Another week, another countdown set to 15 minutes, ticking down the time to disaster. Except, in Ant-Man and the Wasp, the stakes are rather lower than in other recent blockbusters. A human tragedy is risked, yes, but one involving at most a handful of victims. Scott Lang, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, is under house arrest, as … Continue reading Ant-Man and the Wasp
Film
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Summer blockbusters are by no means a dying breed; if anything, the weight of action dross is ever-growing. Yet quality products are starting to feel rare. With his latest Mission: Impossible film Tom Cruise sprints full-bore into that welcoming niche. This is a spy caper par excellence, stunting its way through cynical hangups. Cruise returns … Continue reading Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Sometimes you simply have to go along with the ride. Mamma Mia! was critically reviled upon its release in 2008, yet stormed the UK box office in outlandish fashion. It still sits a hair outside the all-time British top 10, so a follow-up effort is far from surprising commercially. Here We Go Again is in … Continue reading Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Incredibles 2
It can be difficult, on a nostalgic and intuitive level, to criticise Pixar for their attitude to franchises they created and realised with generally breath-taking skill and wit. Yet watching Incredibles 2, despite moments of visual excellence and lacerating irony, one can conclude that they simply don’t know best. This is not a bad film; … Continue reading Incredibles 2
Skyscraper
With a somewhat refreshing simplicity at its core and a generously quick pace, Skyscraper is as big and stupid as its titular building, and similarly just about avoids major disaster. The Rock’s box office pull has seemed undeniable in recent months, propping up the mediocre Jumanji and Rampage. In Skyscraper he is Will Sawyer, retired hostage rescuer and family man. In a … Continue reading Skyscraper
Sicario 2: Soldado
The ending of 2015’s taut, stressful Sicario did not make a clear play for sequels. Operations were completed, lines were crossed and the US’s border policy was thoroughly problematised. Yet in 2018, with that policy once again forcefully disputed, Sicario 2: Soldado slinks into play, offering another look at just how grim things can get on the Texan threshold. … Continue reading Sicario 2: Soldado
Hereditary
Greeted in some quarters as the second coming of the horror genre, Hereditary is a largely taut, occasionally glib chiller. Its insistence on suspense over and above shock is a refreshing, classical tactic that pays off well. After the death of her aged mother, Toni Collette's Annie is struggling to hold her family together. Her career as … Continue reading Hereditary
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Like a T-Rex impotently scrabbling its undersized arms, unable to reach the handle to flush its waste away, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom fails to overcome its own terrible design. This is a loud and overlong chore, with a potentially watchable movie buried deep in its first act. Bryce Dallas Howard returns as Claire, brazenly character-tweaked into a … Continue reading Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Solo: A Star Wars Story
After directorial swapping and rumours (or outright reports) of production issues, Han Solo swaggers onto our screens again – or is that a limp? Ron Howard’s rescue job is a creditable and, most importantly, likable affair, but it drags in places and shows its seams in others. Alden Ehrenreich (you’ll know him from Hail, Caesar! or not … Continue reading Solo: A Star Wars Story
Revenge
Revenge is a film in two parts - a hyper-saturated nightmare followed by a bleached and ultraviolent fever dream. Its politics are straightforwardly progressive and its rage deeply felt. What it lacks in substance it largely accounts for in style, and certainly in venom. Jen (Matilda Lutz) is an apparently callow young woman, the beautiful consort … Continue reading Revenge
