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INCEPTION
IN A SENTENCE: A mind-bending intelligent sci-fi thriller that keeps you on your toes from the first scene to the last.
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XMEN – APOCALYPSE
IN A SENTENCE: The re-emerging Xmen must do battle with an all-powerful mutant to save the world and themselves (and the franchise of course).
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FRANKENSTEIN – THE SERIES
I've been reading Dean Koontz novels on and off for decades, so when I saw he was rebooting the Frankenstein story I was intrigued, to say the least. The concept of updating old stories to a modern setting isn't a new one and it certainly is in vogue as far as TV is concerned - Grimm,
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THE FIREMAN
I like Joe Hill's work and reviewed his debut novel too and this book is no exception to that emerging rule, but I'd have to question when the blurb compares the "epic scope" of The Fireman with The Passage. Thankfully though it also got it wrong when it drew a line between Hill's novel and The Road - The Fireman is much more accessible and a lot less pretentious.
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ONE MILLION DUBLINERS
I don't normally review documentary films because I don't watch that many, but One Million Dubliners is such a special film that I just can't ignore it. Dublin, my hometown, is the capital city of Ireland and home to more than 500,000 people - Dublin county has a population of almost 2 million (almost 40% of the population of the republic). Glasnevin Cemetery is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in the country and within its walls there are buried nearly twice as many deceased Dubliners are there are living Dubliners in the city itself.
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SOLACE
This movie is most memorable for me because it once again allows Colin Farrell demonstrate the fact that he can hold the screen no matter whom he shares it with. Anthony Hopkins is a dab hand at stealing the screen (okay maybe not in Van Helsing) but Farrell makes sure that doesn't happen in Solace.
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PAY THE GHOST
There's nothing new here - a couple, a kid, a ghost, an unbelieving cop, a broken relationship, a psychic (shades of poltergeist) and a lot of over-acting.
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THE BLING RING
I'll keep this short because the movie The Bling Ring has stolen enough of my life and I don't want to contribute any more precious time to it than I absolutely have to. Based on a true story usually means there's enough substance to keep you interested but in this case even that failed. The story follows a number of spoiled Hollywood brats who discover that Hollywood celebrities are quite a dull crowd and can't even lock their doors when they're away, never mind have a house alarm installed (Orlando Bloom being the exception but he is a Brit after all).
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MOVIE SEASON
I’m of a vintage that makes me old enough to remember a time when one of the most exciting things about Christmas was the fact that almost every channel (there were 4) had a Big Movie – around two years old – premiering on either Christmas Day or New Years Day. That would be a real event because obviously if you weren’t parked in front of your TV when the movie started then you were going to miss it; VCRs didn’t always exist you know and DVRs weren’t even a twitch in some techies brain. Add that to the perennials like Miracle on 34th Street, Wizard of Oz and A Wonderful Life and you begin to realise the 12 days of Christmas meant a movie a day (and no school). The current equivalent of that cultural…
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MOVIE REVIEW: THE HOST
"What the heck", I said to myself, "why not review both the novel The Host by Stephenie Meyer and the subsequent movie of the same name?" "Why the heck not?" exclaimed the little voice in my head, but something deep beneath the surface of my tiny mind kept screaming out a warning.
