TheRetroCritic

Directed by Duncan Jones, Mute is a science-fiction thriller about a mute bartender who investigates the disappearance of the woman he loves armed with only a notepad and the occasional wooden bat. The film has received mixed reviews since its Netflix release. Having the film come out so soon after a full season of Altered Carbon might have been a bit of a mistake as comparisons between both would no doubt arise, seeing as the film and the show owe a lot to Blade Runner  in terms of tone and visuals. The relatively recent release of Blade Runner 2049 did not help either since, by this point, this vision of the future might not feel quite as unique as it once did. All this coupled with Warcraft 's poor critical reception, the usual straight-to-Netflix stigma and the fact that Mute isn't really what you'd expect, probably means that Duncan Jones' film is destined for cult adoration and mainstream disinterest. While, in a way, this is your typical sci-fi film noir

Clint Eastwood directs this grim, Oscar-winning thriller from 2003 about an investigation following the death of a young girl in a Boston neighbourhood. It stars Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon as three friends who each have a connection to the case in some way. The film is essentially a murder mystery with Bacon and Laurence Fishburne as the detectives and everyone else as the suspects. We're first introduced to the main characters as children and learn that one of them was abducted and abused by two strangers for four days in a dark basement once, which makes for not exactly the most uplifting start to the proceedings but which becomes an important plot point later. We then catch up with the grown up kids years later: Dave (Robbins), who was abused, is now married and has a child, Jimmy (Penn) is an ex-thief with a family and dodgy connections and Sean (Bacon) is a cop. When Jimmy's daughter is found killed one morning, everyone's world is turned upside down a

Peter Ustinov makes his first cinematic appearance as Agatha Christie's iconic Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in Death On The Nile , another all-star-packed outing for the sleuth, taking over from Albert Finney for many, many years to come. This time, the setting is much more exotic than it was in Murder On The Orient Express as Poirot and a bunch of dodgy suspects board a fancy cruise along the Nile. Of course, a murder takes place on said steamer and the renowned detective soon begins his investigation. Well... I say soon but don't expect any murder to occur within at least the first hour as this one certainly takes its time when it comes to moving towards the central crime. After that, luckily, we get all the awkward interrogations and suspicious developments you'd expect from that particular type of whodunit, ending of course with a gathering of all the remaining suspects and the big reveal. The plot follows a love triangle involving wealthy heiress Linnet Rid

Going through a Dario Argento phase it seems. I started watching/re-watching the director's 'classics' the other week starting with the goofy but completely enjoyable Phenomena . And now it's Tenebrae 's turn. Well, no apes this time I'm afraid. This one sees a writer being stalked by a serial killer who keeps getting rid of young ladies all over town in increasingly creative ways. It's a somewhat self-involved whodunit with the semblance of a plot and some inventive camerawork. That's pretty much it. Oh, and the usual mix of shattered glass and breasts thrown in, of course. I think one of the reasons why Tenebrae is so hard to warm up to as a movie is that you don't really get a main character. You don't really get one person you can get behind and follow through the whole thing. Peter Neal's writer is our beacon keeping the plot afloat, for sure, but he's not interesting, he has little personality and his scenes tend to drag