghost Stories, Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s horror-themed stage show, does its absolute best to put the fear in to you long before you take your seats. The website warns that those of a nervous disposition or with a weak heart ought to steer clear; the theatre itself is decked out in ominous fashion, with … >

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‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ movie review

At the exact moment Jason Bourne was fished out of the Mediterranean Sea, in Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity in 2002, the action genre changed. Gone were the campy villains, the outlandish set-pieces and the idealised heroes. Instead came a gritty, crunching realism, that was, at the time, refreshing. But in Jason Bourne’s wake came … >

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‘The Equalizer’ movie review

It was well over a decade ago that Antoine Fuqua’s gritty, intense and shocking police-action film Training Day propelled Denzel Washington to an Acadamy Award and straight into the A-list. Their screen-fortunes have been mixed in the time that’s elapsed since, but with The Equalizer, we’re treated to a long over-due reunion between director and … >

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‘The Woman in Black: Angel of Death’ movie review

The Woman in Black, 2012’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s book of the same name, was an authentically creepy and pleasingly old-fashioned ghost story, hampered somewhat by a poor lead character and an unconvincing performance from Daniel Radcliffe. The Woman in Black: Angel of Death suffers a reverse of the first instalment’s fortunes, boasting as it … >

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‘The Babadook’ movie review

Hallowe’en is fast approaching, and as is tradition, cinemas flood themselves with horror films to mark the occasion. Front-runner this season is Australian horror The Babadook. If it sounds like a children’s film, that’s the idea. The plot follows widowed mother Amelia, a nurse who’s struggling to raise her hyperactive, behaviourally challenged six year old … >

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Gotham

‘Gotham’ preview: Channel 5’s new Batman prequel drama

This is truly the age of the superhero. Not only do they dominate the comics industry, but the biggest films of the year invariably involve genetically/mystically/technologically/alien enhanced people punching one another. Even TV isn’t safe, what with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and DC’s Arrow – soon to be followed up with a The Flash spin-off … >

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‘Into the Storm’ movie review

Into the Storm is, in many ways, a film that feels overdue. For years now it seems that every time you turn on the news, Mother Nature is battering some corner of the Earth, be it hurricanes in the U.S., typhoons in the Pacific or earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan. The footage that news reports … >

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‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ press conference highlights

Guardians of the Galaxy represents a step into the left-field for Marvel and the burgeoning super-hero genre in general. Featuring a bunch of heroes (and that’s a term that should be used fairly loosely when it comes to this group) that most people have never heard of before, Guardians of the Galaxy is Marvel’s chance … >

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‘The Purge: Anarchy’ movie review

The Purge – 2013’s horror/thriller about a near-future America, where on one night a year, for twelve hours, virtually all crime is legal – was a frustrating experience. It boasted an intriguing premise, but failed to build upon it, instead focussing in on one (uninteresting) family in a fairly generic house-under-siege plot, and featuring an … >

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‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movie review

Guardians of the Galaxy is a strange entry into the Marvel canon. Based on a lesser known comic franchise, and featuring such an outlandish group of characters as a genetically engineered, gun totting raccoon and a sentient tree, it’s something of a wonder that it got made at all, let alone into a big-budget, tent-pole … >

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