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3.5/5
|
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
|
Tony Black
|
At points rich and bold, fiercely projecting strong female black power into the world especially, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a film to be admired first, enjoyed second.
Posted Nov 12, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
DASHCAM
(2021)
|
Tony Black
|
DASHCAM really won’t be for everyone and that’s putting it mildly, but there is much more going on here than simply nonsensical horror theatrics.
Posted Jun 13, 2022
|
|
2/5
|
Jurassic World Dominion
(2022)
|
Tony Black
|
Dominion is a Frankenstein of a tentpole franchise picture and, when delivered with this kind of poorly written, cheese-filled, jaggedly over-inflated direction—with frequently awful CGI to boot—it is everything wrong with franchise filmmaking today.
Posted Jun 11, 2022
|
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4/5
|
Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
|
Tony Black
|
There will be enormous replay value in Top Gun: Maverick, a film one senses will rank among not just the best sequels or legacyquels, but perhaps one of the finest populist American pictures of the decade.
Posted May 30, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Last Action Hero
(1993)
|
Tony Black
|
Last Action Hero hasnt quite yet become one of those cult movies we venerate and, yknow maybe we should. It does have, within its bones, just a little bit of magic.
Posted Apr 12, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Avengers: Infinity War
(2018)
|
Tony Black
|
Infinity War is all about balance, in many different respects. Balance and tone, both of which, for a film with such ambition and size, are remarkable in how well they are executed.
Posted Apr 03, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Ready Player One
(2018)
|
Tony Black
|
Steven Spielberg delivers the ultimate expression of why we digest media, and possibly a glimpse into a world we could all be heading towards.
Posted Apr 03, 2022
|
|
4.5/5
|
Black Panther
(2018)
|
Tony Black
|
Black Panther feels as much like a moment as it does a movie.
Posted Apr 02, 2022
|
|
1.5/5
|
The Bubble
(2022)
|
Tony Black
|
The cast clearly had huge fun making The Bubble. Good for them. It certainly doesnt translate.
Posted Apr 02, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
(1979)
|
Tony Black
|
Visually and thematically, The Motion Picture is as pure and honourable to the history and themes of Star Trek as anything before or since.
Posted Mar 27, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
The Abyss
(1989)
|
Tony Black
|
The Abyss feels like his first attempt to make a film which cant be defined, clearly, as a James Cameron movie, and its probably why its amongst the worst of his efforts, while still being a very good picture.
Posted Mar 24, 2022
|
|
2.5/5
|
Waterworld
(1995)
|
Tony Black
|
Waterworld has the epic scale, the grandeur, the towering oceanic shots, the boisterous (if sometimes misjudged) score and the vast, expensive sets. It just has no soul.
Posted Mar 24, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Romancing the Stone
(1984)
|
Tony Black
|
Romancing the Stone is no searing example of feminist film theory, but it perhaps warrants re-examining in the context of how Zemeckis approaches male and female hero stereotypes.
Posted Mar 24, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Murder on the Orient Express
(2017)
|
Tony Black
|
While this take on Murder on the Orient Express is destined to exist as a Sunday afternoon matinee picture people will throw on and bask in, there is unmistakable depth and humanity inside the confectionary of its exterior and its big-budget staging.
Posted Mar 23, 2022
|
|
4.5/5
|
Dunkirk
(2017)
|
Tony Black
|
Audiences are quite understandably going to consider Dunkirk a war film, quite possibly one of the great war films of our age. Christopher Nolan's tenth picture is possibly an even better survival horror movie.
Posted Mar 23, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Spider-Man: Homecoming
(2017)
|
Tony Black
|
Homecoming, in the end, is a coming of age origin story which sticks to the Marvel formula while revelling in how good this franchise now is at it.
Posted Mar 22, 2022
|
|
2.5/5
|
Deep Water
(2022)
|
Tony Black
|
Are we aroused in the same way as we enter the 2020s? Adrian Lyne's return with Deep Water looks to answer this question and while it doesn't entirely work, it does open a doorway long thought closed.
Posted Mar 22, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Fresh
(2022)
|
Tony Black
|
Mimi Cave's directorial debut takes a scalpel to what could have been a rather dour and conventional, exploitative tale and peppers it with strangely romantic & twisted black comic gusto.
Posted Mar 19, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Spider-Man: No Way Home
(2021)
|
Tony Black
|
For me, No Way Home is joyful. Others will find it infuriating and strangely reductive. And either way, it could be a sign of times to come.
Posted Dec 18, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Dune
(2021)
|
Tony Black
|
Dune: Part One is a stunning piece of work in that context, one that could well be for the ages.
