Review

Whilst it’s a general rule of thumb that the less you know going into any movie is for the better, it must be said that it absolutely must be practiced when it comes to Biosphere. A wonderfully strange film, Mel Eslyn‘s two hander focuses on the friendship between Ray (Sterling K. Brown) and Billy (Mark…

“You guys are so talented.  So unbelievable.  This will break you.  This will fully destroy you.” Not exactly the type of words you expect to hear from the head of a theater camp said to a collection of young, eager pupils, but such is the way of creative existence at AdirondACTS Theater Camp where camp…

It feels like it’s been over a decade since I played an Armoured Core game last; well, that’s because it has been. Armoured Core 5 might have been released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 way back in 2012, but the team at FromSoftware have decided it’s about time to suit up and deliver,…

Since their creation some almost-40-years ago, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have seen their brand of comedic, family-aimed action spread across six feature films (in three separate timelines) and countless television, comic book and video games.  Despite all this, and each respective creative honing their own spin, the younger, more appropriately teen-aged years of the…

With The Equalizer 3 promoting itself as “the final chapter” of a movie series I think many of us were surprised made it past the 2014 original, there’s an understandable sense of expectation when it comes to the packaged deal of star Denzel Washington, director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter Richard Wenk. Whilst the first two…

I’m a sucker for magic and fantasy as much as the next guy. Immortals of Aveum comes out swinging, dishing out some gorgeous visuals, clean first-person combat and a story that, while not groundbreaking in terms of lore and emotional depth, does help things churn along at a consistent pace. Its repetitive encounters and linear…

Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise, The Haunted Mansion is one such Disney theme park ride that actually has a decent jumping point for a filmic incarnation.  But unlike the Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise films we saw defy the odds and turn the most basic of premises into larger-than-life adventure…

Leaning into a meta self-awareness that even the knowing winks of such slashers as Scream would deem a little too overt, Marcel Walz‘s That’s A Wrap perhaps works with a few too many layers of knowingness. It starts off with enough of a sense of humour though as a horror-inclined actress, lamenting to her manager…

Despite the simple premise of Celine Song‘s Past Lives and its romantic comedy connotations, the film is anything but.  Burning slow and composing its emotions until it knows when to release them in a flood of responsive passion, Song’s impeccable debut is a drama of humanism and quiet complexity. Set over the span of 24…

A truly bizarre melting pot of a film that takes pride in its giallo-inspired-horror-melded-with-camp-musical-comedy mentality, Big Easy Queens in an intentionally ridiculous, over-the-top experiment that, for the right audience, will prove a bloody wild ride. Set in a mob-run criminal underworld of sorts, Erynn Dalton‘s genre-mash of a movie has been primarily made for the…

Crash Team Rumble was released this year to much fanfare and anticipation, particularly from old-school gamers who grew up with classic Crash Bandicoot games. While Crash is best known for his solo platforming prowess, this new entry into the franchise spins off into the realm of competitive team multiplayer and is one of the more…

Motorola has been ahead of the game in terms of flip phones and cutting-edge technology, with previous iterations of this iconic phone dating all the way back to 1996. Since then, they have been perfecting their craft, which feels like it has led up to the release of the Razr 40 Ultra, a premium flip…

“You guys are so talented.  So unbelievable.  This will break you.  This will fully destroy you.” Not exactly the type of words you expect to hear from the head of a theater camp said to a collection of young, eager pupils, but such is the way of creative existence at AdirondACTS Theater Camp where camp…

Despite the fact that screenwriter Dan Perrault is a fan of such canine-centric cinema as Homeward Bound and 101 Dalmatians, his Strays is far from the family-friendly temperament those aforementioned titles adhere to.  But that’s also not to say that Strays doesn’t love the four-legged furries at its core – if ever there was a…

For as little as I had known about Atlas Fallen prior to its release, its final trailers had admittedly hooked me. From the solid third-person combat to sleek traversal and platforming, it seemed there was plenty to look forward to. This proved to be true in many respects, as most of those aspects stood out…

