Director: Jordan Peele

Main Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford

Rating: 3 out 5

Chris and Rose are a happy mixed race couple living in the city. Things take a turn to the bizarre when she invites him out to the country to finally meet her well off parents. While apprehensive, she assures him that they're not racist - her Dad even voted for Obama! Once there he finds himself in a sea of whiteness except for the hired help who for some reason are acting increasingly strange. I was trying to find a movie to watch and decided to fire this one up. I had recently looked at a bunch of the 'Top Movies of 2017' lists and found this one on almost every single list. I hadn't really heard of it before, but based on all the rave reviews it had to be a winner right? Helmed by first time director Peele of the well known comedy duo Key & Peele we have a technically proficient film with good acting, especially from lead actor Kaluuya and the ever enjoyable Catherine Keener with lots of social commentary. But as a strictly horror film it's underwhelming. I found It Follows or Babadook to be infinitely better fare. I simply don't understand why this is so universally praised, except maybe chalking it up to 'White Guilt' and reviewers rating it higher than it deserves. I did find the take on horror from a Black perspective to be at least unique - apparently the thing that Black people are most afraid of is White people and Suburbia (but to be fair Suburbia is creepy for anyone regardless of race). Peele's first effort is a huge disconnect from the accolades it has received. Perhaps he should have focused more on making a horror film that was actually frightening and less on the social commentary.

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Main Stars: Ryan Gosling, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Jared Leto

Rating: 4 out 5

30 years after the events of the original movie we find Officer K, himself a Replicant, who's job is to hunt older model Replicants - Androids with an open ended life span. During one assignment in which he 'retires' the suspect he stumbles across a long buried secret which leads him to end up questioning his own origins and searching out someone from the past for answers. The original Blade Runner is my favourite film of all time. Period. When I heard they were making a sequel I died a little inside, but due to Ridley Scott's involvement I held out hope that at least it wouldn't be an abomination. Now that it's finally here some reviewers have suggested it bests the first one in some ways. I wouldn't necessarily go that far, but it is definitely a visual masterpiece that more than lives up to it's predecessor. I'm not one to usually go see a movie in the theatre, but this absolutely needs to be seen on the big screen, preferably in the Imax format. Sadly the box office numbers haven't been great so it's likely it won't be playing for long. This is a long film - make sure you go to the bathroom first - which is likely a big reason for the poor numbers. But I found myself utterly mesmerized by the images on the screen. Performances are great. This is easily the first movie in so so long that Harrison Ford is truly acting and not just being himself. And I really enjoyed Ryan Gosling. For me the only real criticism was the story which while logical and nothing inherently wrong with it, left me a bit underwhelmed. The decades it took for this sequel to be realized is likely unprecedented in cinema history - at least it was worth the wait.

Director: Ridley Scott

Main Stars: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson, Billy Crudup, Demián Bichir

Rating: 3 out 5

Taking place eleven years after Prometheus we find another spaceship headed to some distant planet on a colonization mission. Along the way disaster strikes and the crew awakens from hyper sleep in time to intercept a signal from a nearby planet that they decide to investigate. Sigh. Yes, that sounds almost identical to the plot of Alien - an iconic film for the ages and tied with Blade Runner for my favorite movie. Usually I abhor sequels, but this (and Prometheus before it) is helmed by Sir Ridley Scott who started the whole thing. So I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that in his hands the result won't suck. Unfortunately it looks like once again and with a much bigger impact than before he was fighting with the studio as to the direction he wanted to take things. Without giving it away, the middle of the film is a gut punch to the audience similar to what happened in Alien 3. I was like 'What? Are you serious?'. Afterwards I found out that up to 30 minutes of footage was filmed that was never used and obviously after shooting had started the story took a dramatically different direction. To be fair, Scott really can't win. One the one hand you have fans who appreciated Prometheus which attempted to evolve beyond horror in space into something new and unique. On the other you have fans who were pissed off and just wanted more blood and gore. Throw in a meddling studio always worried about their bottom line and you have the perfect recipe for something that while trying to please everyone, ends up alienating (ha) everyone. I did find I enjoyed it much more after watching it a second time and I highly recommend watching Prometheus again. It made one of the character's motivations make much more sense. Visually the film is beautiful and has some truly amazing sets and haunting imagery. The beginning is also an unrelenting assault upon the senses culminating in a horrific scene to equal the one in Alien. On the downside, beyond the issues with the story, I found the cast to be a letdown. Other than the android David you really don't find out enough about the crew to really give a crap about them, never mind even remembering their names. Only recommended for fans, but sadly even they will likely find the experience frustrating.

