Entertainment
Nativity through the eyes of animals
Monday 11 December 2017 | Published in Entertainment
When you think about the story of Jesus on film, most movies seem to follow a similar theme - his life, his death, and ultimately, his resurrection.
Raising a laugh from sad Christmas
Monday 4 December 2017 | Published in Entertainment
Depending on your views, the Christmas period can either be the most exciting or the most frightening time of the year.
I'm in love with 'Mexican Moana'
Monday 27 November 2017 | Published in Entertainment
When it was announced that Coco would be the one to follow the amazing film that was Moana, it looked like Disney might have learned all the wrong lessons from the successful Polynesian film.
They've still yet to do the League Justice
Monday 20 November 2017 | Published in Entertainment
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Real-life superheroes fight fire with fire
Monday 13 November 2017 | Published in Entertainment
This week sees the release of a new superhero team-up movie, Only the Brave.
Bigfoot lacking in wonder
Monday 6 November 2017 | Published in Entertainment
Another day, another white kid finds out that he’s “special”.
Movie's a marvel – but avoid the trailer
Monday 30 October 2017 | Published in Entertainment
It’s unclear when it exactly happened, but nowadays movie trailers are treated like their own special event.
Geostorm plot politics disguised as action
Monday 23 October 2017 | Published in Entertainment
It’s an inconvenient truth that climate change is man-made.
Great scenario, pity about the execution
Monday 16 October 2017 | Published in Entertainment
The idea of a person living a single day over and over again can provide an interesting scenario for a movie.
Flatliner delivers nothing more than cliches
Monday 2 October 2017 | Published in Entertainment
After a couple of decades watching mainstream movies, you learn there are certain immutable rules of the multiplex universe that are seldom disobeyed.
Golden Circle action all the way
Monday 25 September 2017 | Published in Entertainment
What is the etiquette in movie theatres?
Goodtime movie has heartfelt message
Monday 18 September 2017 | Published in Entertainment
Man – oops, girl, that was a funny movie.
Wind River well worth watching
Monday 11 September 2017 | Published in Entertainment
“Snow and silence”
American Made takes off after dodgy start
Monday 28 August 2017 | Published in Entertainment
The opening scenes in American Made look as though someone saw the 2016 film Sully, also a true story about a pilot, and learned all the wrong lessons.
Dark Tower's storyline a bit too familiar
Monday 21 August 2017 | Published in Entertainment
Think about if you’ve seen this before: A young boy or girl (but usually a boy), lives in a world where he just doesn’t feel right, where he doesn’t totally fit in.
Horrible, but not in the intended way
Monday 14 August 2017 | Published in Entertainment
There must have been once upon a time when a door closing ominously in the background would have made audiences afraid, or lights flickering on and off must have had people squeezing their partner’s hand in fright.
Film goers go Ape for packed opening night
Saturday 29 July 2017 | Published in Entertainment
One of the hardest things to do in film is to finish a trilogy on a satisfying note.
Nolan strikes a masterpiece in Dunkirk
Monday 24 July 2017 | Written by Rashneel Kumar | Published in Entertainment
At first Dunkirk sounded like some battalion name to me when the trailer of this movie was released at the Empire Cinema.
Baby, I'm on board with this one
Tuesday 18 July 2017 | Published in Entertainment
There are few pleasures in the world that match seeing the words, “A film by Edgar Wright”, appear on the title screen.
Spider Homecoming a refreshing return
Monday 10 July 2017 | Published in Entertainment
Were you surprised to hear that Marvel had tapped New Zealand director Taika Waititi on the shoulder to take the reins of the latest Thor installment? Yeah, me too. But after a bit of thought and a typical reviewer’s case of 20/20 hindsight, it seemed sensible, with a whiff of inevitability about it. Marvel have a brief but proud and wildly successful tradition now of picking directors based on their ability to establish a credible character out of incredible circumstances, and – maybe even more importantly, to tell a joke. And by that criteria, Taika, with Eagle vs Shark, Boy and Hunt For The Wilderpeople on his showreel, was a prime candidate for Marvel ascension. Forget about the fact that he’s never made a film not set in New Zealand before, let alone Asgard. By Marvel’s algorithms, Taika is going to do just fine. And compared to Spiderman: Homecoming helmer Jon Watts, Taika is wildly over-qualified. Watts has exactly two other feature films on his brief CV. One is called Cop Car, and the other is called Clown. Now, I’ve seen Cop Car – and that puts me in a pretty small minority. It’s a solid and occasionally very smartly put together thriller that goes into some gratifyingly dark, bleakly funny and irresolvable places before the wheels finally fall off in the home straight. For Kevin Bacon completists, it’s well worth a look. But I can’t say I saw anything in Cop Car that made me immediately think Watts would be anywhere within shouting distance of the shortlist of directors to be handed the keys of the latest installment of one of the world’s most money-printing-est franchises. Which is what the Marvel slate currently is. Naturally, I was wrong. Watts and Marvel co-head honcho and creative overlord Kevin Feige have crafted a Spiderman reboot for the ages. And they’ve done it by taking the film right back to its comic book origins. It’s set in the present day – and also in Marvel’s present, post-Civil War and years after The Avengers and The Battle of New York – but this Spidey is gratifyingly true to the kid-centric world of the comic-book character. British actor Tom Holland (The Impossible) is a convincingly adolescent Peter Parker, finding some pleasingly dorky and awkward moments for his still high-school aged hero. We were introduced to Holland’s Spidermen/Peter Parker in Civil War, and there was maybe an expectation that Spiderman: Homecoming would see the kid in the red and blue take his place on the starting team roster. But no. Parker is told by Robert Downey Jr’s Ironman basically to go back to school and look after his grades and family for a while yet. Which seems like not the worst advice in the world for a kid still too unsure of himself to ask a girl on a date. The villain of the piece is the Vulture, played, unimprovably, by Michael Keaton. Although the nod to the Keatonaissance-launching Birdman character is unescapable and fun. Keaton is perfect as he goes about sketching in the character’s back story as Adrian Toomes. This Toomes is a borderline gangster who just wants to carve himself out his own slice of the American dream and knows he’s going to have to get his hands a little dirty to do it. Done out of a lucrative salvage business by Tony Stark’s possibly self-serving co-opting of the contract on all the left-over alien technology and weaponry after the busted Chitauri invasion that was the centre-piece of
