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Isle of Dogs (DVD Review)

9th August 2018 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kotu Rankin, Scarlett Johansson
Directed by: Wes Anderson
BBFC Certificate: PG
Running time: 102 mins
UK Release Date: Out Now

Our Score

Wes Anderson can be an infuriating director sometimes – far too arch and quirky for the sake of it. However here, in this stop motion tale, he decides to use his imagination but reign in the gaucheness. The result is a film that radiates warmth, charm and a gentle humour, without trying too hard.

It’s an intriguing set up. In a corporate, greedy Japan of the future, the country has decided to get rid of its garbage on a tiny island. There too they put their dogs, after they discover the mutts all have dog flu and snout disease. The poor mutts scrape out a miserable existence, feeding on scraps and trying to stay alive.

However, the adopted son of the emperor finds his own pooch has been shipped onto the island, and so flies out to try and find Spots. He crash lands and befriends a gang of dogs, including stray Cranston, Norton, Murray, Goldblum and Johansson, who all join in a doggie version of Saving Private Ryan.

And what an adventure they have. There are all sorts of visual gags as the gang make their way across the polluted, ruined island which was inhabited by humans before a tsunami emptied it. My own favourite moment was the old golf course and country club, which now has “no members”. The attention to detail is fantastic, the dog shelter is made of recycled sake bottles, and the boy’s plane is a knackered piece of wonder.

There is clearly a message here about recycling and cleaning up our fragile planet, as well as the love of humans for dogs – say the title of the film quickly and you’ll see what I mean – but it’s never heavy handed.

Half of the fun is trying to place the voices to the actors, and Cranston is particularly good as the stray who has never felt the love of a human, or even the joy of a doggie snack.

Overall verdict: If you don’t go out and get a dog immediately after watching this joy you’re not, well, human. Wes Anderson has produced a gem. It’s one of his best films ever. Or the best, even?

Reviewer: Mike Martin

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kotu Rankin, Scarlett Johansson  DIRECTORS: Wes Anderson  

New Avengers: Infinity War Trailer – It’s all been leading up to this for the Marvel heroes & it’s looking epic

16th March 2018 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

For a decade the threads that have woven between all parts of the Marvel Universe have been leading towards Infinity War. The evil Thanos (Josh Brolin) has been lurking on the edges, while various movies have involved what will be revealed to be the Infinity Stones.

And because of that, pretty much everyone is coming together or this film, including the Guardians Of The Galaxy, who’ve been almost stand-alone up until this point. The film will include Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Dave Bautista (Drax), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Pratt (Star Lord), Chris Evans (Captain America), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlett Witch), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Paul Bettany (Vision), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier), Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and plenty more.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.’

The film hits cinemas April 2018. Take a look at the explosive new trailer below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dave Bautista, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Pom Klementieff, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson  DIRECTORS: Joe Russo, Anthony Russo  FILMS: Avengers: Infinity War  

Avengers: Infinity War Super Bowl Spot – Marvel heroes from across the galaxy come together

5th February 2018 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Marvel/Disney decided that for its Avengers: Infinity War​ Super Bowl spot, all it needed to do was show just how many heroes its bringing together for the movie. There’s a sense that the 10 years since Iron Man have been leading to this, with the Avengers from earlier movies being joined by the likes of Doctor Strange and the Guardians Of The Galaxy to take on Thanos.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.’

The film hits cinemas April 2018. Take a look at the Super Bowl TV spot below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dave Bautista, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Pom Klementieff, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson  FILMS: Avengers: Infinity War  

Avengers: Infinity War Trailer – It’s all been leading up to this for the Marvel heroes

29th November 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

For a long time the threads that have woven between all parts of the Marvel Universe have been leading towards Infinity War. The evil Thanos (Josh Brolin) has been lurking on the edges, while various movies have involved what will be revealed to be the Infinity Stones.

And because of that, pretty much everyone is coming together or this film, including the Guardians Of The Galaxy, who’ve been almost stand-alone up until this point. The film will include Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Dave Bautista (Drax), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Pratt (Star Lord), Chris Evans (Captain America), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlett Witch), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Paul Bettany (Vision), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier), Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and plenty more.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.’

