TheRetroCritic

I talk about the adaptation of an Anne Rice classic: Interview With The Vampire .

Review available on the new website .

Talking about the Mission: Impossible franchise, including the latest instalment: Mission: Impossible - Fallout .

We discuss Superman's lack of a moustache in Justice League on podcast The Big Rewind.

With Narcos being such a huge hit on Netflix, it's not too surprising that a movie would come along to capitalise on the show's popularity. American Made stars Tom Cruise as a pilot tasked by the CIA to spy on Central American rebels before he gets involved in all sorts of shady business. Loosely inspired by the true story of pilot Barry Seal, who was involved in drug smuggling back in the 70's and 80's, American Made aims to show the way that governments can use people as pawns then discard them without a care in the world. Barry (Cruise) is landed in various life-threatening situations he can't really get out of without terrible repercussions by the CIA and druglords like Pablo Escobar. He is first hired to fly over enemy bases and take photographs with his plane but, soon enough, he becomes a courier for General Noriega, smuggles drugs and weapons and is being chased by the DEA once the U.S. publicly vows to beat the war on drugs. You definitely feel for th

I talk about American Made in a live vlog.

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

Back in 2003, Tom Cruise starred in Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai , a film chronicling the fall of the samurai at the hands of a tactical collaboration between an increasingly modern Japanese government, its Emperor and the US. If you can get past the idea of Tom Cruise as a samurai and the fact that this is basically Dances With Wolves in a different setting, then The Last Samurai is actually a very good film. Cruise plays disillusioned, alcoholic former US Army Captain Nathan Algren, who is haunted by the memories of massacres involving Native American civilians, as he is hired to help train the Japanese army. He reluctantly agrees to travel to Japan and teach the Japanese soldiers how to use modern weaponry but he is captured after an impromptu battle against the samurai and is brought back to a village where he gets to know Ken Watanabe's Lord Mastumoto, the leader of the samurai rebellion, and learns the ways of the samurai. Realising how much of an underdog the sa

Tom Cruise returns with  Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , the first sequel to 2012's successful action thriller Jack Reacher based on a series of novels by Lee Child. A much less flashy franchise than the Mission: Impossible series, the Jack Reacher films aim for a darker, grittier take on the genre more akin to an episode of 24 than a bombastic blockbuster. While lower key than some of Cruise's other vehicles, the first film did include some stand-out elements like the deliciously tense Bullitt -style car chase, the inspired casting choice of Werner Herzog as the intimidating main villain, a particularly brutal fist-fight and an instantly compelling plot. Most sequels tend to go bigger and sillier but Never Go Back takes a page out of the Bourne movies and keeps things relatively restrained. From the mostly star-free cast to the character-centric approach, this is, against all odds, a significantly less over-the-top film than its predecessor. Which is not to say it's

As if the 80's weren't already 80's enough, in 1986 we got the most patriotic, corniest blockbuster imaginable: Top Gun . Directed by Tony Scott, the film starred Tom Cruise in his then most bankable role and followed cocky fighter jet pilot Maverick as he starts training with the best of the best. If you ever wondered why Michael Bay sets all his films at sunset, the answer is Top Gun as pretty much every scene in Scott's movie takes place in front of a golden sky. We first meet Maverick (Cruise) and his friend Goose (Anthony Edwards) as they show off their bold yet reckless flying and manage to save a panicking pilot who would have otherwise crashed. Because apparently mixed messages are an old navy favourite, they are told off then promoted and sent to the Top Gun school of awesome pilot douchebags where their confident, playful attitude is quickly rejected and criticised before Maverick proves himself worthy. There, they meet alpha-douche Iceman (Val Kilmer), w

In this special 70th episode of The Big Rewind , we talk movie news then play a Big-Ass Game! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here 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! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

