ELVIS: A Tribute to Tragedy
Any movie review of “Elvis” will need to be based on putting aside all of what you thought you knew of “The King”. Is the legend in your mind based on truth or media highlights? Elvis through the creative eyes of Baz Luhrman and the proxy of Col. Tom Parker is an eye-opening, mind shocking […]
Lightyear: To Infinity Again
In this Lightyear movie review we first consider the origin story in reverse. 27 years ago in a small New Zealand country town, I took my three-year-old daughter to see Toy Story, the most amazing movie to break the cinematic mould thanks to the arrival of Pixar. With the wonder of computer animation being birthed […]
Jurassic World Dominion
Clawing its way back into our cinematic lives is the latest release and final episode in the trilogy, aptly called Jurassic World Dominion. It’s hard to believe we are around 29 years from when Steven Spielberg brought the Michael Crichton novel to life in 1993 with Jurassic Park. I have had the privilege of visiting […]
Tolkien Movie: Life is brutal, love seems futile, yet Fellowship abounds
You don’t need to see Tolkien to know that life is a battlefield. But to experience life through J. R. R. Tolkien’s eyes, is to understand the quest, the journey and the ascent. If your day starts by shaking the hands of dragons when you would prefer to dance with damsels; if your life lacks […]
Movie Review: The Railway Man
Arriving in theatres in January 2014 is The Railway Man, a movie to give new meaning to the legends of war stories such as Schindler’s List and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Through the eyes of a British soldier, Eric Lomax we are captured with fellow soldiers who have been caught by the Japanese […]
Movie Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Walter Mitty is a snooze-you-lose day-dreamer and in 1947 no one knew how to play the day-dreamer better than Danny Kaye. The Samuel Goldwyn film constructed from the short story work James Thurber was a success and I should know. My 13yo loved watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at Grandma and Granddad’s so […]
Movie Review: Enders Game
The latest sci-fi movie Enders Game aimed at the younger audience comes in with a mixture of teenage Battlestar Galactica angst and then loads it with a hint of a Hunger Games survival story. In Enders, Game Earth has survived an onslaught attack from the Formics, an alien race of insect-like creatures. It was only […]
Movie Review: Beyond the Edge
Beyond the Edge is a stunning 3D vista of a movie that we should treasure and promote for its unique way of focusing our gaze. Many historical documentaries seek to give us a view through a long lens back to the past. With Beyond the Edge we should be proud that the storytellers have actually […]
Movie Review: Prisoners
This ‘out of nowhere’ movie about a kidnapping that will shake parents to the core is gaining a lot of support from writer Aaron Guzikowski. The writer of Contraband can thank Mark Wahlberg for taking a script that had little attention and driving it to the point we have a tension-filled masterpiece on screen. The […]
Kevin Spacey Speech – It’s the Creative Stupid!
Kevin Spacey’s recent speech to the Edinburgh Television Festival has hit all the right nerves. After the critically acclaimed success of his new TV series “House of Cards” on Netflix, Spacey sets the tone for how the production of storytelling through television should and must change. His ‘pitch’ as an election slogan is “It’s the […]