the rock

Film Review: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a love letter to the force that is Nicolas Cage

In the lead-up to the release of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage spoke of the countless VOD titles he had littered his filmography with over the last decade-or-so – film choices made primarily to pay off serious debt – with a positive tongue.  Whilst such trashy thrillers as Inconceivable, Trespass, and Left…

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Film Review: Jungle Cruise is charming, old-fashioned fun bolstered by the chemistry of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt

As much as Jungle Cruise owes its filmic inception to the success of fellow Disney-theme-park-attraction-turned-blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean, this light-hearted, gloriously old-fashioned adventure is just as much in debt to such titles as The Mummy and The African Queen. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with honouring the spirit of those films in such a…

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Film Review: Jumanji: The Next Level avoids serious franchise fatigue by adopting just enough freshness

The hybrid reboot/sequel that was 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a mammoth success that I suspect not even Sony was anticipating.  Sure, they threw considerable weight behind the project but in the wake of Star Wars: the Last Jedi‘s release, a near billion dollar haul worldwide was an unprecedented outcome, to say the…

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Film Review: Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw crackles with energy

It’s hard to believe that a franchise that started out as little more than a soft remake of Point Break, pinning Vin Diesel and his disposable crew against low-rent law enforcement with the street racing scene as its background, has transformed itself into a billion dollar commodity where secret agents take on international terrorists.  And…

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Film Review: Skyscraper (USA, 2018) delivers lunacy and ridiculous physic-defying stunts in spades

Is there anything Dwayne Johnson can’t overcome? Earthquakes, tsunamis, oversized gorillas, Vin Diesel’s ego…the hulking man mountain has tackled them all and emerged victorious.  For his latest spat with big screen-worthy roadblocks, the man no longer credited with his “Rock” moniker faces his biggest challenge yet – a skyscraper some three-times taller than the Statue…

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