Posted Nov 20, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
No Time to Die
(2021)
|
Tony Black
|
No Time to Die caps off films which have elevated the James Bond franchise into something they rarely were before: fine examples of artistic, dramatic craft.
Posted Oct 06, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Drop Dead Fred
(1991)
|
Tony Black
|
The crucial problem of course is that for a comedy, it's not really very funny.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
The Last Samurai
(2003)
|
Tony Black
|
The Last Samurai delivers one of the stronger historical adventure epics of recent years.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Gemini Man
(2019)
|
Tony Black
|
A 90's sci-fi action thriller that fell through a time vortex.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
1/5
|
Diana
(2013)
|
Tony Black
|
Diana turns out to be an enormously tedious character study which never once has the balls to go beyond its glossed-up TV movie roots.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Terminator Genisys
(2015)
|
Tony Black
|
It's just utterly hollow, a big noisy shuffling of temporal timey-wimey mechanics that does nothing we needed to a franchise that will always have legs.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
(2001)
|
Tony Black
|
A thuddingly joyless experience that feels twice as long, with a leaden pace, an awful script & phoned in performances.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
5/5
|
The Shining
(1980)
|
Tony Black
|
A true masterpiece.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
The Poughkeepsie Tapes
(2007)
|
Tony Black
|
A horrific gem. One of the great found footage pictures and indeed the faux documentary genre.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Doctor Sleep
(2019)
|
Tony Black
|
A Kubrickian xerox with soul and dark beauty.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
(2019)
|
Tony Black
|
Making Waves manages to cover an array of different areas and delivers a comprehensive, enlightening and relaxed journey through the history of sound and film.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Ford v Ferrari
(2019)
|
Tony Black
|
A thrilling, playful middle finger to corporate conservatism.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
5/5
|
Goodfellas
(1990)
|
Tony Black
|
It's an epic, it's powerful, it's funny, it's tough, it's rough and by God is it cool.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
The Ninth Gate
(1999)
|
Tony Black
|
If you go in not expecting thrills or chills but an old-fashioned, carefully constructed puzzle, you may well find this surprisingly beguiling.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Frozen
(2013)
|
Tony Black
|
It's genuinely a delightful experience; full of memorable songs and fun moments & lots of dry humour.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
(1999)
|
Tony Black
|
The Phantom Menace will always be possibly the single biggest missed opportunity in modern cinematic history
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Cloverfield
(2008)
|
Tony Black
|
Cloverfield is quite a stunning, fresh use of the found footage concept which cleverly updates the Godzilla-concept.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Room 237
(2012)
|
Tony Black
|
It has something to say about obsession & perhaps serves as a warning: look too hard at something, and you may go slightly mad.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
(2005)
|
Tony Black
|
Revenge of the Sith is by some distance the finest Star Wars prequel and though it can't quite sit on a par with the original trilogy, it skirts close.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
(2002)
|
Tony Black
|
You go into this prequel wanting to love it, and come out wondering what happened to the Star Wars you grew up with, and whether it really is gone forever.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
5/5
|
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
(1977)
|
Tony Black
|
It's far from the greatest movie ever made, but A New Hope-and its sequels-will be remembered, discussed and loved until we're all living in a galaxy far, far away.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
(1983)
|
Tony Black
|
It's well constructed, tonally in spirit, and hugely enjoyable, but the Force simply isn't as strong in this one.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
5/5
|
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
(1980)
|
Tony Black
|
A rare example, maybe the finest example, of a sequel greater than its predecessor. The Force is the strongest here.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
(2016)
|
Tony Black
|
Rogue One isn't just the prequel you never knew you wanted, it's also quite possibly almost almost as good as A New Hope itself.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
(2015)
|
Tony Black
|
Blowing away any memories of the prequels, The Force Awakens, for once, lives up to and perhaps even betters the hype.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
(2017)
|
Tony Black
|
The Last Jedi doesn't entirely detach from the mythological themes and fantasy tropes Lucas' movies played with - but it feels like the start of a brave new world.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
(2019)
|
Tony Black
|
The expected, soulless capstone of a four decade saga.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
The Hurricane
(1999)
|
Tony Black
|
A powerful case of injustice lacking punch.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
(2015)
|
Tony Black
|
It may be as deep as a puddle, but splashing around hasn't been this enjoyable in a while.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
|
3/5
|
Jojo Rabbit
(2019)
|
Tony Black
|
Weak satire almost saved by a surfeit of heart.
Posted Feb 16, 2021
|
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