TheRetroCritic

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In 2016, Warner Bros. released The Legend Of Tarzan , an attempt to give Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic character a proper blockbuster franchise with Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan and Margot Robbie as Jane Porter. The film was a domestic flop despite performing quite well abroad. Picking up after Tarzan has already been accepted back into civilised society, the film then briefly flashes back to the character's familiar origins (being raised by apes etc.) a few times before sending him back home to the African jungle where his beloved Jane is captured by a cruel Belgian diamond hunter. Yes, this is one of those super-serious gritty reboots that attempts to introduce us to a well-known (yet revamped) hero but also tell a brand new story by working as some kind of sequel to a never-made film. The idea being that people who are very familiar with Tarzan and expect a more adult take on the character like 1984's Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes could enjoy t

From director Alexander Payne comes Downsizing , a science-fiction comedy starring Matt Damon as a man who undergoes a shrinking procedure so he can live in a small-scale utopia where he would be wealthy and lead a worry-free life. The trailers for Downsizing promised a social satire full of the dry wit we've come to expect from Payne's films. This was sure to be a mostly upbeat and clever character study hinting at deeper themes through a "big" sci-fi concept with some inventive visuals and fun deadpan performances peppered throughout. After a brief and well-executed introduction showing the birth of the revolutionary "downsizing technology", we meet Paul Safranek (Damon) and his wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) who, many years later, start to consider moving to Leisureland, a seemingly perfect mini-world where your money is worth five times more. The only catch: you will need to shrink yourself to live in that world and the procedure is irreversible. The fi

Everyone's favourite super-spy is back with another instalment and, this time, he's taking on the head of the infamous, shady organisation SPECTRE. Directed by Skyfall maestro Sam Mendes, SPECTRE opens big and in terms of pre-titles credit scenes it doesn't disappoint. The beautifully shot sequence includes an über-long tracking shot which opens at the heart of the smoky Mexican Day Of The Dead street celebrations and ends on a rooftop with Daniel Craig's suited 007 quietly staking out a bad guy through a sniper lens. Everything you want from a Bond film is in that sequence: a beautiful woman, face-punching, buildings crumbling, a tongue-in-cheek lol moment and a smooth lead up to an elaborate credits sequence. Speaking of which, the latter looks slick but is perhaps a little too busy and distracted for its own good. Plus Sam Smith really should have let someone with more oomph sing "Writing's On The Wall" because as it stands it makes that forgetta

Tim Burton's latest, Big Eyes , tells the true story of 1950's-60's artist Margaret Keane and her relationship with then-husband Walter Keane in what is the director's first biopic since Ed Wood . Though the film does explore Margaret's (Amy Adams) art and its popularity, the focus here is on how Walter Keane's (Christoph Waltz) appropriation of his wife's work changed her life in a time when women had little say. After Margaret allows Walter to take all the credit for her big eyed creations (despite a clear initial reluctance), the become something of a sensation and the couple's lifestyle improves radically over the course of only a few years but the cost of giving up her artistic rights become too much for Margaret who is soon forced to live a lie. Tim Burton directing Ed Wood made perfect sense: a big fan of horror and sci-fi B-movies, the man behind the likes of Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks!  wanted to pay homage to another hugely enthusiast

If there was one comedy I was not expecting to ever get a sequel, it was  Horrible Bosses . Armed with a fun, clever concept and a strong cast, the film still somehow managed to be very uneven and instantly forgettable. So now we have Horrible Bosses 2 and our moronic trio are back with yet another unlikely plan involving, albeit rather indirectly, some horrible bosses. The plot sees Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day try to sell a new product of their conception called "The Shower Buddy" to a big company run by an intimidating Christoph Waltz and his spoilt, twisted son, an almost show-stealing Chris Pine. Of course, the gang are soon tricked into being ruined and selling their product for cheap to Waltz and they are soon plotting their revenge. Murder isn't so much on their mind this time as they turn their intention towards kidnapping. Or "kidnaping", rather. What follows is a series of nifty twists and turns as Pine gets involved in thei

Pay attention, 007. Your new mission finally has a name: Also, a teaser poster: Your new villain, by the way, will be played by the ever-wonderful Christoph Waltz. Agent 2015 better get here soon...

Terry Gilliam once again tackles the meaning of life in The Zero Theorem , a near future London-set sci-fi flick in the vein of Brazil in which a man goes head to head with "Management" and brings his work home with him only to find that the job he's being tasked with has shady ramifications. Christoph Waltz is Qohen Leth, an antisocial Uncle Fester-looking dude who is always waiting for a phone-call from an unknown caller. So far, so Waiting For Godot . After running into Matt Damon's Management clones at a party, he is given a new task which involves him playing some kind of CGI game peppered with cubes which should eventually prove that 0 = 100%. What he hasn't realised is that his bosses are essentially testing him, trying to get him to prove that existence is completely meaningless. His faith is shaken as he meets Mélanie Thierry's sexy gal Bainsley, who distracts him with a new virtual reality program and he starts to struggle with his job more and

Terry Gilliam's latest, The Zero Theorem , finally gets a trailer!

Whenever a project is this delayed, usually we get something like The Wolfman : full of ideas, style and potential but ultimately a mess which just doesn't work. And although The Green Hornet is a bit of a mess at times, I'm happy to report that most of it actually does work. Most of it. The opening scene sets the tone for the rest of film perfectly as James Franco's petty gangster taunts main villain Christoph Waltz until, of course, the latter snaps. The jokes come thick and fast, the feel is playful, silly and fun. Then we meet Seth Rogen's Billionaire jerk, a character who is dangerously close to being entirely dislikable but Rogen just about keeps him afloat. Things get interesting when he meets Jay Chou's Kato and although the latter's English isn't exactly perfect, he is as cool as it gets and pulls off Bruce Lee's old character brilliantly. The pair work well together and make a good anti-hero duo. Cue awesome car, wacky gadgets, exciting