Lloyd Wood

Putting aside the Tamil production which is admirable………so there is this killer lion nearby which you cannot see and one of the two girls just decides to get out of the car contrary to parental advice. All for dramatic effect right? as surely NO ONE who is sane would do such a thing? But we cinemagoers are just so stupid that we have to pause all sense of reason because the script writers could not come up with a more plausible dramatic cause and effect than the annoying child sun-plot. Jeez I gave up at this point. Idris, what were you thinking?

Sorry but the unconscious bias means that Jennifer Lawrence can do no wrong as a great actress

A great concept of how a group of strangers are abducted and brought together to what they learn is an alien environment. They learn about their varied backgrounds and once the premise unfolds (that they are being hunted) we watch them having to utilise their particular skills to respond to the situation. The story ebbs and flows as they and the predators interact. It is good to see the evolved technological and physical capability of the predators matched against the variety of human talents to survive. I liked the characters, script, editing, musical score. It’s not popcorn, but a good sci-fi thriller action film imho.

If you want to know where you may need to go in your mind to creatively explore what pure disturbing horror could be like, then this film takes you to that detached place.

It starts off as a human interest story focused on the whistleblower and is portrayed well by Kiera Knightley. However, the desire to then interpose the bigger picture of media and politics played by an ensemble cast swamps the purpose of her character and she is not able to rise above this, possibly due to the editing and choice of how to conclude the film. The final scene sums this up and would not have been my choice of ending. Not many people may know of Elizabeth Gun and I think the film missed a trick by not continuing to tell us a bit more about the challenges in her life beyond this event.

A timeless classic. Riegert, an American oil company representative is sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for Burt Lancaster’s company. The musical score was composed by Mark Knopfler and beautifully accompanies the journey of Riegert whose missions progresses from arms length negotiator to a person who has an epiphany brought on by the charm of the local people and the passion of Burt Lancaster for the night sky above the Scottish ocean. The quintessentially quaint and quirky comedy is full of bittersweet irony too as the juxtaposition of corporate greed and the amusing greed of the locals highlights to us all a broader message about what environmental beauty means and the effort required for local communities to exist alongside it. “You can’t eat scenery”

It’s a great compliment to the first film, (bearing in mind it had to be) because the book had been split in two. The continuity of the main characters works and importantly the introduction of the new characters works well (mostly). This is important as no sci-fi movie can stand the test of time without contrasting the spirit of the species with the spectacle of how they operate in a period of the fantastical. DV delivers the visuals with aplomb, smashing it out of the park on many occasions, but it’s his ability to maintain the flow of the story and characters that is where he is increasingly improving. Herbert wrote his book in a different time projecting forward 10000 years, yet the human analogy is as prescient today as it was when he wrote the books. You only have to look at Bethlehem, Gaza, Israel, Persia, Yemen, Zion, to see the parallels of tribalism operating spiritually within a global macroeconomic and socioeconomic construct. In some ways this is the disturbing part of the story as for all its futurism the portents are those one cannot escape today. Spoiler alert: the ending of the film sees ships leaving Arrakis and the rise of a form of Jihad and death of 62 billion people over 12 years across the stars. Not something to marvel at! Be interesting to see if the story could continue and if it does I’d hope Villeneuve continues as Director.

Cruise as a bad guy works. Foxx is so genuine and it’s a shame he hasn’t had more roles like this as it shows his versatility.