TheRetroCritic

Review Overview of all the live-action Astérix films.

A Netflix-distributed release, The Ritual is a British horror film about a group of friends who decide to go hiking in Sweden (and soon find more than they bargained for) following the shocking death of one of their friends when a liquor store robbery goes off the rails. The lost-in-the-woods subgenre of horror movies is one that tends to either surprise (for better or for worse) or fall completely flat. The Ritual aims to be a modern take on The Blair Witch Project crossed with Deliverance  as the protagonists encounter strange twig-made structures in the woods then get picked off one by one by an unknown element. The film mercifully doesn't attempt a hand-held shaky-cam style of storytelling: this is a well paced and acted movie with some excellent cinematography throughout, especially near the climax. Some dream sequences give certain scenes a surreal quality but, unfortunately, they fail to add much in the way of substance. And this is probably the film's biggest sho

I talk a bit about Marvel's Black Panther .

My thoughts on Duncan Jones' latest: Mute .

We review War For The Planet Of The Apes on The Big Rewind .

We review Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk on The Big Rewind .

After hinting for months about what the next Cloverfield film would be and when it would be released, The Cloverfield Paradox finally got a surprise release last night exclusively on Netflix right after the Super Bowl. This straight-to-Netflix approach to the film's release has prompted quite a bit of discussion in terms of whether the movie was just not good enough to get into theatres or whether this is something we're likely to see happen with more and more blockbusters, good or bad, in the future. Frankly, those statements are probably both true. With the success of Bright and others, we're definitely going to be seeing bigger movies released directly to Netflix, that's obvious. And yet, while the surprisingly good 10 Cloverfield Lane re-ignited interest in the Cloverfield franchise, the reality is that The Cloverfield Paradox would have probably bombed at the box-office. The great thing about this particular series of films, apart from its usually clever m

I n this poor-sounding 80th episode of  The Big Rewind , we discuss the Oscar nominations and review Downsizing .   Email us if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  Soundcloud  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar, like a boss. @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

I try a Black Licorice drink from Rocket Fizz.

Pulled from release amidst the sexual misconduct claims that recently surfaced against Louis C.K., I Love You, Daddy , co-written and directed by the disgraced comedian, remains mostly unseen and probably will stay that way for a bit. Did we miss out on a gem or a misguided train wreck? The answer is arguably a bit of both but the horrible timing for this film still lands it firmly in the latter category. The film follows successful Hollywood producer Glen Topher, played by Louis C.K., who freaks out when he suspects that his 17 year-old daughter China (Chloë Grace Moretz) might be having a relationship with respected film director Leslie Goodwin (John Malkovich), who is much, much older. Parallels between Leslie and Woody Allen are tough to ignore as we're told that Leslie has a reputation for liking young girls and is rumoured to be a pedophile. A film criticising Allen's alleged behaviour while being a  Manhattan  pastiche would have certainly been hypocritical coming f

Released in 1981, Modern Problems is an off-beat comedy starring Chevy Chase as a loser air traffic controller who is dumped by his girlfriend then somehow gets covered in nuclear waste which leads to him acquiring telekinetic powers, for some reason. Chevy Chase is a comedian who could easily elevate silly or potentially bland roles to something special. While his movie career has stumbled since the late 90's, probably at least partly due to him having a bad rep with his peers and being apparently difficult to work with, he remains one of the most reliable comedy actors out there. It's a shame, then, that Modern Problems is not a better film. Made when Chase was near the peak of his career, it not only failed to capture the actor's comedic talents but failed to tell a funny, or at least entertaining, story. The concept, while random, could have translated into a really fun movie: Chevy Chase has superpowers, he uses them in silly ways, goes too far, has to redeem him

Wonder Wheel was Woody Allen's 2017 film starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake as two people with a bit of an age gap who start an affair before one of them decides to get together with the other one's younger daughter. If this plot rings any bells, by the way, you've successfully pinpointed the first troubling aspect of this movie. As the world increasingly struggles to separate artists from their, often less-than-remarkable, and sometimes just plain odious, personal lives, it was a bit of a blind gamble for Allen to release a film like Wonder Wheel. A film that, if not consciously, subconsciously evokes the allegations surrounding the celebrated auteur and his daughter Dylan Farrow. Then again, if you've convinced yourself that you have done nothing wrong, why would you bother avoiding certain subtexts? On the surface, Wonder Wheel is your typical Tennessee Williams-style melodrama about people making bad decisions leading them to some ironic tragedy.

I talk about a couple of late 2017 movie releases.

Another year, another Nicolas Cage film that passed by almost unnoticed. Recently released on Netflix, Vengeance: A Love Story is a thriller about a woman who is abused by a group of men one night in front of her daughter and the aftermath of that traumatic event. On paper, this sounds like your typical revenge plot where someone is taken or raped or killed and a good cop takes the law into his own hands once all else fails. The film, perhaps aware of how overplayed that subgenre has become, makes a genuine attempt to keep that aspect of the film in the background and focus on everything else. While this was a wise decision as it allows us to spend more time with and feel for Teena (Anna Hutchison), the victim, and her daughter Bethie (excellent newcomer Talitha Bateman), the film is unfortunately not clever enough to really explore the impact of rape on someone or the justice system's failings on the matter in a way that rings true. Vengeance is like a poorly written essay:

I review the 1992 dark comedy Stay Tuned .

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, mother! is a psychological thriller from 2017 about a couple living in the countryside who get a strange visit from another couple before things get truly out of hand, to say the least. Jennifer Lawrence is the titular mother who lives in an unfinished house with her rather intense husband, a writer (played by the ever-intimidating Javier Bardem) suffering from writer's block until he is visited by a fan and his wife. The latter couple, played by Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer, show up randomly one day as Lawrence's character becomes increasingly suspicious of their bizarre behaviour and nervous about their influence on her husband. "mother" isn't all that normal herself as she appears to be obsessed with fixing her house and spends pretty much all her time walking around looking confused by everything. You're never quite sure what this awkward dynamic between her and her much older husband is all about since they're r

I n this 79th episode of  The Big Rewind , we talk about  Star Trek , King Arthur and review Star Wars: The Last Jedi . Email us if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  Soundcloud  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar, like a boss. @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

I talk about the "controversy" surrounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi .

I talk... for a while... about Star Wars: The Last Jedi .

We debate the controversial Martha twist in Batman V Superman on podcast The Big Rewind. Where do you guys stand on this?