Tomb Raider

Alicia Vikander takes on the role of iconic video game adventurer Lara Croft to deliver an origin story for the character in Road Uthaug’s Tomb Raider. This isn’t Lara Croft’s first outing on the big screen. Angelina Jolie wielded the twin pistols back in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its 2003 sequel Lara Croft…

The Light Between Oceans

A lighthouse keeper and his wife raise a baby rescued from a drifting rowing boat until the child’s birth mother comes into the picture in Derek Cianfrance’ The Light Between Oceans. This is definitely a film of two halves and, as you might expect, one half is better than the other. I haven’t read the…

Jason Bourne

Matt Damon reunites with director Paul Greengrass to bring the amnesiac super soldier back to cinemas in Jason Bourne; the fifth -though one was a spinoff- film in the series. For the longest time, Matt Damon insisted that there was no story to tell and later he said he would only return if Paul Greengrass…

The Danish Girl

Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl delivers a fictionalised story based on the real life Danish artists Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne) and Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) surrounding Lili’s quest to change gender. This particular story will rise or fall on the strength of the lead performances and this is a point where this film excels. Eddie…

Burnt

John Wells’ Burnt casts Bradley Cooper as badboy chef Adam Jones who tries to gain the coveted third Michelin Star to have a physical sign of the perfection that he strives to achieve. Burnt tows a thin line with the main character. On paper Adam Jones is everything that should be unlikeable. He’s rude, arrogant,…

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. offers audiences a slick reinvention of the 60s spy series for the big screen. I’ll start by saying that I have no familiarity with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series so I can only really look at this as a spy movie. I’m aware that the show existed but…

On the Silver Screen – Seventh Son

Sergei Bodrov’s Young Adult fantasy movie Seventh Son finally hits cinemas after a year stuck in post production limbo. The basic premise is that the seventh son of seventh sons are all destined to become “Spooks”. A group dedicated to defend the world from demonic evil. They’ve fallen on hard times and there is only…

On the Silver Screen – Ex Machina

Alex Garland’s Ex Machina explores the concepts of life, consciousness and what it means to be human through a version of the Turing Test. The Turing Test is defined as a method to “challenge a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligence comparable to, or indistinguishable from, a human.” This test forms the core of Ex Machina…

On the Silver Screen – Testament of Youth

Testament of Youth is based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain and chronicles her experiences from before World War I broke out to after peace was declared. Alicia Vikander plays the central role and does a fantastic job. She brings a real sense of intelligence, integrity and confidence to Vera Brittain throughout the film. It’s…