Over the years, Turtle Beach has certainly nailed a solid range of comfortable and versatile headsets across a variety of price points. But for as much as they’ve dabbled in that top shelf, they now seem ready to comfortably play in that space with the Stealth Pro headset. This wireless headset packs in all the…

Whilst it’s easy to pick how Scrapper – Charlotte Regan‘s impossibly charming comedy/drama – will end when all is said and done, the central performances from newcomer Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson as a feisty, self-reliant 12-year-old and her man-child father, respectively, are what keeps the quirky narrative continually engaging. It’s one of those “message”…

It seems only fitting that a character as undead as Dracula has an immortal lifespan when it comes to big screen adaptations.  It was only a few months ago we had Nicolas Cage’s iteration in the blackly comic Renfield, and now, in a complete mood shift from his camp goriness, we have Dracula: The Last…

Though there are the occasional exceptions, movies based off video games don’t have the greatest reputation when it comes down to it.  So it makes sense that, perhaps, there’s a certain sense of trepidation when going into Gran Turismo.  Despite the calibre of the creatives both behind and in front of the camera – it’s…

Another Wes Anderson creation, where the sheer cast alone is unfathomable in their collective talent and the twee is as twee as can be, Asteroid City, with its distinct colour pallet and deadpan performances, won’t convert any viewers over to the Wes way of watching, but those that have stuck with the auteur through his…

An eco-terrorism thriller where the bombers are the good guys, Daniel Goldhaber‘s How To Blow Up A Pipeline is structured as if it’s playing to a heist movie temperament, but it’s layered with a topical, current commentary that lends the film a young freshness; very much a movie of the “now”. Relying on ideas realised…

Despite the simple premise of Celine Song‘s Past Lives and its romantic comedy connotations, the film is anything but.  Burning slow and composing its emotions until it knows when to release them in a flood of responsive passion, Song’s impeccable debut is a drama of humanism and quiet complexity. Set over the span of 24…

“Before we continue I’d like to apologize to anyone who might be upset or offended by what you saw before the break. It’s not every day you see a demonic possession on live television.” Not the most typical sentence you’d expect to hear from a late night host, but such is the statement made by…

For as long as Shokz has developed bone-conduction headphones, they’ve never really drawn me in. Maybe I was worried about the lack of audio quality, or even the overall comfortability of adjusting to these around my head during day-to-day activities. Enter the OpenFit headphones. Shokz has pivoted in a way, instead choosing to focus on…

Branding itself as a reimagining rather than a traditional remake – and this is one of those cases where that wording does actually tie into the overall mentality – River Wild takes the basic premise of Curtis Hanson’s 1994 thriller The River Wild, a Hitchcock-in-the-great-outdoors chiller that raised its own profile through the inclusion of…

Despite some satisfactory performances, a clear bout of good intentions, and a dollop of Irish charm, Thaddeus O’Sullivan‘s The Miracle Club can’t overcome its rather maudlin dialogue and sporadic meanness to earn a recommendation as the joyous Sunday afternoon viewing it so clearly wants to be. Set in 1967 in a small Irish village, the…

A historical figure whose achievements are all the more remarkable due to the obstacles faced as the son of a white father and black mother, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is highlighted, but not quite as richly celebrated in Stephen Williams‘s Chevalier. And given the extraordinary details of his life story, it’s a shame that…

There’s both a sense of adhering to the temperaments of action films gone by and embracing the current and future state of the genre present in Jalmari Helander‘s Sisu. Matching its dark sense of humour (and I mean dark) with a violently bloody mentality (and I mean bloody!), Sisu manages to present the simplest of…

Another slice of media that feeds into our obsession with true crime, Susie Searches is a quirky comedy/thriller that can’t altogether escape the trappings of its by-the-book structure, but an engaging performance from the always watchable Kiersey Clemons, a few neat twists and turns throughout, and one hell of an ending is sure to leave…

Whilst it’s fair to be tired of the “elevated horror” tag that so many genre pieces aim for nowadays, and the attachment of the-little-studio-that-could A24 only fans the fire, one needn’t worry with Talk To Me, an Australian-made horror effort that was acquired by the aforementioned studio for US distribution following wild reactions out of…