TheRetroCritic

This year Netflix released Bright , a fantasy cop movie starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, the latter playing an Orc of all things. Directed by David Ayer, the film quickly became a popular target for everyone to trash and make fun of. Set in an alternate present where elves, fairies and other creatures live side-by-side, the film sees human cop Daryl Ward (Smith) reluctantly partner up with an Orc as they spend a whole night dealing with dirty cops, protecting a powerful magic wand and running away from the likes of evil elves, Mexican gangsters, Orcs and the Feds. It's been compared to Alien Nation and, indeed, there are obvious similarities but the film is so derivative that it somehow comes back around to feeling rather original and fresh. There's definitely a heavy-handed message about racism in there that, while relevant, is hard to take completely seriously when everyone's talking about magic wands the whole time. Bright wants to be a lot of things but it n

I finally talk about DC's latest Suicide Squad . I'm known to be quite vexing, I'm just forewarning you.

Here's the video version of my Suicide Squad review.

Batman V Superman may not have been the runaway success DC was hoping for but, bad reviews aside, it's looking like Suicide Squad might just be their best bet yet with fans praising the film left and right, defending it defiantly. The promise of a dysfunctional team of villains working for the good guys in a colourful, violent adventure like no other with a brand new Joker and a live-action Harley Quinn thrown in certainly sounded promising and more fun than Zack Snyder's recent output. The good news is that Suicide Squad is like the anti- Man Of Steel : fast, wacky, cartoonish, playful, it constantly aims to entertain and, very often, it does just that. More good news is the cast mostly works with Margot Robbie clearly having a great time with her portrayal of cosplayer favourite Harley Quinn, Will Smith getting all the best lines and Jai Courtney almost stealing the show in a career-best turn as Captain Boomerang. You can also expect some nifty cameos from certain supe

Gothamized  is a completely unofficial guide to new series  Gotham  and a debate arena for all things Batman. CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE In this 14th episode, we discuss the tenth episode of  Gotham , Alfred, Will Smith, Viola Davis and Danny Elfman. (for my written review of the Gotham Pilot,  click here! ) Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us on podcast  The Big Rewind  (available on iTunes) and send us emails with your Bat-questions, Six Degrees challenges and riddles here:  gothamized@gmail.com (for the pilot episode  CLICK HERE )

Poor M. Night Shyamalan... It's really weird to see a director be so respected one second and the next have every single one of his projects become the subject of ridicule. Now, I've seen The Happening . I get it. That was one BAD movie, but even as that, I still liked it. It was really entertaining, had some decent ideas in there, despite everything, and was altogether very funny (intentionally so, alas). The Last Airbender did not anger me as much as it did many others. Don't get me wrong, as an adaptation of the cartoon series, it fails completely but as an effects-heavy kids' action flick, I enjoyed it more than a lot of the kid-friendly crap we get these days. It was entertaining and I had fun with it, despite the poor script and shoddy performances from the young cast. With After Earth , there was a real opportunity to go back to something a little more imaginative, a little more edgy. In a way, After Earth  is more imaginative and edgier but it stil