How many times can this film series scream before it loses its voice? Apparently five times isn’t enough. Not that I’m complaining, Scream (2022) is undoubtedly the best sequel since Scream 2 (1997), successfully reconfiguring the plot to work within a modern day horror framework. The consensus? Scream does exactly what a Scream film should;…

West Side Story (2021) is a musical film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the stage musical of the same name. West Side Story (2021) follows two divided gangs in New York City; the Jets, an all-white gang of delinquents who aim to claim the neighbourhood as their own; and the Sharks, an all-Puerto…

Aaron Sorkin is a writer-director who is largely more of the former than the latter. I make this arid comment because it is of course followed up with some context. You see, when you look at the monstrous talent from a man like Aaron Sorkin you begin to ponder what projects would tempt a man…

Every now and then you encounter a film that makes you think “ah, it’s one of those films…”; it hits like a tidal wave of realization, usually at the 5 minute mark into the story; the kind of film that forces out a sigh of complacency because you already know what you’re about to spend…

Adventure films have a long and rich history spanning back over 100 years, from The Three Musketeers to Robin Hood to The Goonies. After being reimagined and rewritten on-screen in all its variations you’d think by now this genre would’ve run its course. Sure, it had its share of highs and lows, but none as…

25 years on from the original, Space Jam: A New Legacy dunks its way into mediocrity by being yet another unwanted sequel that no one asked for. The intention here is that the film’s existence is for Lebron James’ legacy to carry through to the heights of Michael Jordan as he gets to have his…

A childhood classic where most 90s kids thought Space Jam was the greatest movie to ever exist, I mean you are mixing sports with the Looney Tunes this was bound to be an all time great right? Wrong! After watching Space Jam again as an adult I have realised that this film should be buried…

If you take a banal concept like “sending people from the past to fight an alien war in the future” and decide to make it into a movie; eye-rolls from audience members with little patience for low-intellect movie concepts are assured. But in spite of that brief plot summary making little to no sense, the…

As I sit there in the movie theatre contemplating how lucky I am to enjoy a film in public without all the restrictions of COVID-19; within 5 minutes of the film’s start I am immediately reminded that not all trips to the theatre are the magical experience that I’d convinced myself they were in my…

If you’re familiar with James Wan then it will come as no surprise why the quality of this film was in question when word spread he would not be directing this iteration. Simply put, James Wan is a name that carries with it an expectation that what you’re about to see will likely scare your…

It never ceases to amaze me when the opening 2 minutes of a film can tell you exactly what you’re about to experience, all by how it presents itself. Luckily, Spirit Untamed reveals its hand relatively quickly, letting you know exactly what kind of film you’re in for. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a kids…

Coming from the vault of Disney’s animated classics, 101 Dalmatians is still full of charm and wit which makes this film thoroughly enjoyable to watch while it explores the meaning of family and determination.  Much of this story is driven by the theme of family and the will and determination of the two parent dalmatians,…

From the creators of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) comes another dazzling visual dive into animated storytelling through the marriage of 2D and 3D visual imagery. There really was only one thing I expected out of this film and that was, bonkers visuals; after well over a year delay due the pandemic, was that itching…

Since its inception in 2004, Saw has had a long and tumultuous journey throughout the horror landscape – causing its share of controversies and even forming its own subgenre of horror along the way. Saw was a fresh take on the splatter film genre, forming into what is now known as “torture porn”. Because of…

The first dive into television from Marvel Studios was undoubtedly a unique one; Marvel Studios’ WandaVision was a peculiar series that almost tempted one to think it was surrealist storytelling. But after a somewhat lackluster conclusion it’s hard to not look back at the WandaVision series and draw some deep comparisons between the very different…

It’s really quite easy to watch Tom and Jerry and come to the immediate conclusion that it holds no candle to the greats that pioneered this form of live-action animation blending; from popular titles as far back as Mary Poppins (1964) to the more revolutionary titles like Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Yes, comparisons are…

The impact that both Godzilla and King Kong have had throughout the history of cinema are neck in neck; just as they are in this bombastic monster flick that follows an explosive confrontation between these two legendary titans. If you look back at some of the major watershed moments throughout the timeline of cinema you’ll…

Available on Sky Go and Neon for New Zealand viewers & HBO Max in other territories Hallelujah! After years of consistent grumbling from fans and cast members we have finally arrived at perhaps quite a pivotal moment in cinematic history; not because it involves a film of high quality, but because of the circumstances surrounding…

