TheRetroCritic

I finally talk about Arrival . Or will I finally talk about Arrival? Or have I...?

Tim Burton's latest, Big Eyes , tells the true story of 1950's-60's artist Margaret Keane and her relationship with then-husband Walter Keane in what is the director's first biopic since Ed Wood . Though the film does explore Margaret's (Amy Adams) art and its popularity, the focus here is on how Walter Keane's (Christoph Waltz) appropriation of his wife's work changed her life in a time when women had little say. After Margaret allows Walter to take all the credit for her big eyed creations (despite a clear initial reluctance), the become something of a sensation and the couple's lifestyle improves radically over the course of only a few years but the cost of giving up her artistic rights become too much for Margaret who is soon forced to live a lie. Tim Burton directing Ed Wood made perfect sense: a big fan of horror and sci-fi B-movies, the man behind the likes of Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks!  wanted to pay homage to another hugely enthusiast

Spike Jonze doesn't make a feature film very often but when he does, it usually goes right up my list of favourite movies. Being John Malkovitch is, to this day, a film I'm still a big fan of, as is Adaptation and Where The Wild Things Are , still   one of the best films about childhood out there in my opinion. From its trailer, Her looked weirdly soppy but its intriguing premise looked like it might have much more to offer and, seeing as the film is just over two hours long, it was bound to have a little more to it than just a quirky guy-meets-phone love story. The film stars the ever-great Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, a lonely dude going through an emotionally draining divorce (Rooney Mara plays the ex) and looking to move on. The story is set some time in the near future which is why Theodore works for a company which writes hand-written (but actually dictated) letters on behalf of random people who hire their services. Also, in the future, moustaches and high-waiste

Directed by David O. Russell, The Fighter sees Mark Wahlberg play a boxer managed by his brother (Christian Bale) who used to be a professional himself before becoming a junkie screw-up. The struggle becomes to figure out a way to juggle family, relationships and a career without anything blowing up in anyone's face. The idea of a gritty warts-and-all look at a fighter's life isn't exactly a brand new concept, especially since The Wrestler only came out two years prior to this movie, but The Fighter is a well-made enough film that it remains compelling from start to finish regardless. The dynamics between the different members of this family are electric and Bale's Oscar-winning portrayal of Dicky Eklund is impressive to say the least. Of course, the actor lost a freakish amount of weight for the role and that physical metamorphosis crossed with a memorably hyper, shifty-eyed performance makes it one of Bale's must-see movies. Mark Wahlberg is much more unders

SPOILER WARNING F***. That'll teach me to get really excited about a blockbuster. Alright, how do I put this without pissing you guys off... Superman Returns was better. Woops... Sorry. I can't think of a film I was more looking forward to than Man Of Steel this year. On paper: there's no way it could have gone wrong. You had a brilliant cast, kick-ass trailers, some great writers behind it, Christopher Nolan as producer, Zack Snyder: a director known for making great-looking movies... But it all led to this: quite possibly the most charmless Superman movie to date. The film opens on the most Avatar -like Krypton you'll ever see (with touches of Dune thrown in for camp value) as we follow Jor-El (Russell Crowe) who is busy worrying about the fact that the entire planet is about to explode, though he doesn't seem too bothered about leaving the dying world himself, or getting his wife to safety somehow. Jor-El also happens to be at the heart of a

Here's the new Man Of Steel trailer. Still lookin' good ;)