Director J.J. Abrams demonstrates precisely why he’s been tapped to direct the upcoming Star Wars sequel with an exhilarating, fabulously entertaining entry in sci-fi’s other biggest franchise, one that should well and truly satisfy regardless of the extent of your fandom. Following on from the successful 2009 reboot, Star Trek Into Darkness continues the adventures of the fledgling Starship Enterprise, this time pitting the explorers against an enemy from within, [...]

Stunning visuals and an awesome score may well take your breath away, but the subsequent shortage of oxygen won’t be enough to distract you from the clunky dialogue and derivative storyline, as the same shortcomings that plagued director Joseph Kosinski’s big screen debut Tron: Legacy rear their head in his follow-up, the self-penned sci-fi drama, Oblivion. Co-adapted by Kosinski from his own unpublished graphic novel, the film stars [...]

Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk with Me won an audience award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Within five minutes of the movie starting, it’s easy to understand why. Adapted by Birbiglia from his own semi-autobiographical stand-up act, the film recounts the trials and tribulations of an aspiring comedian in a flagging relationship whose life becomes disrupted by a series of dangerous sleepwalking incidents. Such an outlandish affliction offers no shortage of [...]

Aggressively nationalistic, shamelessly pro-violence and achingly, unrelenting and one suspects proudly idiotic, G.I. Joe: Retaliation marries the steroidal firepower of the US armed forces with the narrative sense and technical elegance of a twelve year old playing with his action figures. Directed by Jon M. Chu of Step Up 2: The Streets and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never fame, the film, a sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, [...]

Thrilling, witty and masterfully staged, with fantastic characters and a genuine sense of peril, John McTiernan’s Die Hard remains one of the greatest action films in the history of motion pictures. Likewise, Bruce Willis’s resourceful, wise-cracking protagonist, Detective John McClane, remains one of cinema’s greatest heroes. But twenty-five years have passed since then, as have four increasingly silly follow-ups. Die Hard 5, aka A Good Day to Die Hard, is [...]

Twenty years before a twister deposited Dorothy Gale at the foot of the yellow brick road, the citizens of the Emerald city were visited by another, less virtuous Kansan. Oscar Diggs was his name, and although prophecy had him earmarked as a powerful sorcerer, in truth he was little more than a two-bit carnival magician, whose talent was dwarfed by his selfishness and ego. Based not on any one novel, [...]