TheRetroCritic

I talk about American Made in a live vlog.

Some thoughts on Star Trek Discovery .

Some thoughts on the new Tomb Raider trailer.

After finally joining forces on The Expendables and its sequels, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger collaborated again on Escape Plan . Originally titled "The Tomb", this prison escape actioner from 2013 failed to wow critics and audiences alike upon its release. The concept is very much a Tango & Cash meets Escape From Alcatraz meets Fortress type of deal as Ray Breslin (Stallone), an expert who can break out of any prison, is dragged to a state-of-the-art facility that's seemingly unescapable where he befriends fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger). Of course, they decide to help each other out and plan an elaborate escape. The film's concept is instantly ridiculous as the first time we meet Breslin, he breaks out of a jail in the least convincing way possible: think MacGuyver meets Keyser Söze. That said, it's a solid setup for a good old-fashioned, tongue-in-cheek action movie the likes of which both leads would have no doubt bee

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk is a WWII movie following several characters including soldiers, pilots and civilians as they try to survive during an evacuation in the North of France, just before German forces close in. This story is told from different perspectives and periods of time as a British mariner sails a boat towards Dunkirk in order to help the Allied troops while a Spitfire pilot faces numerous potentially deadly challenges in the air and soldiers on the ground try everything they can to stay alive and make it home. The intensity of the expanding war is captured perfectly by showing the humanity and heroism involved alongside the pain and misery these soldiers face every single minute that goes by. No matter how flawed the main characters are, we still understand them and feel for them since none of what they're dealing with is their fault: they just happen to all be stuck in the grimmest mess. These are people who are so tired and beaten that

Director Joe Johnston brought The Rocketeer to life in this Disney film from 1991 starring Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. While it was critically well received, it didn't earn quite enough at the box-office to guarantee a sequel but it's still seen as something of a cult gem. Created in 1982 by comic-book writer/artist Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer is a homage to classic serial heroes: an all-American good guy with one special ability, fighting against cartoonishly evil villains. The ability in question being a jetpack which stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Campbell) finds with airplane mechanic Peevy (Alan Arkin) when a bunch of gangsters steal it from Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn). Cliff uses the rocket pack to save people and fight back against those looking to harm him but this puts his girl Jenny Blake (Connelly) and others close to him in great danger. The main antagonist being Neville Sinclair, a popular Hollywood actor (played by a scene-stealing Timothy Dalton)

With a unashamedly silly title like  Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and a premise this corny, it's no wonder this Sylvester Stallone-starring comedy from 1992 was badly received by pretty much every critic. This looked like an obvious turkey and it's still seen as a complete joke by most. The film sees cop Joe Bomowski (Stallone) get an impromptu visit from his overbearing, if well-meaning, mother (Estelle Getty). She quickly gets on his nerves as she gets involved in every aspect of his life, embarrassing him every step of the way. When Joe's mother becomes a witness to a murder, Joe is soon forced to allow her to be a part of the investigation. This is one of those broad comedies that's predictable from the very first minute: right off the bat, you know that, by the end, Joe will learn a valuable lesson from his initially irritating mother and you know his shaky relationship with JoBeth Williams' Lieutenant will be fixed. On the surface, this is every bit the aw

Following the runaway success of both Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind , Steven Spielberg directed war-themed comedy 1941 back in 1979 and, although it wasn't technically a box-office bomb, it wasn't exactly a hit and it's only years later that it gained a cult following. The film is very loosely based on a mix of real yet mostly disconnected events as it explores the growing paranoia post-Pearl Harbor with US citizens fearing that Japan would attempt another attack and dealing with it in various ways. As an enemy submarine slowly tries to make its way to Los Angeles with the unlikely goal of destroying Hollywood, chaos builds in the city and we follow a variety of characters, each of them doing their own thing, with everything culminating in a cartoonish battle around Santa Monica pier. This is very much an ensemble piece in the vein of Dr Strangelove or American Graffiti with some characters having a very clear goal and others just kind of wandering i

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

Jamie & I discuss The Fate Of The Furious on episode 73 of podcast The Big Rewind .

Michael Bay returns to direct yet another Transformers sequel as the popular yet also critically reviled franchise again promises a darker, more emotional film packed with big, bombastic action scenes and a post-apocalyptic setting. Transformers: The Last Knight opens on a perplexing note as we're thrown into a full-on battle involving the 12 Knights of the Round Table including Merlin the Wizard (not kidding): a Stanley Tucci in full Monty Python mode. As it turns out, Merlin's magical powers were lent to him by early Transformers who allowed him to unleash dragons and such. Somehow, this has an impact on present day where Transformers are outlawed because they are blamed for reducing parts of Chicago to dust. Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is given a talisman by a dying Transformer Knight and he becomes the titular "last knight" as he is supposedly chosen to help defeat evil. With Optimus Prime busy floating in space and talking to octopus-haired robot villaine

I finally talk about Tom Cruise's latest blockbuster The Mummy .

