When I think back over my ‘career’ as a teacher and journo, hardly anybody asked to see my qualifications or took the trouble to check my references. I certainly landed my first job as a trainee reporter without the slightest sniff around. I also expected to be given a form of ID to help reassure…

The original Orphan was a “real slice of trash deserving of a long shelf life,” as our own Matt Cale wrote in his excellent review of the crafty and relentlessly entertaining 2009 thriller. “Or at least until Esther rises from her watery grave for a sequel.” Thirteen years later, we finally have that sequel (actually…

Technology is already turning people into mindless dicks. Take the smart kettle, a piece of hi-tech hardware that enables someone to use a phone to get it to boil. It can be switched on during a homeward journey because, you know, life becomes unbearably stressful if you have to wait two minutes for hot water.…

Sucking blood This is totally insane, and probably nothing like any movie-review you ever read, or are ever going to read, but here goes. If my name was Morbius, I probably too would drink human blood. With that sort of name, I’d might as well call myself Dracula and move into a castle in Transylvania.…

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that typically features a society dominated by high-tech or artificial intelligence or where humans have integrated technology into their bodies. Essentially, it’s a mix of the future and Blade Runner. The Matrix, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Surrogates, and even parts of The Terminator all count as cyberpunk…

“Black Adam” – Hit puree! As of November 1, 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran will take the reins of DC Studios (formerly DC Films). And not a moment too soon. The DCEU is widely considered a disaster and currently exists as the punchline on Marvel Studio’s doormat. Including Black Adam, there are twelve movies…

If you’re a seething fantasist, a deeply immature guy incubating warped daydreams about making ’em all pay, then The Hidden is right up your dark little alley. Here you can vicariously indulge your most hedonistic, destructive impulses. You know, taking whatever the hell you want, beating the shit out of whoever objects, smashing stuff up,…

I often argue movies are made-up nonsense that have no effect on me. Like a lot of things I say, I’m probably on dodgy ground. Consider Spinal Tap. Good grief, the first watch was a minor revelation. Up until its chastening, palate-cleansing introduction in my mid-twenties, heavy metal could do little wrong. That’s why I…