Plane ★★½ GERARD BUTLER seems to always be working…which isn’t necessarily a good thing. There is no doubt the Scottish actor is a survivor in the crowded field of older male screen action stars. But, unfortunately, most of his output over the past decade has been pretty standard with Butler […]

Paint by numbers with Gerard

The Mother  ★★½ JENNIFER Lopez is always up against it All actors have to convince you they are a character; but Lopez also has to first make you believe you aren’t watching Jennifer Lopez the music star. Theres no doubt she can deliver a strong performance with the right material, […]

Lopez fights uphill battle

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3  ★★★½ WHAT a great character Rocket the raccoon from the Guardians of the Galaxy film series is. He’s a tough, snappy, smart-arse little fella who is also loyal to the fault. The first two films hinted at a dark story behind his strange, hybrid […]

Rocket backstory an emotional finale

Missing   ★★★ MISSING is one of the better so-called ‘screen life’ thrillers. This 2023 American film, the debut feature for directorial team Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, is the third in a loose trilogy that also includes Searching (2018) and Run (2020). I say loose because there isn’t a lot […]

‘Screen life’ films improving

Fast X  ★★½ NEVER thought I would write this but here goes…thank God for Jason Mamoa. While his performance in Fast X is uneven and downright odd at times, it’s still the best thing about the 10th instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise. Fast X mostly spins its wheels […]

Mamoa revs up Fast franchise

Renfield  ★★★½ CAGE is back baby. As per his usual pattern, after a couple of throwaway roles, Nicholas Cage gives us something to sink our teeth into. In 2019 it was Pig and last year The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. This year it’s the hilarious action horror comedy Renfield. […]

Cage sinks teeth into latest role

Infinity Pool  ★★★½ THE masters of sci-fi horror cinema happen to be a father and his son. David Cronenberg has dominated this genre mix for nearly half a century and is still delivering, most recently with Crimes of the Future. Son Brandon has only been directing features for the past […]

Drown in the Infinity Pool

Condor’s Nest ★★★ AN AMERICAN war veteran, a renegade ex-Nazi and an Israeli secret agent reluctantly join forces to hunt down fugitive war criminals in South America. Along the way they double-cross each other and evade a variety of Nazi killers before a final showdown at a secret, heavily guarded […]

Lack of budget kills execution

Fear Street Part One: 1994 ★★★½ Fear Street Part Two: 1978 ★★★½ Fear Street Part Three: 1666 ★★★ AMERICAN author R.L. Stine has had a formidable career, selling more than 400 million books. The great majority of his work has been a mix of adventure, fantasy and horror aimed at […]

R. L. Stine with added sex and gore

Boston Strangler ★★★½ THE ending of historical crime drama Boston Strangler had me scrambling for the internet. I hadn’t realised there was such ongoing debate over the deaths of 13 women in Boston in the 1960s. Most people of my vintage would have grown up knowing the basic history of […]

DeSalvo story continues to intrigue

Blood ★★★ THE American horror film Blood is good enough to help you ignore the fact that Let The Right One In (the 2008 Swedish original version) is still the best version of this story. Having said that, to be honest this was a pleasant surprise for a blind rental. […]

Monaghan helps Blood flow

Air ★★★½ SOME critics have dismissively referred to Ben Afflex’s Air as a movie about a contract being signed – for a shoe. That’s true and, more importantly, despite its genre being sports drama, there is no sport and little drama. You also barely see the actor who plays the famous […]

Affleck and Damon team up for Air