Category: review
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And so it begins. December 2019 I mean. And with is comes The Third Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films. And let us…
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As today is the last day of November, I’m quietly confident in predicting that tomorrow will be the first day of December. Obviously that presumption…
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It’s Christmas Eve once more and therefore logic would dictate that it’s time for the final entry in The Second Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar…
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Director John Frankenheimer made into last’s years James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films with the, frankly, awful but surprisingly Christmas(ish) Reindeer Games. If that…
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2008’s Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is a pretty decent follow up to 2004’s Hellboy. Both movies were directed by Guillermo Del Toro, who made…
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For a movie that is based on the premise of middle aged men abusing their status and power to conduct extramarital affairs with their younger…
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2011’s cinematic adaptation of John Le Carré’s 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is not the easiest of movies to follow. It might have helped…
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David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is not the cheeriest of films. Indeed it’s all pretty dark and unpleasant really, dealing with matters such as sex-trafficking, rape and…
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In last’ year’s James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films writer/director Shane Black was responsible for no less than 6 of the films included. Some…
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I first saw The Royal Tenenbaums when it hit cinema screens in 2001. And I hated it. I rarely leave the multiplex angry at a…
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When the opening scene of a film concludes with the brutal killing of two prisoners of war, one might assume that it’s not the most…
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1968’s The Lion in Winter is based on a play and in many ways it does feel more like watching a stage performance rather than…
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On paper The French Connection appears to be a run-of-the-mill crime thriller, with a protagonist, in Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle (Gene Hackman), who doesn’t play…
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2010’s Red is ostensibly a ‘by-the-numbers’ action flick. Bruce Willis barely needs to get out of second gear in his performance as lead character Frank…
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2015’s The Hateful Eight is the eighth film by Quentin Tarantino and it is not untypical of his oeuvre, containing, as it does, extreme violence,…
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When Jurassic Park hit the big screen in 1993, it was pretty pioneering stuff. For the first time dinosaurs on screen looked like real dinosaurs.…
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Many film franchises that begin with a great first outing often deliver sequels of diminishing returns. But few decline quite so rapidly with each edition…
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1994’s The Ref is not the longest film ever made at 97 minutes. Nonetheless it might well be slightly longer than it really needs to…
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I had relatively high hopes for 2001’s Behind Enemy Lines. On paper it looks like it should be pretty good. A pilot gets shot down…
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On the cover of the DVD case that contains my copy of 1999’s comic crime caper Go, it’s Katie Holmes who appears to be the…
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Objectively I can see that 1991’s Hook is not an especially good film, but I still can’t help but like it. As intriguing as the…
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1989’s When Harry Met Sally is one of the few romantic comedies that I’ll openly admit to liking. It is a romantic comedy in the…
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Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of King Kong is a bit on the long side at 187 minutes. This is an impressive feat given that the…
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The Life of Brian was my introduction to the world of Monty Python, though the first time I watched it, while I found it fairly…
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I had intended to include 2002’s Catch Me If You Can in last year’s ‘Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films’ but alas I was unable to…
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And so December is upon us and The Second Annual James Proclaims Advent Calendar of Christmas(ish) Films is officially underway. But just what is the…
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Last year I spent the build-up to Christmas by reviewing films that had a (sometimes tenuous) link to the festive season. At the time I…
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It’s been a week since I finished my A-Z of Cartoon Characters as part of my participation in the annual A-Z blogging challenge. As part…
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1996’s Last Man Standing is one of those movies that, on paper, looks like it should be an absolute winner. Bruce Willis plays the nameless…
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And so we come to the end of our journey. And what a journey it’s been. But, as part of this whole A-Z journey, I’m…
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Sometimes you just have to ask ‘Y’. But ‘Y’ rarely offers an answer. ‘Y’ is just a letter. But it is a letter that can,…
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