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Mr. Holmes (DVD Review)

October 25, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada
Director: Bill Condon
Running Time: 104 mins
Certificate: PG
Release Date: October 26th 2015 (UK)

You’d be forgiven for thinking that a movie about an aging Sherlock Holmes would be about the famed detective back on the case solving a murder and recapturing his glory days, but Mr. Holmes is something slightly different.

Holmes (Ian McKellen) is in his 90s, living in a remote cottage after leaving his illustrious career behind 35 years before. His main company is his cook/housekeeper, Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney), her son Roger (Milo Parker) and the bees that he keeps. He’s not trying to recapture his glory days, he just wants to be able to properly remember them, as creeping senility keeps making him to forget things, including what really happened on his final case.

He knows that the ending to the tale isn’t what Watson wrote in his successful books about Sherlock, but he’s having trouble remembering exactly what it was that led him to leave his former life behind. [Read more…]

Helix – Season 1 (DVD Review)

July 10, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Billy Campbell, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyra Zagorsky, Mark Ghanime, Jordan Hayes
Director: Various
Running Time: 509 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: June 30th 2014 (UK)

Thanks to the Battlestar Galactica reboot and his previous involvement with the rebirth of Star Trek in the 1990s, producer Ronald D. Moore is a bit of a legend in sci-fi TV circles, so it’s not surprising his presence behind-the-scenes as a producer was trumpeted strongly when Helix made its TV debut. However while it’s a decent series, it’s unlikely to be considered amongst his best.

Center For Disease Control doctor Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell) and a few of his colleagues get an unusual assignment when they’re sent to a large Arctic scientific outpost to investigate what appears to be a viral outbreak. However the symptoms are strange and Alan soon starts to realise that peculiar things have been going on, with the station’s head, Dr. Hiroshi Hatake (Hiroyuki Sanada), using the station’s remote situation to do unusual research far from the prying eyes of civilisation. [Read more…]

47 Ronin (DVD)

May 12, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ko Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, Min Tanaka
Director: Carl Rinsch
Running Time: 113 mins
Certificate: 12
Release Date: May 12th 2014 (UK)

I’m glad I didn’t live in Feudal Japan, what with the all the monsters and never being allowed to smile. You see, back then men had to hold their emotions in to the point they made Anthony Hopkins in The Remains Of The Day look positively expressive in comparison. Woman meanwhile had to spend half their lives pining over men and the other half crying about men (unless they were a witch, and then they’d be allowed to spend 100% of their time being evil). Oh and even back then Keanu Reeves couldn’t act.

Or at least that’s the impression I got from 47 Ronin. [Read more…]

The Railway Man (Blu-ray)

May 5, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine, Nicole Kidman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Stellan Skarsgard
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Running Time: 116 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: May 5th 2014 (UK)

There is undoubtedly an incredible true story behind The Railway Man, but while this movie certainly lets you know that, as a film in its own right it’s rather spotty.

The movie follows two periods in the life of Eric Lomax. As a middle-aged man (Colin Firth) he meets and falls in love with Patti (Nicole Kidman), however their marital bliss is severely hampered by the fact he suffers severely from what would now be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. [Read more…]

The Wolverine (Cinema)

July 24, 2013 By Stephen Sclater Leave a Comment

Starring: Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee, Hugh Jackman
Director: James Mangold
Running Time: 126 mins
Certificate: 12A
Release Date: 25 July 2013

Hugh Jackman returns from flexing his vocal chords in Les Miserables to more familiar territory of flexing his muscles in his sixth outing as Logan, AKA The Wolverine. Jackman stated he wanted to explore who the man was behind Logan – the mutant with Adamantium claws – and he manages to do so with James Mangold at the helm

So after five previous outings as Logan (we’re counting his brief appearance in X-Men: First Class), where can his new ‘vision’ take us? Well, based on an old and much Marvel comic book story arc, this time around Wolverine is enticed to visit Japan by Yukio and summoned to the deathbed of an old ‘friend’, Yashida, who states he can offer Wolverine mortality. Things being to take a dangerous turn when an attempt is made to kidnap Yashida’s daughter, Mariko. [Read more…]