After several false starts, it's looking like our beloved Universal Monsters might just finally get the reboot franchise they were promised years ago as The Mummy kicks off the new "Dark Universe" which would lead to an Avengers or LXG -style team-up. The reviews for this new remake haven't been kind but the presence of Tom Cruise in the lead role with the likes of Johnny Depp and Javier Bardem set to star in further movies might just help confirm this franchise as a done deal despite its lukewarm reception. The original The Mummy was a moody horror film and the Brendan Fraser-starring reboot more of a fun adventure series while this latest effort tries something in between: part-tongue-in-cheek actioner, part-creepy monster movie, this new Mummy certainly has an uneven tone, something that might have alienated some viewers and critics. The plot sees a couple of thieves uncover a hidden Egyptian tomb in war-torn Iraq where they quickly scoop up a mysterious sar

I talk briefly about Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2 .

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

New trailer for The Defenders is finally up! What do you guys think?

As DC prepares his new live-action blockbusters, Batman returned in The LEGO Batman Movie , a spin-off from The LEGO Movie in which the Dark Knight (voiced by Will Arnett) takes centre stage in his very own adventure. Very much in the spirit of the first LEGO Movie, this spin-off is a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek romp packed with silly jokes, familiar characters and colourful LEGO action. The genuinely cool, relentless opening sequence sees The Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) join forces with other Batman villains, even the wacky ones, to execute his latest evil plan. Batman, of course, shows up to save the day and we get a more honest look at what happens with Bruce Wayne after a wild night taking care of the bad guys. Lonely, bored, microwaving lobster thermidors, watching Jerry Maguire on his own: it turns out that working solo has its disadvantages. The film captures the strengths and weaknesses of the Batman character brilliantly and although it's technically a spoof,

It's a fine line between a good thriller and a silly one but the first John Wick movie walked that line effortlessly delivering a tongue-in-cheek action flick with the perfect balance of cool and goofy. The film gave Keanu Reeves the comeback he deserved and a sequel soon followed. John Wick: Chapter 2 picks up roughly where the last film left off with John Wick facing the Russian mob in order to retrieve his beloved black Mustang. Of course, this leads to a big fight scene where John Wick goes around punching, kicking and shooting anything that moves in a parking garage before calling it even with Peter Stormare's mob boss. There's a short cameo from John Leguizamo, who played Wick's mechanic friend in the first movie, and the plot finally kicks in. This time, John Wick is forced to pay back his debt to an ex-assassin colleague when the latter blows up his entire house after Wick initially refuses to help. Pissed off but looking to quickly end this, Wick promptl

With cinematic superhero crossover universes currently competing, so too it looks like monster universes are about to fight it out with The Mummy possibly being the first of a modern Universal Monsters reboot franchise and Godzilla facing Kong in an upcoming sequel. Kong: Skull Island introduces us to the mighty King Kong in a prequel of sorts where a group approved by the US government travels to the evasive Skull Island with a military escort in the 1970's. Don't expect Kong to get chained up and brought back to New York City where he climbs up the Empire State Building etc. in this one. There are some clever nods to these familiar events throughout the film but it's mercifully not just a straight-up retread and, stylistically, it is very different than Peter Jackson's King Kong from 2005. Kong: Skull Island owes a lot more to the likes of Apocalypse Now , Predators and the more over-the-top classic Kong sequels than the 1933 original or any remake. The ea

After two disappointing and critically panned Wolverine movies, Hugh Jackman returns to conclude his X-Men spin-off trilogy on a high note with Logan , the film that, he claimed, would be his last time ever playing the role. We meet Logan much later in the timeline: he is older, weaker, he's an alcoholic limo driver whose days are spent picking up meds to appease a sick Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) deadly seizures. His eyesight is failing, he isn't healing as fast as he used to, even his claws get stuck when they come out so this is a post-Wolverine Logan at his absolute worst on his most physically draining mission yet. Because he is more vulnerable, you feel every punch, every stab and it's genuinely heartbreaking to see such a tough, once unbreakable superhero on auto-pilot, even considering suicide as an option. This is a dark, gritty and mercifully R-rated take on the character FOX studios were reluctant to jump into for so long and yet it's appa