Based on the hugely successful Swedish thriller novels, ‘The Girl in The Spiders Web’ is the latest adaptation of Lisbeth Salander’s adventures. The first in the series, ‘The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo’, opened in 2011 and was directed by David Fincher. A stunningly powerful piece, it set a towering bar that unfortunately is not met by this by-the-numbers action thriller.
‘Widows’ has a ridiculous caliber of talent behind it. It’s directed by Steve McQueen, Oscar winning director of 12 Years a Slave. It’s written by Gillian Flynn, author and screenwriter of ‘Gone Girl’. It stars (among many others) Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya and Liam Neeson, and has music by Hans Zimmer. It’s no surprise that with this amount of talent, a great film has been made. However, it does sometimes miss the heights of which it promises.
Gerard Butler hasn’t got a great track record for film making. While his films are generally enjoyable, they are on a critical level often quite shallow and badly done. Unfortunately, Hunter Killer is another example of this, as the submarine thriller begins to sink.
Damien Chazelle, Oscar winning director of La La Land is back. Ditching the songs in favour of grand practical effects, First Man tells the inspirational story of how NASA managed to land a man on the Moon, and how that affected Neil Armstrong’s wife and family back home.
Drew Goddard, writer/director of 'Cabin in The Woods', is one of the highest regarded writers working at the moment. After scripting ‘World War Z’ and ‘The Martian’ (for which he was Oscar nominated), he returns to the director’s chair with his latest project, 'Bad Times at the El Royale'. After hitting us in the face with a darkly intriguing opening, Goddard takes the audience on a brilliantly entertaining and fantastically crafted journey of coincidence, misfortune and nasty occurrences.
Director Paul Feig is back after hits like Bridesmaids and Spy. Known for his comedies, this is his first attempt at a Thriller. Tragically, his attempts at ditching comedy aren't entirely successful, and instead this film becomes a hybrid of the two where either the jokes come in the way of the suspenseful mystery, or vice versa.
Plans (and desires) for a standalone Joker movie have been rife for many years. Those plans will finally be coming to fruition in October of next year when Todd Phillips takes the directing and co-writing job on ‘Joker’ (catchy title). With Joaquin Phoenix’s first make-up test being released, I thought I’d look into what we know about what is already one of the most anticipated films of 2019.
Telling a shockingly true story of four friends planning to rob their university library of a book worth $8 million, American Animals is the heist film this year deserved after letting us down with Oceans 8. Combining documentary and drama into one fantastic film, American Animals is a triumph.
When it was announced that Sony were producing a thriller film shot entirely on phone and laptop screens, I was initially skeptical. It seemed to be a gimmick that was being used as the next level of ‘found footage’ movies, like 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Cloverfield'. How wrong I was, because this unique premise has been perfectly executed. Not since Gone Girl has there been such a deviously gripping thriller.
The Spy Who Dumped Me, with the clue in its name, is a Spy Action Comedy. However, it is actually not a comedy due to it having no funny jokes. I also would suggest that a spy flick needs espionage, thrills and believable plot twists. It doesn't count just because your lead characters are CIA agents. So now it's just an action film. And boy is it a rubbish action film.
Daniel Robinson: From Reel to Real 