TheRetroCritic

Based on the French graphic novels, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is writer/director Luc Besson's latest sci-fi epic starring Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne as two special agents on a particularly unusual space-set mission. Boasting colourful visuals and lots of action, the trailers for Valerian evoked the fast-paced serial style of The Fifth Element and it definitely looked like fun. The film opens with a cool montage set to David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in which we see the evolution of the titular City Of A Thousand Planets as increasingly odd-looking aliens shake hands with the humans greeting them: it sets the playful tone perfectly and we even get a Rutger Hauer cameo. We then follow a peaceful alien race as their paradise planet is destroyed by spaceships crashing into it out of nowhere and the plot is set in motion as special agent Valerian starts dreaming about that planet's dying princess. The special effects and art style are beautif

I talk a bit about Luc Besson's Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets .

I talk about Gore Verbinski's latest horror thriller A Cure For Wellness .

Gore Verbinski directs this strange horror thriller about a young executive who is sent to Switzerland to bring back his company's CEO. The latter has been staying in a spa or "wellness center" in what can only be described as Dracula's castle so what could go wrong? Dane DeHaan is Lockhart, the cocky up-and-coming employee who is essentially blackmailed into retrieving his own boss and who discovers just how unusual that mysterious establishment really is, the hard way. What was meant to be a quick job soon becomes a descent into Hell as Lockhart suffers a car crash, is forced to stay in the spa as a patient and slowly uncovers the sordid truth about this seemingly idyllic Swiss Alp location. This is a surprisingly derivative thriller as it evokes Shutter Island heavily in terms of plot and tonally resembles a reliably messed-up season of American Horror Story with shades of Guillermo Del Toro thrown in for good luck. On the plus side, A Cure For Wellness deli