Kraven the Hunter, who originally appeared on Marvel Comics pages in 1964 as a nemesis for Spiderman is one of the lesser-known Marvel characters, at least for this reviewer. Whether or not he deserved a feature length film was probably debatable before the movie and having seen Kraven The Hunter, that doubt has only grown. This lunkheaded action adventure follows
Read moreWriter/director Sean Baker distinguished himself as an ultra-low budget filmmaker intrigued by the lives of people on society’s fringes such as transgender sex worker Sin-Dee in Tangerine and volatile single mother Halley in The Florida Project. After these raw and confronting films, he seemed to lose his way with the long rambling Red Rocket. His latest film, the Palm D’or
Read moreThe oddball music biopic seems to be a burgeoning new subgenre. There’s the Robbie Williams monkey movie and now the Lego animation Piece By Piece which recounts the life of famed musician and producer Pharrell Williams. Full disclosure, the prospect of another quirky jerky Lego movie/ product placement had me recoiling like a vampire doused with holy water but I
Read moreDisney’s Moana was a justifiable smash hit. A cute, charming and extremely visually inventive animated adventure that drew on the familiar Disney trope of the feisty but sensitive young woman going on a journey of self-discovery. It was distinguished, however, by its South Pacific island setting (the fictitious island of Motonui) and its references to Polynesian history, culture and mythology.
Read moreOften creepy and thought provoking, The Heretic is almost one of the year’s best thrillers but some loose story threads and a third act descent into cliché diminish this film’s overall impact. The set up is a familiar one in the horror/ thriller genre: unsuspecting and apparently vulnerable people unwisely enter the ominous looking home and encounter an intimidating weirdo.
Read moreWicked is the hotly anticipated cinema adaptation of the hugely successful musical theatre production of the same name. I haven’t seen the stage version and all I knew was that it was a prequel of sorts to The Wizard Of Oz that involved origin stories for the good witch Glinda and the wicked witch Elphaba. The filmmakers certainly believe in
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