Director: Roman Polanski

Main Stars: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Shelley Winters

Rating: 3.5 out 5

Trelkovsky (Polanski) is an awkward, quiet spoken man living in Paris. He ends up renting an apartment from which the previous tenant had attempted suicide by jumping out the window. Still clinging to life he feels compelled to visit her in the hospital and while there meets her girlfriend Stella (Adjani). As he spends his days alone in his apartment he begins noticing odd behaviour from the other building tenants eventually coming to suspect that they are also driving him towards the same fate. I'm not sure why I had this DVD in my collection. I suspect I got it as part of a buying binge collecting titles with the lovely Isabelle Adjani in them. Next to Monica Bellucci she is my most beloved European actress. Part of Polanski's so called 'Apartment Trilogy' with the other two being Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby, in my opinion the Tenant is the lesser of the three films despite all having a similar thread about the descent into madness. Having recently seen Repulsion I have to say it does a much better and more convincing job of documenting that gradual descent. Here the change is to abrupt and is jarring. With a two hour runtime I found that there were a number of scenes that did nothing to advance the story and easily could have been cut. But this is worth a watch if only to see Polanski as an actor and honestly I thought he did an amazing job in the role. Sadly, as of this writing, The Tenant is still not available on Blu-ray.

Director: David Leitch

Main Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, John Goodman

Rating: 4.5 out 5

MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) is sent into Berlin during the days preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall….and…and…really, who cares. It's Charlize Theron. The hottest woman alive and on every guy (and girl's) 'list'. I mean, do you need another reason to see this film? Oh ok, how about the fact that she seriously kicks ass in it? I mean she puts James Bond to shame. Plus her English accent is adorable. Come to think of it, maybe she should be the next Bond. But I digress. In addition to the stellar action scenes which for me at least seemed more 'real' than in most recent action films you have the extremely unique backdrop of Berlin at it's most critical juncture in history. Let's face it, that would have been the epicenter of the spy vs. spy world. Visually it's quite stunning with the bright neon lights of clubs and hotel rooms contrasting with the grim grays of a captive city. That plus arguably one of the best soundtracks in recent history (Ministry!!!) makes for a stellar film. I'm also quite impressed with John Goodman. He's been terrific in the few serious roles I've seen him in. About the only negative was a postscript scene which I could have done without - I would have preferred they left it ambiguous. But a minor quibble. Finally, Atomic Blonde is one of those rare releases that truly deserves to been seen on the big screen. I walked out of the theatre feeling energized, highly pumped, and frankly, ready to kick the crap out of someone. Hugely recommended.

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Main Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Tzi Ma

Rating: 2.5 out 5

When twelve alien ships show up and park themselves around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks (Adams) is called upon by the military to try and communicate with them and figure out what their intentions are. Can she succeed before the paranoid plunge the planet into war? Decided to fire this up one night when we were trying to find something to watch. I knew that it had a bunch of good buzz so thought it was a safe bet. However I wasn't looking forward to the two hour runtime as I was already tired. But thankfully it kept my attention and in fact I found the time flew by. Currently tasked with delivering the sequel to Bladerunner, Canadian director Villeneuve manages to bring a fresh spin on the aliens from space genre. I found the designs for the creatures to be a nice break from the norm and the process of the characters learning to communicate with them to be interesting. Adams does a great job as always and Renner offers a decent supporting role. Two criticisms, one minor and one major, prevented this from being terrific. While expected, I'm so tired of the US military being the good guys and those dastardly Russians and in this case also the Chinese as the mindless warmongers. It's lazy and insulting. But much worse was a development near the end which almost ruined the movie for me. I can't really say anything without spoiling things, but let's just say the morality of one character's decision left me screaming 'bullshit' at the screen. Had this occurred in a lesser offering it likely wouldn't have bothered me as much. A promising Sci-fi flick ultimately let down by a plot development which annoyed me to no end.

