Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Jun24

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Groundhogs from Space! Edge of Tomorrow (2014)   Oh boy, we are deep in Philip K.  Dick territory with this one; but it’s PKD with a laugh-track behind it.   Yes, that’s right:  Tom Cruise’s latest hardcore science fiction outing, Edge of Tomorrow is not only 100% geared towards pure entertainment, it is also pretty damned funny.  In fact, it manages to pull off the tricky task of being serious without taking itself too seriously;...

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X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Jun24

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)   Director Bryan Singer, who with the original two films in the X-Men series, established this team as at the forefront of intelligent super-hero comics adaptations, returns to the big chair with this, the seventh– X-Men:  Days of Future Past. This film, more than any other genre movie that I can think of, takes it for granted from the very first moments that its audience will be familiar with...

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Life on Planet Booker: Wolf Hall
Jun24

Life on Planet Booker: Wolf Hall

  Life on Planet Booker: Wolf Hall     “Thomas More comes to Austin Friars.  He refuses food, he refuses drink, though he looks in need of both.” This is on page 351 of the hardback edition of Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning 2009 novel Wolf Hall.  I’ve just read that sentence and closed the book, knowing that little would ever entice me into opening it back up.  I don’t care whether or not Thomas More ever eats or drinks...

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Pompeii and I, Frankenstein (2014)
Jun10

Pompeii and I, Frankenstein (2014)

  CGI Heaven &Hell: Pompeii and I, Frankenstein       Ah, my grappling with modern technology continues.  I refuse to see a new movie in 3D, for example.  Any new movie. I’ve tried it twice now (Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, since you ask) and both were just as enjoyable in 2D, so that’s that.  CGI or Computer Generated Images is turning out to be a lot more problematic.  The two films that I’m going to have a...

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QuickBites : Joe / The Monuments Men / Robocop / The Machine (2014)
Jun10

QuickBites : Joe / The Monuments Men / Robocop / The Machine (2014)

Four QuickBites Joe The Monuments Men Robocop And don’t miss… The Machine Just a swift glance at four movies that I’ve made acquaintance with in the last week or so:  one I had heard great things about; two not-so-great and the last and best I hadn’t heard of at all. First up is Joe from director David Gordon Green, which is being hailed as Nicolas Cage’s return to form after boring us to tears for years with so-called ‘quirky’...

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