Hot off the trail of the year 2020, Judas and the Black Messiah sweeps in as a 2021 film to make its statement to the world. There’s no denying that the flurry of racially focussed narratives that have released within the past year are all bolstered by the unnerving recent events that took place in…

In September 2020 the teaser trailer for WandaVision was released – the first television show within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Within this teaser it displayed to audiences what they could expect from the entry into the world of television for the MCU. Simply, WandaVision appeared to be a weird sitcom set across multiple decades following…

When you look back at the year 2019 it’s quite baffling to reminisce on just how indomitable the Russo Brothers were that year; producing hit after hit for Marvel Studios and smashing box office records had made their names echo throughout the industry. This impact was so great that studios and streaming services made great…

The Little Things has a solidly crafted visual aesthetic, an ominous and enticing antagonist, and for the most part provides sufficient engaging material in the lead up to its conclusion. But herein lies the problem, that is all this film ultimately achieves. In noir films, a lot needs to go right in the balancing act…

It’s really quite easy to take a quick glance at the digitally altered cover image of Shadow in the Cloud and come to a negative assumption of what this film is. After all, this cover image is a typical generic pose of the lead character (Chloë Grace Moretz) looking all tattered and standing in what…

At the risk of being labeled as a stereotypical sequel hater; I’m just gonna say it anyway — in my view, this is the best piece of Star Wars live-action content since The Empire Strikes Back. Showrunner and creator Jon Favreau takes advantage of his skilled hand at worldbuilding to create a TV series that…

In 2017 director Patty Jenkins released Wonder Woman – a smash hit both critically and commercially. Its style, action, humor, and overall character work has given this long overdue Amazonian Queen justice on the big screen. Wonder Woman 1984 or WW84 for short, is the colorful long awaited sequel we’ve all been tapping our foot…

With just as much lip-glossed and pink scarfed style as it has deeply translatory messages – ‘Promising Young Woman’ benefits greatly from Mulligan’s superb acting prowess and writer-director Emerald Fennell’s complex storytelling arrangement. Seeking revenge for her friend, Cassie Thomas hatches a chilling cunning plan to teach the people who have wronged her and her…

‘Godmothered’ shows it’s more intent on making its audience laugh than impressing them with a magical story. In order to save the motherland, a fairy godmother in training takes on an impossible assignment as she tries to fulfill a young girl’s  wish to find true love that was made 30 years ago. Despite this family-friendly…

Following the relative success of Happy Death Day (2017) and Happy Death Day 2U (2019) — Freaky takes advantage of writer-director Christopher Landon’s experience in creating wacky horror comedies to the next level by doubling down on his comedic strengths. Freaky follows the story of a young teenage girl named Millie (Kathryn Newton) and a…

If you’ve seen most of Sofia Coppola’s films it quickly becomes apparent that she tends to build the framework of her stories around relationships – but more than that, she builds uncertainty around it all – we never quite know where the characters will end up and this is perhaps the core element of her…

Spontaneous is a trickster disguised as your typical coming-of-age romance. With its quirky camera-work, self-deprecating humor, and gonzo premise — there’s a lot within Spontaneous that gives you the impression you’re simply in for a goofy love story with a few gallons of blood on the side — but who can blame anyone for thinking…

Don’t let the “Love” in Love and Monsters fool you, as this is first and foremost an adventure film. Directed by Michael Matthews, Love and Monsters sees a young man named Joel (Dylan O’Brien) discover his inner hero as he travels across the monster-infested United States to reunite with his high-school girlfriend. Essentially this film…

Sam Kelly’s Savage is as much a film providing social commentary on the complex reality of masculinity as it is a fly-on-the-wall view of the hierarchical nature and complicated world of gang culture. Savage delves deep into the ranks of New Zealand’s gangs as we see a gang enforcer named Dany (Jake Ryan) grow up…

Who doesn’t love dinosaurs! this is Moviegainz review of the entire Jurassic Park franchise. Jurassic Park Stomping into cinemas 27 years ago ‘Jurassic Park’ is still the fun, visually appealing adventure that manages to capture the essence of your childhood nostalgia. Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum deliver iconic performances and manage to gel…

Going into this film there’s an assumption on what to expect; I mean, it’s a film about Pete Davidson (an SNL comedian) by renowned comedy director Judd Apatow. Now, if there’s one thing that surprised me about this biopic; it was that it didn’t feel, look, or pace anything like a typical Judd Apatow flick….

