TOP TEN FUTURE MOVIE SPORTS (full article at The Reel Word)

Sports, sports, sports! Everyone loves sports don't they? We're just a big old sports loving nation. Well, I've got some news for you, buddy. Future society isn't content with our boring, pedestrian 21st century sports. Whether you're living in a grim dystopia, ruled by scheming corporate overlords, or just trundling about a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the future sports punter wants to raise the stakes. So you’ll be in for something brutal, from a more basic age. Or something too convoluted and futuristic for our puny, antiquated brains to understand. Gladiatorial variations are popular, as are violent evolutions of today's games. Future sport is big business. Future sport is life and death. Future sport is secretly critiquing society as a whole. So sit back, pick a team and get ready for kick off with the Top Ten Future Movie Sports.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/top-ten-future-movie-sports/

THE BLOB (full review at The Reel Word)

In 1988 the relatively unknown director / writer team of Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont, fresh off A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, tackled a new version of a classic Steve McQueen monster movie. Russell would go on to score a big hit with Jim Carrey comedy The Mask, and Darabont  would achieve global acclaim with his much-loved adaptation of Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption. But the seeds of their future success were sown in the gory, body horror slime of their Blob remake.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/reel-classic-the-blob-1988/

IMDB: The Blob

GREEN ROOM (full review at The Reel Word)

Jeremy Saulnier’s sophomore movie, Blue Ruin, by-and-large slipped under the radar for a lot of people. But those that managed to catch it witnessed a tense, brutal tour-de-force; a stunning, bloody revenge picture that lingered long in the memory. Fortunately, for those of us excited to see how he would follow it up, much the same can be said about Green Room.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/green-room-movie-review/

IMDB: Green Room

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

Two years after the events of Man of Steel, Superman (Henry Cavill) and Batman (Ben Affleck) are framing the debate over whether the World needs a superman and/or brutal vigilantes. Fuelled by rage at the collateral damage from Superman and Zod's fight, Bruce Wayne/Batman feels duty bound to bring the Kryptonian to heel. Combined with Clark Kent's distaste for Batman's thuggish street justice, and Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) pulling the strings from behind the scenes, the two icons find themselves on course for the biggest playground scrap of all time.

Batman Vs Superman (BvS) is a typically stylised affair from Snyder (love it or hate it), but is unfortunately po-faced, pretentious and very average. Some un-fleshed out pontificating on the nature of being a 'meta-human', alongside senate committee grandstanding, mean the World's disillusionment with Superman never really resonates. BvS wants to say something profound on the subject, but much like our two heroes, doesn't really say much at all.

The clunky shoehorning in of future Justice League members feels cynical, and the aesthetic choices are weird. Bruce Wayne is a millionaire who lives in an unkempt field and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), although cryptically interesting, looks like a reject from Snyder’s 300.

The biggest problem with BVS is that Snyder is unable to direct a coherent action sequence.  Early on we are accosted with a murky, disorientating car chase that achieves nothing for the story (Batman chases something he knows is owned by Lex Luthor, which leads him directly to... Lex Luthor). And the fight sequences are all a post-Bourne jumble of crunchy bone snapping and wobbly-cam realism. It begs the question of why bother to have Affleck bulk up, or choreograph a multi opponent punch up, if the results are lost in tight close ups and amphetamine editing.

The real tragedy of this incarnation of Superman is how abjectly boring he is. Henry Cavill spends two and half hours frowning at variety of people, although in fairness it is hardly his fault, as the script denies Superman anything by way of interesting dialogue. Christopher Reeve's earnest take on Kal-El might have been a bit of a boy scout, but it can't be denied how enjoyable it was. This bleak, scowling, dullard of a Superman will be enough to turn kids off the character for decades.

But despite its many flaws, BvS is still not quite the terrible movie the internet would have you believe. There are no complaints with Bat-fleck – a gruff, curmudgeonly Frank Miller-style Dark Knight; and a future Batman movie in Affleck's hands could well be something to get excited about. Kevin Costner's five minute cameo simply highlights what it is to have some natural acting chops, and Jesse Eisenberg's Zuckerberg-channelling turn as Lex Luthor is really quite alright, and far less annoying than the trailers might have you believe.

At two and half hours, BvS is most definitely overlong. It’s also most definitely flawed. But the reality is that it sits between the critical scorn and the fanboy love, settling somewhere on the spectrum marked mediocre.


IMDB: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

SCOTT BAKULA INTERVIEW for The Reel Word

I recently interviewed the legendary Scott Bakula for The Reel Word, about the forthcoming Quantum Leap blu ray release. You can read the full interview here:

http://www.thereelword.net/exclusive-interview-scott-bakula-talks-quantum-leap/

IMDB: Scott Bakula

SPOTLIGHT (full review at The Reel Word)

Spotlight is the true story of an investigative reporting team, working for the Boston Globe, who in  2001 uncovered endemic child abuse within the Catholic Church. Beginning with a look into a single case of abuse by a priest, the investigative team’s enquires snowballed dramatically to reveal abuse on a scale none of them had ever imagined. Working closely with the survivors’ lawyer,  they discover the abuse was allowed to go unreported for decades due to the machinations of the Church.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/spotlight-review/

IMDB: Spotlight

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (full review at The Reel Word)

Set not long after the end of the American Civil War, The Hateful Eight follows bounty hunter John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (Kurt Russell) as he transports his profitable quarry, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to the town of Red Rock where she is due to be hanged. Along the way, they meet fellow bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson) and prospective sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), when they are Waylaid by an unforeseen blizzard. The quartet, plus their stagecoach driver O.B., seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery knowing that the inclement weather will force them to hole up for a few days. As the storm closes in, paranoia and suspicion prevail, and the bounty hunters and their fellow guests begin to understand that perhaps all is not as it seems.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/the-hateful-eight-review

IMDB: The Hateful Eight