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POCAHONTAS - REVIEW

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Disney's Pocahontas was released back in 1995 and it was a relative box-office success despite critics not praising much more than the animation itself. To say that this is a loose adaptation of the Pocahontas real life story would be a gross understatement. Indeed, Disney's reluctance to approach Native American History in an honest way prompted quite a bit of criticism since the film's release, and rightly so. A lot of liberties are taken with what the film calls the "legend" of Pocahontas from the unlikely romance between Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) and British colonist Captain John Smith (Mel Gibson), the former being around 10 years-old in reality at that point, to the relationship between Native Americans and the English settlers. The film constantly romanticises otherwise not-so-pleasant events and replaces the more potentially uncomfortable conversations with cutesy cartoon animals and big Broadway-style musical numbers. A magical fantasy element is ad

LETHAL WEAPON 4 - REVIEW

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A whopping 6 years after Lethal Weapon 3 , we somehow got another sequel to the iconic buddy cop action franchise starring Mel Gibson as loose cannon Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger "Too Old For This Shit" Murtaugh. A little older but not much wiser, the LAPD duo are still taking on bad guys in the streets in the most destructive and explosive ways possible but now, with Riggs' girlfriend Lorna (Rene Russo) and Murtaugh's daughter being pregnant, they're having to consider their age and their future. On top of that, you've got a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring being exposed which builds into a money laundering masterplan led by Jet Li's intimidating villain. And, of course, Leo (Joe Pesci) is thrown in there for added comic relief, as if having Chris Rock fast-talking his way through some of his leftover stand-up routines wasn't enough. It's a bit of a bloated, unfocused script and one wishes that some of it had been edited out or poli

LETHAL WEAPON 3 - REVIEW

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Having proven themselves to be an action movie duo worth sticking around for, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover joined forces again for Lethal Weapon 3 in 1992 and the film did reliably well at the box-office but how did the film compare to the franchise's previous two outings? It's easy to forget how serious in tone the first Lethal Weapon was, with Martin Riggs (Gibson) having suicidal tendencies and all, but if you were to skip the sequel and watch this third instalment right after the original you'd probably think you had somehow stumbled onto a live-action cartoon version of Shane Black's cop movie classic by mistake. Indeed, while Lethal Weapon 2 pushed the comedy aspect of the two main characters' unlikely friendship a tad more, this movie is mostly a straight-up lolfest with the exception of a couple of more emotional scenes. By giving Joe Pesci's mouthy informant/real estate agent Leo more screen-time, the film runs the risk of turning the character in

MAD MAX - REVIEW

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There's never been a better time to revisit a movie which basically started a whole sci-fi subgenre and led to one of this year's best blockbusters. Mad Max was the film which gave Mel Gibson his big break and provided a welcome alternative to Hollywood's movie-making machine. Now, if you've never seen Mad Max, don't sit and watch it expecting Mad Max: Fury Road . Those two movies may share the same character but one is expensive and is set in a post-apocalyptic desert world with some, admittedly pretty, CGI thrown in while the other is very low-budget and is set in what looks like pre-apocalyptic small town Australia. There are trees, houses, cops, Halls Of Justice (of sorts), there's still some form of society present here. For something closer to Fury Road, you might want to just check out Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior but why would you not want to know how Max became "Mad" Max? This is one character arc that's worth sitting through, trus

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD - REVIEW

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The problem with sequel/reboots (sequoots, if you will) is that you never know what you're going to get but, most likely, you're not getting the good stuff. And just when you're getting sick and tired of those reboots (and sequoots), obviously a great one comes along to make you rethink the validity of the whole thing. Yes, Mad Max: Fury Road is pretty awesome. With Tom Hardy taking over the role of Max Rockatansky, a role which put Mel Gibson on the map back in the day, George Miller returning to directing duties and a killer trailer promising great things, this looked set to be a good time, at the very least. Then again, the Conan The Barbarian remake had a cool trailer too so it could have all gone pear-shaped very quickly. Thankfully, Miller's insistence that all the cars in the film would have to be built for real along with often stunning cinematography by John Seale, a great cast and some brilliant character design means that Mad Max: Fury Road is, in fa

THE EXPENDABLES 3 - VLOG 18/08/14

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It's Sly time again as I put myself through The Expendables 3 . Had to be done.

