OCEAN'S 8 (full review at Screen Realm)

Freshly released from prison, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) teams up with her best friend Lou (Cate Blanchett) with a plan to pull off an elaborate jewel heist. Having spent the past five years plotting every aspect of their perfect crime, Debbie and Lou set about recruiting a team to steal an extremely valuable necklace from famous actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) at the prestigious Met Gala in New York.

Ocean’s 8 is threaded into the Soderbergh iteration of Ocean movies as Bullock’s character, Debbie Ocean, is the sister of George Clooney’s character Danny. It’s worth it as an excuse to see Elliot Gould cameo as Reuben, but beyond establishing a thin continuity with the previous trilogy, it’s not that necessary. Soderbergh’s version (itself a remake of the 1960 Brat Pack movie) and the sequels, although fun, are unlikely to have left anyone believing the movies to be sacred ground. In fact, in these times of superfluous remakes, the Oceans series actually looks like a perfect candidate for reinterpretation.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/oceans-8-movie-review/

IMDB: Ocean's 8

THE BLOOD OF WOLVES (KORO NO CHI) (full review at Screen Realm)

The Blood of Wolves (Korô no chi) is a Yakuza movie from director Kazuya Shiraishi, based on a 2015 novel by Yûko Yuzuki.

Set in 1988 it follows rookie cop Hoika (Tori Matsuzaka) as he is assigned to partner gang squad legend Ogami (Kōji Yakusho). Their beat is the streets of Hiroshima, and they must mediate the uneasy balance of power between the city’s two powerful Yakuza gangs, the Kakomura-gumi and the Odani-gumi.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/the-blood-of-wolves-movie-review-japan/

IMDB: The Blood Of Wolves

FUTURE MAN (full review at Screen Realm)

Future Man is a sci-fi comedy written by Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir, (Sausage Party), and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, this review is for the first three episode of the debut series. 

Underachieving janitor Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson) lives at home with his parents (Ed Begley Jr and Glenne Headly) and works shifts at a local science lab run by Dr Kronish (Keith David). In his spare time he plays videogames and battles the feeling he was destined for greater things. One day, Josh completes a seemingly unbeatable game, Biotic Wars, which turns out to be used as a recruiting tool by time travellers, exactly like the plot of The Last Starfighter, as the show is keen to point out. Two soldiers from the future, Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson) travel to the present day to enlist josh and prevent the downfall of humanity.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/future-man-review-season-one-episodes-1-2-3/

IMDB: Future Man

MANHUNT (full review at Screen Realm)

In the late 80s and early 90s, if there was one name synonymous with genre defining action cinema, then it was John Woo. Exploding out of Hong Kong with a laundry list of classics – The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in The Head, Hard Boiled – and a dynamite partnership with regular leading man, Chow Yun-Fat, he took action movies to another level.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/manhunt-movie-review-john-woo/

IMDB: Manhunt

TEN MUST-SEE SCI-FI MOVIES ON NETFLIX ANZ (full article at Screen Realm)

The age old ‘What-do-I-watch-on-Netflix?’ question is almost as old as time itself isn’t it? But fear not, we have you covered. Here’s our rundown of ten must-see sci-fi movies, ranging from classics to underrated gems, currently available on Netflix ANZ.


Pacific Rim
There’s not really a lot more you need to know about that time Guillermo Del Toro brought a giant robot to a Kaiju party. Pacific Rim is as self-explanatory as it is deliriously enjoyable. For all its simple maths, Pacific Rim grabs you by the hand and leads you straight down into an intricate universe laden with heroic mech pilots, colossal interdimensional beasts from the depths of the sea and eye popping black markets in monster guts...

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
https://screenrealm.com/ten-best-science-fiction-movies-netflix-australia-new-zealand/

SCREEN REALM, formerly The Reel Word & Adam Fleet Movies social media links

The Reel Word, who I have been writing for regularly for a little while now, has undergone a bit of a revamp, including a change of name, to Screen Realm. You can't find them online at the following link:

https://screenrealm.com/
 
I will go through and correct the Reel Word links where possible so that they lead to the new site. But in case any of the older links are no longer working, my full Reel Word / Screen Realm archive can be found here:

https://screenrealm.com/author/adam-fleet/

You can also catch up with me at:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamfleetmovies
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamfleetmovies
• Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/adamfleet/

Screen Realm can also be found at the following social media accounts:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/screenrealm/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/screenrealm
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/screen_realm/

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember walking out of the cinema after I saw it for the first time feeling distinctly… underwhelmed. It was long, hard to understand and a little weird, and my legs ached from the ancient cinema seat. I could not work out what all the fuss was about.

But something about it stuck with me and refused to budge. I spent the whole following week thinking about it. I started reading as much as I could about the production and Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke's collaboration on the dual creation of screenplay and novel. Learning of Kubrick’s intention for the movie to be a subjective experience, as if music or a painting, so that 2001 “hits the viewer at an inner level of consciousness”* brought the film into fascinating perspective.

Likewise the attention to detail and accuracy that made it a benchmark for Hard SF started to get inside my head. But the most astounding fact turned out to be one that had been staring me in the face. That 2001 was released in April of 1968, a full year and change before Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface of the Moon!

With tiny mind officially blown, I revisited 2001 and it all gradually developed into a bit of an obsession with the film. I've watched it many times since, enjoying it more with every viewing. I love it.

IMDB: 2001 A Space Odyssey

*1970 interview with Joseph Gelmis (well worth a read!)
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0069.html