Why Did I Stay Silent During Awards Season?

When it comes to what I publish here I try to stick to reviews and analysis because while injecting opinion into reviews is part of the job of a critic, forcing your opinion on others is not the aim of the game. I occasionally share the odd one line comment on Twitter but I have …

Review: Happy Death Day 2U (2019) – Killed By The Kitchen Sink

Ever since the emergence of the Paranormal Activity series and the studio behind it, Blumhouse Productions we have been given a plethora of low-budget horror films to fill our time, some more successful than the others. For every The Purge we got Ouija and films like it. Luckily when Happy Death Day premiered in 2017 it managed …

Review: The Lego Movie 2 (2019) -What’s Next?

Back in 2014 we were introduced to the cinematic world of Lego and since then we have had three movies of varying success showing that despite the awkwardly shaped hair they can be characters too. While I didn't enjoy 2017's Lego Batman Movie, the opening movie was new, original and particularly funny thanks to Phil …

Review: Fighting With My Family (2019) – A Tough Nut to Crack

While implying an outlandish comedy that takes some risks in its approach to comedy, Fighting With My Family is far from the laugh out loud comedy its title suggests. This is far more conventional than most would expect and while some smaller moments work on a dramatic level its hard to find the core of …

Review: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2019) – Be The Best You, You Can Be

When I finally got around to watching Can You Ever Forgive Me in cinemas I didn't know it would be the last film I would watch before a forced sabbatical brought on by a draining cold that seemed to linger much longer than it should have, like an extended family member at a birthday party. …

Review: Alita: Battle Angel (2019) – Wide Eyed Naivete

Trying to say something new is every filmmakers goal, or at least it should be with everything they do. Be it something little, a human eccentricity that highlights a story or an emotion or something huge, like Avatar's brave new world of new and wondrous creatures. You don't have to construct a whole new world …

Review: How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) – We Stand Alone

When it was announced soon after the first How To Train Your Dragon film that there would be a trilogy I could not be happier. Coming off of an innovative starting picture that put so much time and effort into its central duo and its conceit that you couldn't help but fall in love with …

Review: Polar (2019) – In Excess

Usually when I use the word frenetic it relates to the pace of a film. The way it whips through its story and keeps you locked on it because it is on a race for the finish line. However when I describe Polar, the only word other than unique I can use is frenetic and …

Review: Beautiful Boy (2019) – A Perfect Memory

Addiction is a concept not a lot of us understand, and some do all too well. While we all might know someone with an addictive personality we might not know someone truly struggling. What is clear however is that this isn't a black and white issue, it isn't something to be fixed in a Hollywood …

Review: Green Book (2019) – The Road Less Travelled

When people say the name Peter Farrelly they think of slapstick comedies like Dumb and Dumber or There's Something About Mary. Green Book wouldn't even enter into the conversation. That is why it is so surprising that Farrelly's latest is a straight-laced road movie that pushes against the notions of racism, bigotry and homosexuality while …