The Mission: Impossible franchise is back with yet another larger-than-life adventure in which Tom Cruise is running topless somewhere exotic, kicking all sorts of butt. This time, the main threat being a secret organisation known only as The Syndicate, which is essentially a villainous version of the IMF. They've been causing chaos all around the world and Ethan Hunt (Cruise) has always been one step behind. After Alec Baldwin's government official pretty much closes down the IMF, it'll be up to Hunt and his crack team to take down The Syndicate while acting under the radar. The team in question being composed of computer wizard Benji (Simon Pegg), field agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and all-rounder Luther (Ving Rhames). They also get the help of Isla Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a resourceful badass gal Ethan meets during several missions, though it's not always clear who she works for so trusting her is a gamble throughout. The film opens with the much pr

In this 60th episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, review  Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation  and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here 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  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

Yup, I finally talk about Edge Of Tomorrow . Better late than never, 'ey?

Tom Cruise is finally back in yet another sci-fi blockbuster fighting nasty aliens and saving the world except, this time, he's got some temporal obstacles to face as well. Based on the novel and graphic novels gloriously entitled "All You Need Is Kill", Edge Of Tomorrow sees officer William Cage (Cruise) refuse to be sent to war against the aliens in question, a super-smart squid-like bunch known as "Mimics", before getting thrown into battle against his will. He dies soon enough (in a surprisingly horrible way, might I add) but suddenly wakes up the day before and soon realises that he is resetting the entire day somehow every time he dies. His plan is to figure out what's going on with the help of badass soldier Rita (Emily Blunt), aka "Full Metal Bitch", but the idea soon becomes to try and take down the Mimics using their own sneaky tricks. Rita trains the not-exactly-combat-ready Cage and, eventually, armed with mech-suits, giant swords

In the early 90's, one film taught us how to handle the truth. That film was an all-star cast courtroom drama known as  A Few Good Men . Starring the likes of Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland, the movie could have easily been a dull affair seeing as it all revolved around a trial but somehow it managed to be not only universally accessible but actually surprisingly gripping and memorable. The plot follows a couple of US Navy men as they are arrested for the murder of a fellow soldier. Cruise's cocky military lawyer Daniel is hired to defend them and what could have easily been an open-and-shut case turns out to be much more complicated than that as the accused claim to have been acting under orders. We pretty much know who is to blame early on but it's whether Daniel can prove it or not in court that becomes a primary source of suspense. Also, the military "code" and its unspoken extra rules constantly get in the w

Several years before messing up Tom Cruise's face and going all sci-fi in Vanilla Sky , Cameron Crowe made this romantic comedy about a sports agent turning his life upside down after one night of sobering honesty which sends his career seemingly spiralling down the tubes. It was a huge hit and, back in 1996, no moviegoer didn't yell out "Show me the money!" whenever possible. The film follows sports agent Jerry Maguire (Cruise) as he loses pretty much all his clients in one day after writing a much too honest memo/mission statement. One of his last remaining clients is Cuba Gooding Jr.'s football player whose attitude problem doesn't exactly make him the easiest guy to help get a $10M contract. When Jerry is inevitably fired, he takes some fish with him (they have manners) and is followed into the unknown by a single mother working in his office called Dorothy (played by Renee Zelwegger). Jerry tries everything to make his career work as an independent b

Based on Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles and written by herself, Interview With The Vampire tells the tale of a new vampire's journey from a young, reluctant killer to a fierce, mature vampire through a tell-all interview which the blood-sucker in question has kindly agreed to give. Brad Pitt plays Louis, the suicidal man given a choice (kinda) by Tom Cruise's devilish vampire Lestat to either die or start a whole new life as an immortal. We're introduced to the all-important framing device, Louis giving the interview to Christian Slater's somewhat sceptical dude, before flashing back to hundreds of years prior when the former becomes a vampire. We then follow Louis' slow adjustment into his new life as he struggles to deal with the idea of killing people for blood, Lestat's desperate attempt to make him stay with him by making another vampire, a little girl this time, who then attempts to get rid of Lestat as she and Louis walk the streets in sea