Sequels are a dime a dozen in this modern age of big budget Hollywood. Was Zombieland crying out for a sequel? No. Fans have been begging for a sequel for years, and in my experience with sequels, long overdue sequels hardly deliver. The films characters are still great and the ballooning support cast was quite small overall, and allowed the central cast to maintain all the focus. I had expected something more self aware, much like the previous film, but the film felt safe with replicating some of the jokes. Double Tap falls into all the common sequel pitfalls and I couldn't believe this was the film they delivered after an extended delay. It's a good film, not a great film. If a third film is made, I only hope they drift away from the safe storytelling model. 19/01/2020

Jay and Silent Bob have been some of the funniest side characters from all of Kevin Smith's films. The issue is similar to other films of this nature, the lead characters don't have enough story to warrant out a padded out film. I honestly thought Smith might adopt a film similar to the Harold and Kumar franchise, and embrace the craziness that entails. The best parts of the film are the connections to other great Smith films. Matt Damon's cameo is hilarious, but bizarrely placed. Ben Affleck returning to provide a mini sequel to Chasing Amy adds incredible weight. I was actually more interested in that moment than most parts of the film. Smith clearly has the ability to write character beats, but is more eager to please the juvenile audience members instead. The previous film wasn't a classic and this is no classic either. I liked the film, but the cameos are hit and miss. There's a better film here, but not what Smith delivered. 12/01/2020

After the conclusion of Toy Story 3 it felt like the concluding chapter for this series, but Toy Story 4 was announced. If it had not been Pixar, you'd expect this film to be a complete and utter waste of time, but no. The film was bloated this time around with more characters, yet Pixar managed the astonishing task of balancing them with a coherent storyline. This film is yet again a solid addition to the Toy Story franchise and if they were to announce number 5, you couldn't say no. The series has heart firmly in place and the conclusion here would be another fitting end to the franchise. I still believe they will continue the flagship series, and bring everything to a fitting conclusion, but who really cares when it is still this good. Incredible sequel and how the hell can they still make quality films for this series after so long? 20/01/2020

This is an utter mess of poor filmmaking and storytelling. The cast are solid and they aren't the issue here. The problem is the lack of chemistry, character development and overall coherency. O'Toole was an inspired choice and steals the show in a very thankless role. The young up and coming cast attempt to breath life into this film, but it feels doomed from the very beginning. The monster setup was interesting and had the filmmaker been a little more seasoned, this may have worked. The monster attacks are filmed like it is designed to induce seizures at any moment. The film is short and any menace from the monster never materializes. It's a shame this didn't work. 19/01/2020

An amazing film. I might be one of the few who truly enjoy the style of the filmmaker and the slow burning storyline. Ad Astra is one of those rare films to come out of the studio system without the standard dumb down storytelling device. It's very slow and will test the patience of the viewer, but if you can sit through for its entirety, it's definitely stylish and incredible to view. The film is divisive and unusually dumped in a non awards section, maybe due to its budget. The film is visually amazing and Gray has really been handed a large budget compared to his usual low budget films. It's a shame it didn't exceed at the box office, and I suspect the marketing team was not able to grasp the concept of the film, if you compare it to the trailers. This is part of my top 9 2019 list and I've championed it since my viewing on the weekend. I viewed it on 4k and was amazed by the beauty of the film. I'm now hoping to see the initial cut by Gray as I suspect it's even more ambiguous and worth viewing. The film has a very large budget for an indie film, and that's exactly what the film was always going to be. Pitt is incredible in the lead and he anchors the film. 11/01/2019