TheRetroCritic

Before Christopher Nolan's name was synonymous with big, high-concept sci-fi blockbusters but after the director's breakout hit Memento , he made Insomnia , an Alaska-set remake of the 1997 cult Norwegian thriller. The film sees Al Pacino play an ageing detective who travels to Alaska to try and solve a murder case. After he mistakenly shoots his partner in the fog while following the killer, he attempts to cover up his blunder but he is soon blackmailed by the murderer. The lack of any sleep also starts to confuse the detective and his insomnia plays tricks with his memory. Insomnia was released the same year as One Hour Photo , a film which also starred Robin Williams in a creepy against-type role. The fact that the actor and comedian agreed to tackle two chilling characters in a row was a bold move which showed great versatility, especially since he did such a brilliant job in both movies. And Death To Smoochy , of course. Insomnia often gets forgotten as a Christop

In this 57th episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, review  Jurassic World  and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

Since Jurassic World has kick-started more dinosaur talk than ever recently, why not check out my review of the game We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story on the Sega Genesis? Only on 1MoreCastle.com .

Gothamized  is a completely unofficial guide to new series  Gotham  and a debate arena for all things Batman. CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE In this 22nd episode, we discuss the  Gotham finale, Matthew McConaughey, Suicide Squad set pics, Mesopotamia and we take a quiz. (for my written review of the Gotham Pilot,  click here! ) Hope you enjoy it! You can also find us on podcast  The Big Rewind  (available on iTunes, Stitcher and Player FM) and send us emails with your Bat-questions, Six Degrees challenges and riddles here:  gothamized@gmail.com (for the pilot episode  CLICK HERE )

I finally rant briefly about Mad Max: Fury Road on this loveliest of days.

Disney's new expensive venture Tomorrowland , which is based on their very own theme park attraction, was all set to become a brand new Pirates Of The Caribbean money machine with early word-of-mouth being positive and released stills looking pretty good. Sadly, the film flopped and that even ended up costing us Tron 3 . Add to that critics not exactly raving about it after the film's international release and you've got yourself another big disappointment for the Mouse House. You'd think that spending $200M on the likes of The Lone Ranger and John Carter would have taught the company some restraint but no. Once again, here we have a relatively enjoyable kids' movie with fab visuals but not much else. The idea of a parallel dimension with some perfect futuristic utopia that may not be all that perfect after all was a good one and the ambition director Brad Bird brings to the table is commendable. You can tell there was a genuine attempt here to take the far

There's never been a better time to revisit a movie which basically started a whole sci-fi subgenre and led to one of this year's best blockbusters. Mad Max was the film which gave Mel Gibson his big break and provided a welcome alternative to Hollywood's movie-making machine. Now, if you've never seen Mad Max, don't sit and watch it expecting Mad Max: Fury Road . Those two movies may share the same character but one is expensive and is set in a post-apocalyptic desert world with some, admittedly pretty, CGI thrown in while the other is very low-budget and is set in what looks like pre-apocalyptic small town Australia. There are trees, houses, cops, Halls Of Justice (of sorts), there's still some form of society present here. For something closer to Fury Road, you might want to just check out Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior but why would you not want to know how Max became "Mad" Max? This is one character arc that's worth sitting through, trus

I finally talk about Avengers: Age Of Ultron .

The problem with sequel/reboots (sequoots, if you will) is that you never know what you're going to get but, most likely, you're not getting the good stuff. And just when you're getting sick and tired of those reboots (and sequoots), obviously a great one comes along to make you rethink the validity of the whole thing. Yes, Mad Max: Fury Road is pretty awesome. With Tom Hardy taking over the role of Max Rockatansky, a role which put Mel Gibson on the map back in the day, George Miller returning to directing duties and a killer trailer promising great things, this looked set to be a good time, at the very least. Then again, the Conan The Barbarian remake had a cool trailer too so it could have all gone pear-shaped very quickly. Thankfully, Miller's insistence that all the cars in the film would have to be built for real along with often stunning cinematography by John Seale, a great cast and some brilliant character design means that Mad Max: Fury Road is, in fa

In this 56th episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, review  Mad Max: Fury Road  and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula