For decades, Ridley Scott and James Cameron circled around the idea of a 5th Alien movie. Rumours abound of what this would have been – there was talk of a script written by Cameron and directed by Scott which saw Ripley following the alien to its source, or finally reaching the xenomorph home planet. Weaver … Continue reading
Tag Archives: review
Thoughts on Stranger Things
If you grew up watching movies in the 80s and 90s, then you’ve already seen Stranger Things. Try this: It’s 1983. In a leafy, non-descript American suburb, a shady government agency accidentally open a portal to another dimension, unleashing a mysterious monster which picks locals off in the woods. One of these locals is Will … Continue reading
The Witch: Review
Whilst mainstream horror seems to be getting progressively worse, the indie scene is going from strength to strength, with creative and exciting new directors turning their hands to genre flicks and making some modern classics. Recently, The Babadook, It Follows, The Innkeepers, Goodnight Mommy, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, have all proved … Continue reading
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
It’s easy to list what’s wrong with the prequel trilogy – poor characters and non-existent character development, nonsensical and boring political plots, over use of CGI and green-screen – but harder to pinpoint why they went wrong. Looking back on the whole saga, it seems the original movies were probably more of a collective effort … Continue reading
SPECTRE – Spoiler Review
Casino Royale pulled the Bond template apart to start fresh, giving us a raw and unpolished Bond in a world without gadgets and eccentric villains. The suggestion then was that this was the new Bond, the serious, semi-realistic and edgy Bond; the Bond for the 2000s. Then we got Skyfall, which ended on very familiar … Continue reading
It Follows: Review
Horror seems to be going through something of a renaissance this century. After the slasher-heavy cheapness of the 80s, the irony of the 90s, and the influx of remakes and misguided torture porn movies of the early 2000s, it seems that the horror movie is finally back on form. A quick search of modern classics … Continue reading
Thoughts on Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5
It actually happened then. For those who don’t know, a couple of months ago District 9 director Neill Blomkamp leaked a series of concept art pieces he’d developed for a future Alien movie. The images, showing an older Ripley and Hicks, an alien Queen, and some impressive world design, were not affiliated with 20th Century … Continue reading
The Innkeepers: Review
Ti West has emerged as one of the most interesting horror directors working today, though his films remain polarising for fans of the genre. West has developed a particular, steady style which takes the slowburn narrative to its extremes, and some find this approach dull. It could be argued that his movies contain a whole … Continue reading
James Bond Retrospective: Thunderball
By 1965, Bond was unstoppable. Goldfinger had made EON a lot of money and solidified the Bond formula; at this point, the series was well established as a franchise, and audiences wanted more. What they got was Thunderball. On paper, Thunderball could have been perfect. Ian Fleming wrote the book with the movie in mind, … Continue reading
James Bond Retrospective: Die Another Day
And here we reach the complete nadir of the franchise. Yes, there’s been bad Bonds before – Diamonds are Forever, A View to a Kill, Octopussy – but none that have been quite as insulting as Die Another Day. Most of the bad Bonds have at least one redeeming feature – a great location, a … Continue reading