Author: Ian D.

Guy Ritchie is like a really good cover band. His movies are passable interpretations of their source material and often nearly reach the level of the original. His early efforts – Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are still his best examples of this – two gangster movies brimming with energy and style.

When a Marvel property isn’t made by the Marvel movie studio does the movie actually exist? I would argue that in the case of Toby Maguire Spidey that yes, they do. The X-Men too have led a myriad of adventures outside the Marvel studio monster, travelling in and out of the human brain and traversing the planes of space time.

I am an unabashed Tom Cruise apologist (on-screen, let’s avoid off-screen for now…or forever.) In a reality where “movie stars” can rarely carry the weekend box office anymore, Cruise still has that power. Sure, he has starred in some of the most popular films of all time but he does it with a conviction that few show.

Why does Terminator Genisys exist? Being the 5th entry in a long running series you better be an existential overhaul (like Fast 5) or reaching a sad conclusion (I’m looking at you Die Hard.) TG wants so badly to be the former that nearly all the dialogue is framed around reminding us why it exists.

Pixar has fallen into sequal-ville lately. That hasn’t necessarily produced poor results (Toy Story 3 and Monster’s University are fantastic films…Cars 2 not so much) but the tendency to retread into familiar territory smacks of Disney interference.