The film hits cinemas April 2018. Take a look at the explosive first trailer below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dave Bautista, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Pom Klementieff, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson  FILMS: Avengers: Infinity War  

Ghost In The Shell (DVD/VoD Review)

30th July 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt
Directed By: Rupert Sanders
Running Time: 107 mins
BBFC Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: July 31st 2017 (DVD), July 24th 2017 (VoD)

Our Score

Despite being in development for years, the live-action Hollywood movie version of Ghost In The Shell seemed to have the cards stacked against it. Some questioned whether Snow White & The Huntsman’s Rupert Sanders was the right director for the job, and many more felt that casting a white actress in a traditionally Japanese role smacked of whitewashing. Sadly, when the movie arrived, it didn’t get the sort of critical and commercial reaction that might have been able to overturn the issues surrounding it.

The movie opens in the near future with the brain of a young woman being transferred into a robot body (Johannsson) – the first of her kind. The android is named Major, and with memories of being nearly drowned by terrorists, she becomes part of a special team tasked with particularly difficult, often technological crimes.

Someone is hacking the brains of cyber-augmented humans that work for the government-funded Hanka Robotics. As Major gets deeper into the investigation, she begins to learn things about her own past, which calls into question everything she thinks she knows.

While not as bad as some cinema reviews might have led you to believe, Ghost In The Shell is a movie that feels like was on the way to being good, but never quite got there. Sanders obviously spent a lot of time trying to create the look and feel on the film’s universe, but while it results in some impressive and very pretty individual shots and sequences, the overall impression is of a low-rent Blade Runner, where looking nice is more important than logic.

It gets to the point where the script begins to feel like it’s contorting itself to get from one thing the makers thought would look cool to another, without too much thought about how it does it. There is an attempt to provide a bit of depth to what is going on as Major heads deeper into an existential crisis and meets Michael Pitt’s villain, but Ghost In The Shell seems to think is profound is essentially the first plot and most basic ideas someone would think of when provided with this set-up.

Even the way it tries to get around the whitewashing arguments (which it’s clear the makers expected due to the way it’s handled), are less well-thought out than the movie believes it is. Indeed, it might actually be even more insulting than just not bringing it into the mix at all.

There are some good things though, such as Pilou Asbæk as Batou, who’s a lot of fun as the second in command of Major’s Unit, while Takeshi Kitano brings a slice still gravitas as Chief Daisuke Aramaki. Some of the action set pieces are well put together, and Johansson herself once more shows off her impressive action chops, while putting in a creditable performance as a robot with vague memories of a previous life.

There will also be more than a few straight men who’ll appreciate the fact her outfits are designed to make her look as naked as possible while she’s actually wearing a full body suit. They may like to pretend she has to look like that due to the invisibility tech in her clothes, but the designer definitely had sexualisation more than practicality on their mind (although, to be fair, it is accurate to the anime/manga it’s based on).

Despite its problems, Ghost In The Shell is actually not too bad a watch, but like quite a lot of Hollywood films, you can’t escape the sensation that despite a gargantuan budget and thousands of people involved in its creation, the movie is constantly struggling to reach its potential. And as so often, it comes up short in ways that should have been easy to sort out. As the long-lived manga has shown, there’s a huge amount of potential in Ghost In The Shell, but this film spends so much time getting excited about individual visual moments that it never succeeds in making what goes in-between work properly.

Overall Verdict: A ghost of what it might have been in the shell of something better. It’s a watchable if problematic movie, which from beginning to end could have been a lot better.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt  DIRECTORS: Rupert Sanders  FILMS: Ghost In The Shell  

Rough Night Red Band Trailer – Scarlett Johansson & Kate McKinnon get bachelorette weekend crazy

9th May 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Will this be the female Hangover? It’s certainly got that vibe, with a group of friends having a raunchy, foul-mouthed night out ahead of a wedding. It’s also got a great cast, including Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘In Rough Night, an edgy R-rated comedy, five best friends from college (played by Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz) reunite 10 years later for a wild bachelorette weekend in Miami. Their hard partying takes a hilariously dark turn when they accidentally kill a male stripper. Amidst the craziness of trying to cover it up, they’re ultimately brought closer together when it matters most.’

The film will be in cinemas in June. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:
ACTORS: Ilana Glazer, Jillian Bell, Kate McKinnon, Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Kravitz  
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