Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
Gavin Hood’s Eye In the Sky is a film with a lot of questions, however, not necessarily one that is willing to provide answers. Much like last years rather overlooked Good Kill it puts drones at the centre of its plot. Unlike that film, this doesn’t just focus on the pilots but every other step up the ladder in the decision-making process as well.
Some decisions just make sense, and it is impossible to go through the cast list of The Jungle Book without thinking, ‘damn, that makes sense.’ From Bill Murray as Baloo to Christopher Walken as King Louie it just works. The question is can Jon Favreau’s attempt at a ‘live-action’ (in reality the only live-action element is Neel Sethi as Mowgli) Disney classic live up to such an illustrious cast?
Only four films into his career Jeff Nichols has set himself up as a man to watch. The southern drawl of Mud played a big part in Matthew McConaughey’s renaissance and at the age of 37, he could lay claim to being one of the most intriguing directors to come out of America in a while. Midnight Special is his most ambitious film to date and sees him taking a step into science fiction.
Eddie The Eagle is a classic British legend. A man who went to the Olympics and was a bit rubbish and off the back of that became a national hero. It taps into that British love of a trier, and you can bet that most people would think of him long before they got round to actually successful Olympians. It is strange then that it has taken this long for his story to reach the big screen.
Since Disney’s acquisition of Pixar and the hiring of John Lassiter their animation department has gone through a bit of a resurgence. Everyone is aware of the phenomenon that is Frozen but around that films like Big Hero Six have shown an ability to move away from the classic Disney formula. To be added to that realm is Zootropolis (known as Zootopia in America) a film set in an animal utopia.
Few filmmakers could be attached to a film based on a J.G. Ballard novel and seem a natural fit. However, very few filmmakers are Ben Wheatley. Now five films into his career, he has already shown an unbelievable talent for taken twisted ideas and turning them into magic. If anything, it would be insane for him not to direct High–Rise.
10 Cloverfield Lane is – among other things – a piece of marketing genius. Originally conceived under the title of The Cellar, JJ Abrams’ production company Bad Robot noticed thematic similarities to Cloverfield and changed the title to reflect this. Suddenly, a movie which could very easily have come out and been completely ignored had a bit of buzz behind it. Dan Trachtenberg’s debut film was all set to be a hit.
The Witch is the latest film to be granted the dubious distinction of being poorly advertised to the wider world. With adverts setting it up as the most recent jump scare heavy mainstream horror, the reality is nothing of the sort. While undeniably creepy, this film lacks the scares that said trailer seems to promise, which, by the way, is a good thing.
You could probably make a claim for there being two types of people in the world, those who are interested in an Icelandic sheep farming comedy and those who aren’t. If you fall into the first category then the arrival of Rams most seem like blessed relief, as most years the genre is criminally underserved. Iceland’s submission to the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Picture is on paper an unusual proposition, but to dismiss it is to miss out on a smart and dry piece of humour.
Hail, Caesar! takes you back to the golden era of Hollywood and much like that time, revels in the ridiculous. The Cohen’s latest film has been sold as a screwball comedy, but in reality, it is an almost historical pastiche of an era where everything had to bigger and louder than what had come before. When the movie industry tackled Jesus and tap-dancing sailors rather than superheroes and Liam Neeson punching foreign people.
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