TheRetroCritic

Tom Cruise is back. In Jack. Reacher, that is. In what may start some kind of lasting Bourne-style action franchise (but probably won't), Jack Reacher sees tough cookie ex-army Sherlock dude Jack Reacher (well, duh) being hired to help shed light on a case involving a sniper taking out a seemingly random group of people for no apparent reason. Of course, Reacher suspects there's much more to it than just another psycho losing it and leads his own investigation. What follows is a CSI-meets-Mission-Impossible hybrid which sees Tom Cruise, as usual, taking his top off and acting way taller than he actually is. Oh, also Werner Herzog, of Werner Herzog fame, pops up as mysterious villain "The Zec" who doesn't do much besides talking and sitting but manages to be awesome nonetheless thanks to his inherent, unparalleled Herzoginess. Give the guy a dead eye, a gnarled hand, a dark setting to monologue into and voila! That classic documentary-friendly soothing v

With Werner Herzog documentaries, you never really know what to expect. Would you have thought for one second that The Wild Blue Yonder would have been a sci-fi alien movie set on another planet which in fact is Earth and...actually it turns out you're not watching a sci-fi alien movie at all but an abstract documentary about...Man?! Yeah, this one's not that mad but in the same spirit. Like the filmmaker states early on, this isn't another movie about penguins. It isn't even really a movie about the beauty of Antarctica but rather a realistic look at the place and mostly the weirdos that work there, clearly isolated from the rest of the world and slowly, it seems, becoming eccentric hermits as a result. Herzog doesn't sugarcoat Antarctica for us. Sure he shows us the beauty of the glaciers etc. but also questions the validity of Man's presence there and how it's essentially awkward for us to be there in the first place (hence the rampant madness goin

After a month devoid of any cinematic depth whatsoever, all hopes of seeing something worthwhile rested on Mr Herzog's shoulders. Thankfully, the off-beat director stayed true to himself and, indeed, didn't disappoint. I should point out that Cave of Forgotten Dreams is by no means Herzog's best film, or documentary for that matter and for the uninitiated this might not be the best place to start in terms of watching Herzog's films. That said, it is a great experience and a thoughtful, important film. At times COFD feels a bit like documentation and I'm guessing that was part of the intention since the titular caves aren't actually open to the general public. The director jumps on the 3D bandwagon but what seemed like an odd move, from the very first shot feels right. The depths of the cave are impressively re-created and you really get a sense of being there. In many ways, this is a typically Herzoggian experience: soothing voice-over monologues, albino

After a decade packed with lame action-hero roles ( Next , Bangkok Dangerous ) and cheesy nonsense ( Knowing , World Trade Centre ), Nicolas Cage returns to the top of his game with one of his all time greatest, craziest performances. Cage is no stranger to playing awkward, random, wackos and with films like Wild At Heart , Vampire's Kiss and Raising Arizona under his belt it seems like pairing up with Werner Herzog is no less than a match made in heaven. Bad Lieutenant sees the titular lieutenant spiral down into a drug-infused folly whilst trying to solve a crime he may or may not even care about. The film could be seen as a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -style drug comedy or a dark thriller but truthfully, it's a bit of both. A black comedy cop movie with enough random insanity to satisfy Herzog's followers and pretty much anyone with a dark sense of humour. A strange, unique creation which will no doubt alienate some but which will make others Nic