Before the Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons, Garfield the cat became an unlikely cultural icon. The droll, gluttonous, lasagna gobbling, pathologically lazy feline who hates Mondays, first appeared in the late 70’s and has been a beloved character for both children and adults ever since. Garfield’s misadventures have been adapted for various animated films, most notably in 2004’s Garfield: The
Read moreArriving fairly late in the all-consuming Marvel movie franchise is Captain Marvel an origin story not only for the title character but for a couple of Marvel Comics Universe characters and in some ways a prequel to a few of the Marvel films. While this movie provides occasional amusement, moments of impressive spectacle and excitement and finally a female lead,
Read moreThe King Kong movies form one of cinema’s longest franchises, the classic original having burst onto screens in 1933. Since then there have been numerous trashy sequels only vaguely connected to the original and two Hollywood remakes including the ludicrously overlong Peter Jackson version in which all monster credibility died when the creatures failed to outrun Jack Black. Does the
Read moreSince the superb Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s films haven’t been entirely convincing. Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained all had inventive, exciting and funny moments but the storylines were an unsatisfying jumble of ideas tainted by questionable morality. Tarantino’s latest film, The Hateful Eight, is an improvement but still suffers some of the same problems; there’s a number of
Read moreKickass and X-Men First Class director Matthew Vaughan’s latest film, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a slick, inventive, action-packed but hollow pastiche of British spy movies. Drawing on the Bond films, the 1960’s TV show The Avengers and Men in Black, the film concerns a secret organisation of tweed-coated gentlemen spies known as The Kingsman who operate outside the reach
Read moreRegardless of the studio creating them, a lot of big-budget animated films are starting to look very similar. The well-worn plot template sees an innocent, loveable character with an ability to drive or fly quickly, aspire to break free of their staid conservative environment and against all odds and warnings from friends and family, compete in a dangerous high-stakes race.
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