After nearly six months, I finally returned to the cinema to see the most cinema worthy film. Huge practical action, a mind-boggling premise and a huge amount of noise, ‘Tenet’ is as Nolan as Nolan gets. To say anything about ‘Tenet’ is to potentially give away spoilers best discovered on the screen, so simply stated … Continue reading “All I have for you is a word…” (Tenet review)
Tag: Special Effects
“Time is the enemy…” (1917 review)
After practicing with the opening sequence of Spectre, director Sam Mendes brings us a relentless WWI film that appears to all take place in one shot. A breathtakingly visceral film, it proves what an accomplished voice in cinema Sam Mendes is.
“I Heard You Paint Houses” (The Irishman review)
Years in the making and decades in the narrative, The Irishman (titled onscreen as “I Heard You Paint Houses”) is Martin Scorsese’s latest epic crime drama, telling the life and confessions of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. Though it doesn’t feel it’s 3 ½ hour run time and the drama is beefy enough to fill it, it also never feels like enough excitement or emotion occurs within the film to justify it’s length.
Petrol-fuelled race drama is an absolute gas (Le Mans ’66 review)
After playing Dick Chaney in Vice, Christian Bale has now lost all that weight to star alongside Matt Damon in a film about racing. You’ve gotta love Bale for his diversity in choosing projects, but he clearly has a keen eye for greatness because this film, which sports some phenomenal racing sequences, is absolutely fantastic.
Near-Terminated franchise makes decent comeback (Terminator: Dark Fate)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day has long been one of my favourite films. Its action, its emotion and its CGI are all stunning for its age, and upon countless re-watches it still holds up as one of the greatest films ever made. The team behind Terminator: Dark Fate clearly noticed that, and decided to try duplicating that film. What’s left is a fairly enjoyable action flick with none of the flair of the originals.
Daddy Issues… In Space (Ad Astra review)
In 2019’s answer to the endless popularity of Space Exploration films, ‘Ad Astra’ presents a poetic narrative that wouldn’t be out of place in ‘2001’. In Brad Pitt’s second film of the year, he voyages away from 1969 and into the near distant future to tell a story of hope, determination and fatherhood.
Building Tension isn’t paid off (Mortal Engines review)
Produced by Peter Jackson, Mortal Engines is a film about giant cities on wheels that drive around and attack one another. While the bizarre concept is perfect Peter Jackson territory, this fantasy adaptation spoils its fantastic special effects with a cliché screenplay, poor performances and a lack of interesting personality.
Practical-ly perfect film-making (Pans Labyrinth review)
An enjoyable gothic fairy tale with some stunning practical effects, and some awful CGI effects (click to read more)