Director: Danny Boyle

Main Stars: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller

Rating: 4 out 5

Twenty years after the events of the previous film, we find Renton (McGregor) returning home after being hidden away in Amsterdam. Despite the passage of time, not much has changed with the old gang. Spud (Bremner) is still addicted to smack, Sick Boy (Miller) has substituted heroin for coke, and Begbie (Carlyle) is as violent as ever having recently escaped from prison. After laying down a beating on Renton as payback for having stolen their money back in the day Sick Boy hatches a plan to screw over his childhood friend. But as they reminisce about the past, will he end up going through with it? Much like the characters in the film, it was another life ago when I saw the original - a brilliant Indie film from an up and coming director. Generally I despise sequels, but here we had the opportunity to truly expand upon the first. Twenty years later both in the films and in real life naturally lends itself to exploring how time changes (or in this case doesn't change) people. And while those themes are explored I just wished they would have delved deeper into it overall. Instead we get the same beloved characters now much older essentially existing as they always have. There's a number of flashbacks but they are well done and not overused and the story and actors are as entertaining as ever. I actually found myself laughing out loud three times. A rarity for me. Being that it's set in Scotland with mostly Scottish actors I was almost wishing the film had subtitles during Robert Carlyle's opening scene, but he either eased up on the accent or more than likely I was able to adapt and it wasn't an issue afterwards. It was also enjoyable watching Johnny Lee Miller in something other than Sherlock Holmes. An enjoyable blast down memory lane that while light on substance is a decent enough sequel.

Director: Morten Tyldum

Main Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne

Rating: 3.5 out 5

Onboard the interstellar starship Avalon, Jim's (Pratt) hibernation pod malfunctions waking him up 60 years early into his journey to a new colony. He is the only person awake on a ship of 5000 passengers. After more than a year spent trying to resolve his hopeless situation he eventually succumbs to loneliness and decides to awaken another passenger named Aurora (Lawrence) despite knowing that doing so is to condemn her to death from old age along with him. I had heard mixed reviews on this one, but I thought it was entertaining enough popcorn fare. I love end of the world/last person left alive type movies and so for the first part of the film I was in my element. Once J Law gets awoken the film turns into a romantic getting to know you flick, before turning once again in the third act into your standard disaster in space story. Throw in Michael Sheen as the always receptive robotic bartender in a setting that's a nice homage to a certain bar in The Shining and you have a satisfying mixture of various elements. My biggest issue was the casting. A top billed actor shows up for just a few minutes of screen time and likewise Andy Garcia is credited despite being on screen for I kid you not, a grand total of 2 seconds. What the hell is the point of that? Studio execs figured they couldn't sell a movie with only a couple stars in it?? That, plus there's some pretty huge plot holes. If you do watch this movie, I suggest afterwards searching YouTube for 'Everything Wrong With Passengers in 16 Minutes Or Less' as it's pretty funny. Still, as long as you're willing to overlook its flaws, you can't go wrong spending a couple hours hitching a ride on a peril filled trip through space.

Director: Gareth Edwards

Main Stars: Felicity Jones, Diego Lunda, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen

Rating: 4 out 5

Enlisted by the Rebel Alliance to track down her father, the reluctant Imperial scientist responsible for creating the most powerful weapon ever created, Jyn Erso (Jones) joins a misfit band of fighters who would just as soon kill her Dad as save him. Along the way they discover the one fatal flaw in the Death Star. Can they retrieve the plans before it becomes operational and destroys them all? I wasn't sure how I felt about this when it was announced. At some point Disney is going to saturate the viewer with endless Star Wars films and negate their specialness in the process. Still, the first spinoff story is arguably the best entry since the original trilogy. Despite a bit of a muddled and plodding beginning as all the various characters and locations are introduced, when the action finally kicks in it's non-stop and a visual thrill. I was worried when I learned that roughly a third of the movie was reshot months after filming originally wrapped due to concerns from Disney execs. Such studio interference is usually a recipe for disaster (cough, Alien 3, cough). But if nothing else, it gave us a particular scene of Vader (who wasn't previously in the movie) that is awesome beyond words. We FINALLY get to see him being appropriately badass! In addition to the somewhat rambling beginning, I also wasn't a fan of the CGI used for Tarkin and one other character. In the case of Tarkin, where the actor died years ago, I get it, what else were they supposed to do? There seems to be a 50/50 split between those who thought the CGI was amazing and those who thought it was terrible. I tend to be in the terrible camp. I found it distracting and it took me out of the film. On the flip side, the Imperial world of Scarif is the best location since Hoth and Endor and the space battle above the best since the epic battles of Return of the Jedi. This is Star Wars back to basics with the quality and thrilling spectacle that the horrific prequels sadly lacked. May the Force be with you!

