A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.
Review
This is a turn-your-brain-off and just-enjoy-the-ride kind of movie. There are some intense moments, some extreme violence, shootouts, hand-to-hand combat, hostages and rocket launchers.
Gerard Bulter plays a commercial aircraft pilot turned action hero in a role he has become all too familiar with. Forced to fly through a storm, he safely ditches on a remote lawless island. He needs to protect his passengers while keeping a dangerous criminal under control and fighting off the attacks from the savage militia. Everything is over-the-top and the cinematography is a little bland, but it gets your heart racing from one escape to the next.
On an uninhabitable 22nd-century Earth, the outcome of a civil war hinges on cloning the brain of an elite soldier to create a robot mercenary.
Review
This is a frustrating movie from the director of the fun zombie action movie Train to Busan. It starts off with some fast-paced action where a lone female fighter faces an onslaught of highly sophisticated mechanical robots. Completely outgunned, the solution against the big heavy metal robots was hand-to-hand combat! There are so many things wrong in this initial sequence – although they can be brushed aside in the scene's final reveal – it foreshadows the problems with the rest of the movie.
Everything in the movie is completely overly designed. The aesthetics of the war-torn post-apocalyptic world has thrown every conceivable futuristic style and idea into the mix that you're just left with an utter mess. The final chase sequence with the “police” is just super silly.
The characters on show for the rest of the movie are frustratingly comical. Eye-wateringly bad. There is a change in style from a science-fiction action movie to a melodramatic drama and neither are that well fleshed out.
HOWEVER, the idea behind the opening sequence is interesting. The concept of data use for military and other purposes is explored in a really neat way. There are a lot of small touches throughout the second act which has an emotional core and relates to these concepts, I just wish they weren't wrapped in an irritatingly poor stupid action movie.
Blade Runner set the standard for this type of movie over forty years ago – from both world-building and exploring ideas about what it means to be human – and should be a palate cleanser for this movie.
The legendary Clades are a family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest and most crucial mission.
Review
The preface has a beautiful animated style, features a heart-raising expedition with real peril and introduces the main character's future confliction and motivation. Once the main story starts, it presents a wonderful world and contemporary characters.
After they descend into the “Strange World” the movie comes alive. The characters and sets are wonderful. The land is alien with an odd-pink hue and the animals are exotic but strangely familiar. This world nods to the movie's conclusion and makes more sense when it's revealed – it's a lovely analogy.
There is an overtly unsubtle climate change metaphor running through the movie, but this isn't a bad thing and the conflicts of personal expectations come full circle by the end. Overall this is a lovely adventure movie which has real stakes throughout, great action sequences and intimate moments.
Dramatizes a contemporary American family's attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.
Review
This darkly-weird drama is a departure from Noah Baumbach’s previously rather straight-faced movies. It is a confidently quirky drama, with odd dialogue and stranger happens; a familial investigation, an indiscretion, and a toxic cloud all wrapped around the looming air of death.
Adam Driver is superb as the middle-aged man with a dad-bod, firstly protecting his family from an "airborne toxic event" which may have shortened his life, then investigating his wife's odd behaviour which leads him down a dangerous path.
It is a very odd movie. The dialogue is stilted and the conversations are unusual. There is confidence in camerawork and vibrant but dated production design. There are some interesting ideas and the drug's side effects come full circle in the climatic sequence. Although it is a visual feast, the odd screenplay just doesn’t coalesce.
Nancy Stokes, a retired school teacher, is yearning for some adventure, and some sex. And she has a plan, which involves hiring a young sex worker named Leo Grande.
Review
Set against an awkward situation in which a widower realises she’s missed out on life’s sexual pleasures and decides to hire a sex worker to help her fill that void.
Aside from the sexual aspect, the screenplay delves into many taboo subjects. Not only do they cover some misconceptions about sex workers, but it also talks about their benefits, such as clients using the service as a type of therapy and loneliness. There are also conversations about being a parent and about being a child — both things you can feel disappointed with.
This is a fantastic movie with so many layers. It is endearing and complex but always compelling.