Following Spike Lee’s most recent hit BlacKkKlansman (2018), the stage is set for a heavy and a possibly soul-crushingly lamentful watch. So, I shifted in my seat and prepared for exactly that. Just seconds into the opening I am immediately greeted with stomach-churning graphic images of war and terror; “here we go!” I thought; the…

One doesn’t need to be an avid Scooby-Doo fan to know the core themes of the series. A primary one is that things are not always as they seem; something that may be perceived as supernatural may have an explanation, a mystery behind it all. That is the meat and potatoes of Scooby-Doo, the thing…

When watching a Pixar film set in a land that is inhabited by mythical creatures in the “modern world” one would expect to see wacky, wild, and whimsical things within this world — from timely social themes, hilarious plays on social structures, and witty world-building that makes their imagined world feel justified and “real” for…

Writer-director Leigh Whannell stands at the forefront of this long adapted film series – can he succeed? What we do know is that his recent foray into sci-fi with his previous film Upgrade (2018) proved he was a more than capable director, it is only now that we are given confirmation that he may be…

There’s something truly fascinating about the weird and perplexing history of this film; its like reading a bizarre Wikipedia entry on a celebrity that you didn’t realize had such a strange and tragic life. This film’s history has it all; the first reveal of Sonic the Hedgehog sent shock waves throughout the fan-base, with many…

What Bad Boys for Life achieves is seemingly small; simply, it’s a solidly made sequel within the remake and reboot landscape, this is actually quite a significant achievement. In this follow-up film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah we continue the story of Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) as the classic…

Is it possible, that in the final weeks of 2019, one of the greatest films of the decade is released – overshadowing many of the films I’ve seen in the past 10 years? Yes, yes it is. What we witness here in 1917 is a pinnacle example of the power of film – a moving…

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is not a new benchmark, but a retelling of the same flavor of morality that we’ve seen before. Simply put, this is a film that speaks highly of conflict, sacrifice, and inner turmoil — however, when the moment arises for its characters to bite the bullet – we’re left…

Marriage Story is a snapshot film; a story that shows us the marriage between two perfectly sane people and how that sanity can rapidly dissolve. Much like the stylistic intimacy of Ingmar Bergman’s TV Miniseries Scenes from a Marriage (1973) – this film also aims to provide a sort of “fly-on-a-wall” peek into two characters…

Adapting a real life character on-screen is never an easy thing; the questions immediately bubble up to the surface whether who is being portrayed on-screen is being done with accuracy and authenticity. Exaggerating personality traits to extremes or caricatures of their real-life counterpart is also something to consider – then there’s the headache of making…

If you know anything about the premise of this film you sense that it’s likely going to be as hilarious as it is somber. Directed by Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit tells the story on a young Nazi boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) and his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) finding out that his…

10 Years on and we are finally met with a sequel to this Zombie cult hit; thankfully with the same cast and director to revisit what many have forgotten. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Zombieland: Double Tap is quite honestly, the same movie as Zombieland (2009). If I had to describe the Zombieland movies in one…

From his inception in the 1950’s to his recreation in the 70’s, the Joker has always been a figure of mystery and chaos. Joker is a film that takes a tentative approach at humanizing a character that has always been the embodiment of raw chaos. In this interpretation by director Todd Philip’s there is a…

Monos is a drama film directed by Alejandro Landes – it follows the story of a group of young kids atop a large mountain on a secret mission. In this tale of childhood freedom and responsibility, we are whisked away into the rocky altitudes of Chingaza páramo in Colombia – a remote mountain top that…

This unlikely children’s film has to land as perhaps the most surprising film of the year for me – in an ocean of Academy Award front-runners and wild horrors, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a wild cinematic experience that hides in plain sight. This unsuspecting kids flick stands firmly alongside popular meta…

Directed by Claire Denis High Life follows the story of Monte (Robert Pattinson), a man, like the rest of his crew-mates is stuck on a ship hurtling into outer-space. Monte is a reserved man who struggles with his past actions. Throughout this narrative we get to see Monte’s journey through the lens of a non-linear…

Who would’ve thought that The Angry Birds Movie 2, a film based off of a mobile game, would provide some adequate laughs and greater character work than your average Illumination film? I sure didn’t. The Angry Birds Movie 2 continues the journey of the bird named Red (Jason Sudeikis) and his pals, as they embark…

The Farewell takes its audience across the sea to a fundamentally different cultural world, exploring the morally conflicting dilemmas involved with saying goodbye to a beloved family member. In this story of cultural conflict we follow the journey of Billi (Awkwafina), a young Chinese American-raised girl who is facing the difficult choice of saying goodbye…

