Reviews of the Bosch

          My generation kind of missed out on the Disney Renaissance. It ended when I was about seven or eight years old, and even then hadn’t produced one of their greats for a few years. Sure we could see them on home video, but it wasn’t quite the same as experiencing consistently great animated classics as they came out. Luckily, though we didn’t have Disney, we did have Pixar.           This unexpected phenomenon of a film studio appeared on the scene in the mid-90s; one devoted to making animated films using CG animation. Nowadays when the animated movie market is over-saturated with CG, we forget it wasn’t too long ago that the style was unheard of. Pixar became pioneers, using new technology to tell great stories in the Disney mould, but offering something else. It was Disney without the six decades’ worth of tropes and trappings, creative and impressive-looking with ingenuity that showed, and as kids we could not wait for t...

          The Planet of the Apes films have always faced a bit of challenge in terms of story investment. Ever since the first film’s iconic twist, all the subsequent prequels have had to deal with the fact we know where this is all headed. It’s largely what kept the Apes movies after the second one from being very impactful. But this recent Apes reboot trilogy did a very smart thing by making it as much about the journey of its hero Caesar, as the journey toward the eventual planet ruled by apes. War for the Planet of the Apes ostensibly understands this more than either of its predecessors, and for that reason, it may be the best of the three.           Caesar (Andy Serkis) has been trying to keep his growing clan of apes safe in their woodland home, but a surviving human military faction has been waging war. When their Colonel (Woody Harrelson) ambushes the ape fortress and kills Caesar’s family, Caesar embarks on a quest of v...

          Spider-Man Homecoming is the third movie reboot of the Spider-Man franchise in the last fifteen years. Returning to a new incarnation of this character so frequently can be tiring. However, Homecoming made the wise decision not to be the origin story we all know, sans spider bite, death of Uncle Ben, “with great power comes great responsibility”, etc. It opts instead to be a hybrid superhero-high school movie.           Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been splitting his time between school and amateur crime-fighting ever since Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) gave him a high-tech new suit. But when he discovers that salvaged alien technology is being sold to criminals as weapons, he makes it his mission to put a stop to it, while also having to contend with his responsibilities to his school decathlon team and impressing his crush Liz (Laura Harrier).           Half of this film is a standard high s...

          There’s a lot to unpack with “The Doctor Falls”, but there are a few major questions to answer right off the bat. Is it Steven Moffat’s best episode since “Heaven Sent”? Yes. Does it make a lot of sense? No. Is it a satisfying finale to series ten and for a number of supporting characters? Yes and No. Is it Peter Capaldi’s finest hour? Almost certainly!           Following up on the ending of “World Enough and Time”, the Doctor’s been captured by the union of Masters, but he managed trick the Cybermen into thinking the Time Lords are humans as well. So he, the Masters, and Bill are rescued by Nardole in a shuttle and taken some levels up to a solar farm, where the descendants of that one expedition the Master mentioned in passing last episode now live. But the Cybermen are beginning Project Exodus and so the homestead now must prepare to fight them off. Meanwhile, Bill struggles in her new Cyberman body and Missy mus...

          Edgar Wright makes movies so infrequently, we often forget he’s one of the best directors working today. From his days on Spaced through the Cornetto trilogy and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World , he’s set himself apart as a very unique director with a stylish eye for comedy and action. His latest film, Baby Driver , while having plenty of those, goes a little beyond while still remaining a thoroughly fun and original movie.           Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a talented getaway driver in the employ of a crime boss called Doc (Kevin Spacey). He constantly listens to music as a way of drowning out the tinnitus he contracted during a childhood car crash that killed both his parents. After his last heist, he begins to settle down, striking up a romance with a local waitress Debora (Lily James). But when he’s coerced into one more job with a collection of the more dangerous robbers he’s driven for, he determines to abandon this life ...

          Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is my second-favourite movie ever made (yes I count them as one, much like Tolkien’s original book was a single novel in three volumes). I also like The Hobbit movies fine, more than most. But in light of how popular these films are, how acclaimed, it makes you forget they weren’t the first adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy novels. Three animated movies, one theatrical, two for television, were made in the late 1970s that adapted both great stories. So I’ve decided to see them and discover how they compare to Jackson’s versions, and whether there’s anything they do better even on a much smaller production scale and shorter run-time.           We begin with Rankin/Bass, the studio most famous for their stop-motion Christmas specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , The Little Drummer Boy , Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town , Jack Frost , and the traditionally animat...

          There was a time when a comedy could win an Oscar. The Philadelphia Story didn’t itself (Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca earned that), but it was nominated and won both Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for James Stewart. It is also the film that revitalized Katherine Hepburn’s career after years of poorly received movies, and her being the first dubbed “box office poison”. She was in fact responsible for this comeback herself, having procured the rights to the Broadway play, sold them to MGM, and personally selected both writer Donald Ogden Stewart (related to David Ogden Stiers?), and director George Cukor, fresh off of being replaced by Victor Fleming on Gone with the Wind . Hell in a modern age, she would’ve been able to write, direct, or at least produce the movie herself. So this is a pretty important movie in the career of one of the most important actresses who ever lived. Exactly how good is it really?          ...