TheRetroCritic

Despite the lukewarm reception of both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons , this year saw Ron Howard bring us yet another instalment based on Dan Brown's popular series of novels. Inferno continues Robert Langdon's (Tom Hanks) quest to save the world through running around museums and solving obscure historical puzzles. We first meet Langdon as he wakes up in hospital following some kind of accident he can't remember. His vision blurred and memory fuzzy due to head trauma, he is led out of the hospital by Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) who sees an assassin heading her patient's way. Strange, apocalyptic dreams and a hidden item lead Langdon and Brooks to slowly uncover the truth behind a mystery linked to Dante's Inferno. The real challenge for Robert Langdon this time is having to try and stop a potential terrorist plot despite not knowing who to trust because of partial amnesia. This being a Ron Howard film, it is competently made: the tense hosp

Just when you thought the Star Wars franchise was well and truly done with prequels after the last three got so retroactively panned, here we have Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which takes place directly before Episode IV with a Han Solo prequel already in the works. Felicity Jones is Jyn, the daughter of research scientist Galen Orso (Mads Mikkelsen) who is one day taken by the Empire. Not sure whether her father is alive or dead, Jyn is rescued by a man called Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and she eventually becomes a Rebel. When the Rebels find a message from Orso to Gerrera, they take Jyn to help deliver it but, with the Death Star being finally built and Imperial douchebag Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) on the Rebels' tail, this proves more difficult than anticipated. Soon enough, an unlikely team is assembled, their rogue mission being to steal the Death Star plans and deliver them to the right people. The team includes blind swordsman Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) and his p

I put on my best Christmas sweater and talk Rogue One: A Star Wars Story .