Director: Bhalla Alluri
Running Time: 110 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: May 8th 2015 (UK)
Having never seen the TV series I had no real expectations of the film version, or real knowledge, other than it is something to do with spies and MI5. It’s with great pleasure to report then that as a stand-alone spy movie, Spooks: The Greater Good works. It’s tense, looks great, pacy and well acted, satisfying on pretty much every level, as a decent espionage thriller should. It taps into our current fears of attack from abroad, especially ISIS, at times almost painfully so. It’s also the first film for ages to use its London locations to great effect without making everything look cheesy.
It begins with a great set piece. The most wanted terrorist in the world is being transported across London, but the armoured van is stuck in a pesky traffic jam. Out of nowhere come armed motorbike riders to free him. They know that watching in MI5 headquarters is Peter Finch, and tell him, either free the man or lots of innocent people will die. Finch lets the man go. [Read more…]
Andy and Lana Wachowski haven’t been having too much luck on the big screen, with the likes of Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending underperforming. However there’s high hopes for their new series Sense8, which brings a splash on high concept sci-fi to Netflix’s original shows.
When the trailer for the Vacation reboot was unveiled to a select audience at Cinemacon that main thing that people mentioned was how it featured Chris Hemsworth’s massive, ahem, package (or at least his massive prosthetic). Now we can take a peek for ourselves – although as you’ve probably guessed this red band trailer in NSFW – as well as the return of Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo, as they join son Rusty (Ed Helms) and his family on a new trip.
Meryl Streep may be in her 60s, but she’s still got rock in her soul, or at least she does in Rick And The Flash. Now we get to take a look with the first trailer.
Captain America: Civil War is increasingly turning into and Avengers movie in all but name, as while it will lack a few of the throng, such as Thor and Hulk, it’s got Iron Man and Scarlet Widow, and now it’s been confirmed it will also have The Vision (Paul Bettany), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and James ‘War Machine’ Rhodes (Don Cheadle).
This one has a slightly odd title, as it’s bound to remind many people of the 1978 movie The Boys From Brazil. However you couldn’t get two more different movies, as while the 70s flick was about evil Nazis trying to restart the Third Reich, the new one is a rom-com about gay guys who are in the closet.
The press release for this one warned people to ‘Lock up your daughters’, but there was no mention of sons, and so it looks like gay guys are being given free reign on this one (even if there is sadly a minimal amount of Matt Bomer in this trailer).
It may not be a massive summer blockbuster like Age Of Ultron or Jurassic World, but in its own way Mr. Holmes is just as intriguing, with Ian McKellen playing a retired Sherlock Holmes who’s in his 90s but lured back into one last case.
Ever since it was announced, Absolutely Anything has been an interesting one, not least because it reunites the Monty Python team – or at least their voices. It also got added poignancy last year when it became clear that one of Robin Williams final performances would be as a talking dog in the movie.
There comes a time in every Marvel film’s life when it needs a poster full of floating heads and bodies in an explosion of Photoshop-montage work, all while the characters look off into the middle-distance. It’s a bit daft but it works, and it has done for decades, not just for Marvel movies.