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Review of Andrew Stanton’s John Carter
John Carter's closest recent parallel is probably Kenneth Branagh's Thor, in that both films feature fantasy concepts that a contemporary, mainstream audience may find hard to swallow. Thor pulled it off by presenting its world up front and delivering it all straight-faced instead of resorting to eye-rolling irony or tortured attempts to retcon the source material. The subject matter was treated respectfully and helped to put the audience in an accepting frame of mind. John Carter fumbles this just a little. With clunky lines such as "You can't just bow down to Zodanga!", unmemorable character names and a marketing campaign that blinked, you're left with a film that's occasionally difficult to swallow. Get past that and you're left with an enjoyable and good-looking action flick with solid performances and some great set-pieces. →
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Review of Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tomas Alfredson's slow-burning, balletic adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is rich in atmosphere, dripping with character and repressed emotion. →
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Kick-Ass doesn’t change anything
Kick-Ass has had the cinema-going public dribbling a bit too much for my liking. It may be an enjoyable comic film, with an average rating of 8.8 on IMDB at the moment, but it's not nearly as genre-busting as some would have us believe. →