Director: Louis Leterrier

Main Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher

Rating: 1 out 5

Four magicians are brought together by a mysterious summons and end up performing more and more outlandish shows together involving stealing huge sums of money using nothing more than 'magic'. How far can they take things while avoiding the FBI agents determined to bring them down? On the surface this is a fun, entertaining movie. It's got a great cast, Isla Fisher is lovely to look at, it looks and sounds amazing and has decent performances all around. But the entire plot revolves around 'surprise twist' at the end. A twist that anyone with a moderately functioning brain stem will instantly cry out 'bullshit' when revealed. I don't want to spoil it although I'm tempted to because again, this is an absolutely moronic film of the highest order - but here's a tip for would be aspiring screenplay writers: In order for a 'surprise twist' to work, upon reflection the viewer must be able to replay previous events through their heads and go 'oh, ya, ok, I can see how we got from point A to point B. In hindsight there were clues and hints along the way'. But this garbage is lacking such a logical trail. In fact, they consistently throw things in which are such an affront to logic that they're dangerously close to opening a gap in time and space and destroying us all. My mind literally aches at what I just wasted my time watching. According to reviews the prerequisite sequel is rated even worse. I honest to God don't know that's even remotely possible.

Director: Chan-wook Park

Main Stars: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri,  Ha Jung-woo, Jin-woong Jo

Rating: 4.5 out 5

In Japanese occupied Korea, Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), an orphan pickpocket is recruited by a con man to be the handmaiden to a Japanese heiress (Kim Min-hee) who has designs on marrying and inheriting her fortune - before ultimately disposing of her. Things become complicated when Sook-hee begins to fall in love with Lady Hideko and she wonders if she can go through with the plan. I didn't know much about this film other than it was supposed to be quite risqué, and the director is generally regarded as a brilliant newcomer (to Western cinema at least). Despite the long runtime and despite the Japanese and Korean subtitles I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. My biggest issue is how to categorize it? Is it simply erotica the likes of Emmanuelle? I won't lie, there are a number of scenes that are quite arousing. Is it a thriller with double crosses and misdirection aplenty? Or is it a female empowerment movie the likes of Thelma & Louise? Ultimately it doesn't matter because when taken as a whole everything works to perfection. The narrative is split into three parts with each part showing events from a different character's perspective. Such a structure is needed to fully delve into the plot twists and not leave the viewer feeling manipulated like so many thrillers do. In addition to the twists and turns, the movie is beautifully shot with gorgeous scenery serving as the backdrop to all the emotional violence unfolding all around the characters. A delightfully subversive journey that satisfies on all levels.

Director: Tim Burton

Main Stars: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Samuel L. Jackson

Rating: 4 out 5

Jake always had a special relationship with his Grandpa. As a child he would tell him bedtime stories consisting of fantastical tales of strange children he lived with in an orphanage on a remote Welsh island. Now a teenager he has long since regarded those stories as silly fantasy. But one fateful night leads him to believe that maybe those stories were true after all. It feels like it's been forever since I've actually enjoyed a Tim Burton film. Sweeney Todd was probably the last one and that came out a decade ago. So I was prepared to once again be disappointed - but surprisingly I really enjoyed it. While I wouldn't say it's his best work, for the most part it recaptures the beauty and wonder of his classics. Visually it is beautiful. Full of vivid saturated colours that are his trademark. In terms of the actors, Jake is played by Asa Butterfield whom I really enjoyed in Hugo and Ender's Game. His love interest is played by Ella Purnell who is enchanting to look at and Eva Green is lovely as always. But the best part was who wasn't in the film - namely Burton regulars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The only bit of casting I didn't like was that of Samuel L. Jackson whom I'm really getting tired of seeing in almost every single movie - and doing the same role over and over again. He's quickly approaching Nicolas Cage territory of self parody. Yes, things got a bit convoluted near the end and felt rushed, but at 2.5hrs it was already pushing most people's time tolerances. Most of the criticism of the film is really a criticism of the source material which is the novel by Ransom Riggs. As such, it can't be faulted for staying true to the book. This is a children's film for adults and a welcome return to form for Tim Burton.