Two hipsters meet at a party. Both are a bit awkward but in an appealingly cutesy, rather than “bust-stop weirdo”, way. They have an instant connection. She already has a boyfriend. Indie soundtrack and twee animations ensue. It’s so easy to be dismissive of What If, a movie that tries incredibly hard to present itself … >
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 … >
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 … >
Ideally, in a romantic comedy, you should want the leads to get together at the end of the film. There should be romance. There should be comedy. We’ll Never Has Paris is occasionally funny. It is also based on a true story. ‘Unfortunately’ the title card informs us, and that’s certainly true. Written by and … >
Matt Reeves’ sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an involving story of power, fear and the struggle for peace. But the real star here – and indeed, the crowning glory of this year’s Hollywood blockbusters – is the breathtaking CGI. A decade on from the events of the previous film, … >
Hollywood’s favourite hack Michael Bay returns to tarnish the childhood memories of Transformers fans once again, with Transformers: Age of Extinction. Bay’s third sequel to 2007’s Transformers does very little to appease fans and make up for past mistakes, instead preferring to further bastardise and cheapen the beloved 80’s cartoon franchise, anger and disappoint expectant … >
John Carney’s Once became the sort of Cinderella story Hollywood would jump on in a heartbeat. Costing less than the average London flat, the Irish underdog went on to win acclaim from audiences and critics alike (and an Oscar for Best Song), before transmogrifying into one of the hottest tickets in the West End musical … >
Bong Joon-ho’s first English language film, based on a French graphic novel, is reminiscent of Jean Pierre-Jeunet and Terry Gilliam (indeed, John Hurt’s character is called Gilliam), and much like a train builds up momentum as it goes, peaking with about ten minutes to go before coming to a halt. As the clunky exposition captions … >
Gia Coppola’s debut film is ambient, almost indolent teen drama that features sparks of wit, but ultimately is too laidback for its own good, and fails to distinguish itself. Based on James Franco’s short stories, it’s also going to suffer from the stigma of Franco’s appearance in the film as ‘a handsome soccer coach’ (to … >
Fresh, funny and packed with thrills, The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman’s new time-twisting sci-fi epic is a rare thing: an action blockbuster that doesn’t feel like bored rehashing of films that have gone before. Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is a smarmy government official and the appealingly handsome face of Earth’s resistance effort against … >