On the surface, Parasite is quite simplistic in its general plot. Simply, we follow the story of two families; a dysfunctional low-income family (the Kim family) and a put-together high-income family (the Park family). We follow the Kim family devising a con to “infiltrate” the home of the prestigious Park family’s residence by posing as…

Live-action remakes are in the firing line as we speak, but The Lion King is different – bigger, much bigger. There is no doubt that the success of this film will determine what happens next for Disney. Recreations are a tricky thing to get right, tonally, visually, narratively – there are countless hurdles that need…

Chucky. Many of us know him, many of us don’t – regardless, he’s no doubt part of the horror halls of fame a like every old franchise that is at least slightly popular, why not reboot it in 2019? Child’s Play is exactly that, a “new approach” to an old franchise. But where many other…

Men in Black: International is the fourth film in the MIB franchise, entirely separating itself from the original series as well as its classic leads Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones; this film focuses on Agent M (Tessa Thompson) and Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) as they face a new threat on Earth. More akin to…

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is quite simply a film without proper direction, figuratively and literally. As this was writer-director Simon Kinberg’s first film – it’s hard to be so tough on someone so new to the job – but it’s important to understand that stories about characters who descend into a melting pot of psychological complexity…

In many ways the lead up to this film reminds me of the death-march that audiences gave Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) before it had released; almost as if audiences (or a loud minority), had announced this movie was destined for failure before it had even released. Funnily enough, just like how Solo: A…

From the director of the Netflix Ted Bundy doco-series; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is a film viewed from the perspective of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) and his girlfriend Elizabeth (Lilly Collins) – in this film we’re given an intimate look into the complex relationship these two people had, as well…

This is a story about family, those that we lose, moving on, but also, refusing to. Avengers: Endgame doesn’t just signify a closing point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the fundamental ending of a chapter for the entire superhero film genre. This IS the final chapter in the MCU novel that began it all,…

Based on the novel of the same name Five Feet Apart is a romance film directed by Justin Baldoni. It follows the story of Stella (Haley Lu Richardson) and Will (Cole Sprouse), two very sick teenagers who have to stand at least five feet apart or risk contamination. If it feels like you’ve seen this…

Riding in hot off the tail of Warner Brother’s DCEU franchise films such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017) there’s this sense of trepidation that one has when walking into Aquaman; the fear that you’ll receive a mouthful of saltwater like many of the DCEU films have done so…

The Transformers franchise within the past decade has been following what could only be regarded as a downward trajectory; with each successive film suffering from diluted character development, excessive action sequences, and even a severe decrease in box office performance. However, in spite of all of this, I for one can lay back and appreciate…

Grinch is a character who is an icon during the Christmas season and The Grinch (2018) is the second film of the character. The first, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) received mixed reviews, it is now a Christmas classic and this positions The Grinch (2018) in a place where it should be able to…

Much like the previous attempt to reimagine this story in 2010 by director Ridley Scott, this attempt by director Otto Bathurst evokes the same “who the hell asked for this?” feeling that audiences felt nearly a decade ago. Instead of taking the grounded approach of Robin Hood (2010) or the parody approach of Robin Hood:…

With complicated history that already surrounds this film it’s hard not to look at it with microscope and see where all the imperfections lie; I went into this film inherently aiming not to look for these mistakes, but instead, they found me. In this biographical film by director Bryan Singer we follow the history of…

In my view, a sequel should primarily be about one thing, to further build on what has already been built. Creed (2015) was a joint narrative; it ultimately followed the journey of two characters, Adonis and Rocky. In Creed II this focus has shifted, Adonis is champ and he is the focus, paving the way…

It feels as though a neo-noir crime thriller comes along only once every 3 or so years and when it does, it’s always a delight to revisit what the next modern interpretation will be. Bad Times at the El Royale represents the god damn definition of neo-noir crime. However, the lengthy runtime will most certainly…

There was a unique opportunity here to create a Predator film that ticked all the boxes; at their core, the Predator films have been about the hunt; essentially they are monster movies that contain more tension and action than they do horror; but it seems this formula is illusive. The only thing worse than watching…

Gratuity is something I’ve always struggled with in cinema, if I am to see it, it must serve a purpose. Holiday is a film that most certainly skirts the edge of gratuity, showing moments that can unquestionably turn ones stomach. I can say however, there is a method to this madness, or rather, a point…