THE EXPENDABLES 3 - REVIEW

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What is The Expendables about, really? As a franchise, I mean. It's about a bunch of old badass dudes doing badass stuff, killing bad guys in ridiculous ways, overkills aplenty, the whole thing peppered with bad one-liners and people overcompensating for several things with oversized weapons. It's not exactly rocket science, but it doesn't need to be: it works. And yet... Somehow, in between the actually not too bad The Expendables 2 and this one, it seems that the franchise's maestro, Sylvester Stallone, has forgotten what the hell this whole thing was about in the first place. After a silly opening action sequence, we find ourselves in yet another silly action sequence except that, at the end of that one, a member of the "crew" is badly injured by Mel Gibson's villain. Something for which I blame Stallone's Barney Ross entirely, by the way, since he completely ruined the entire mission and put everyone at risk by yelling the bad guy

LETHAL WEAPON 2 - REVIEW

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After the box-office hit that was Lethal Weapon , Richard Donner came back to direct this sequel which, of course, once again starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as mismatched buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh. This time, the duo face off against a group of South African drug dealers seemingly untouchable due to their diplomatic immunity claims. The film is much lighter than the original in tone at first with a focus on car chases and our main guys interacting like an old married couple, as ever. There's much less of a spotlight on Riggs' suicidal tendencies this time but his late wife's murder eventually comes into play later on in the film, leading us to a surprisingly dark but rewarding denouement. Murtaugh has a lot to deal with in this movie in that pretty much everything that happens to him sees him become the laughing stock of the force: whether it's his daughter starring in a condom commercial or sitting on a toilet bomb. Riggs is given a new love interest in P

THE EXPENDABLES 3 - TEASER TRAILER

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Well, The Expendables 3 finally has a trailer. Of sorts. Ok, it's kinda lame but at least we learn two things: 1/ It's the third film. 2/ All these peeps are in it: Shame you can't really see any of them properly and that one of them is missing (probably Kelsey Grammer?) but here's hoping that the next trailer gives us a little more than an awkward mass catwalk and some whistling. To be continued...

LETHAL WEAPON - REVIEW

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One year before Die Hard , a little film called Lethal Weapon came out and gave us a solid mix of 80's cop action and Christmas spirit. The film spawned several sequels, of course, and became one of the action franchises to follow. But how does the very first film hold up? Probably the darkest film in the franchise, Lethal Weapon focuses more on Riggs' (Mel Gibson) depression and Murtaugh's (Danny Glover) family life than the actual crime plot at hand, which almost feels like a subplot at times. The villains, Gary Busey's Joshua, a tough ex-army guy turned ruthless killer, and Mitch Ryan's General do pop up now and then, offering the odd action beat but all in all, this first film is more of a character piece about the slow building of an unlikely friendship. A lot of emphasis is put on Riggs' suicidal state following the death of his wife as we see him get dangerously close to killing himself and almost jeopardising various cases. Luckily, he's

SIGNS - REVIEW

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After ghosts and superheroes, it was soon time for M. Night Shyamalan to go down the alien route. Taking a page out of Steven Spielberg's book, this was the up-and-coming director's nod to Close Encounters Of The Third Kind : crop circles, ludicrous TV reports, paranoia, UFOs, the whole deal. Signs certainly starts off promisingly and gives you the impression that you're about to sit through a thrilling mystery chock-full of fun Twilight Zone -style twists and turns. James Newton Howard's Bernard Herrmann-esque score hinting at an entertaining roller-coaster ride of light-hearted horror sci-fi shenanigans! For the most part, Signs does deliver just that. You've got Shyamalan's usual brand of slow build-ups and schlocky jump-scares, which work really well in that genre. Joaquin Phoenix, the two kids (a very young Abigail Breslin and Rory Culkin) and most of the supporting cast seem to be having fun with their characters and the first hour or so offers some g

MACHETE KILLS - TRAILER

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Taco time!