With their emphasis on cgi spectacle and their failure to reproduce the wonderful indelible characters and philosophical story lines that made the TV series (particularly the original and the Next Generation) such a success, the Star Trek reboot films have often been an empty experience. The latest instalment in the series, Star Trek: Beyond is much the same although a
Read moreTomorrowland, which stars George Clooney, Britt Robertson and Hugh Laurie is based on the Disneyland exhibit of the same name. Adapting an amusement park concept to the big screen generally produces diabolical results; Pirates if the Caribbean anyone? Tomorrowland is even more confused and convoluted than anything in the Pirates franchise but it is occasionally a visually spectacular sci-fi adventure.
Read moreInsurgent is the second instalment in that other dystopian, post-apocalyptic young adult series, Divergent. For those unfamiliar with the saga, it follows the standard template for the young adult adventure genre: sensitive but feisty teen girl Triss (Shailene Woodley) becomes a freedom fighter battling an oppressive government and it’s smug leader, the ice cold Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and hooks up
Read moreThe genesis of Predestination seems to have been a competition to come up with the most brain-twisting time travel story imaginable. Never has a film folded in on itself quite like Predestination. Based on the Robert Heinlein short story All You Zombies and touching on other time travel and sci-fi films such as Looper, Time Cop and Minority Report, Predestination
Read moreFrench director Luc Besson’s energetic, ballsy but occasionally crass and simple-minded action thrillers have left him almost as divisive a figure as Michael Bay. His latest movie Lucy, which stars Scarlett Johansson, will no doubt provoke vitriolic responses from both supporters and detractors. Scarlett Johansson plays Lucy, an innocent American student living in Taipei who has somehow hooked up with
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