Shameless Self Expression

Set in Maycomb, Alabama in the early 30s, widowed lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) raises his kids Jem (Phillip Alford) and wilful tomboy ‘Scout’ (Mary Badham) whilst juggling his responsibilities in defending black man Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), accused of raping white (trash) girl Mayella Ewell (Collin Wilcox). Whilst the predominantly white townsfolk are mostly whooped up into a racist frenzy, calm and reasoned Atticus tries his best to educate his kids or at least shield them from the worst of it. Meanwhile, Jem, Scout, and visiting kid Dill Harris (John Megna) are intrigued by the infamous, supposedly deranged, and never seen neighbourhood ‘phantom’ Boo Radley (Robert Duvall). Directed by Robert Mulligan ( “Bloodbrothers” , the underrated “The Spiral Road” ) and scripted by Horton Foote ( “Tender Mercies” , he uneven 1992 version of the Steinbeck classic “Of Mice and Men” ), this 1962 film adaptation of the Harper Lee novel is a very good film based on an absolutely...

Set not in Amity, but Florida’s Sea World, this sequel has Chief Brody’s two sons facing their own shark problem. How a shark can find its way into an amusement park is one of life’s greatest mysteries, but never mind, this is a movie after all. Dennis Quaid is Mike Brody, the park’s chief engineer who is currently bonking the park’s senior biologist Bess Armstrong. Both find a baby shark, which of course they end up using as an attraction. Let’s just say that mummy doesn’t take kindly to those who snatcher baby away from her. In fact, she gets awfully bitey. Did I mention that mummy is 35 feet in length? John Putch plays younger brother Sean Brody, whose girlfriend is Lea Thompson, one of the park’s water-skiers (shark + water skiers= uh-oh!). Lou Gossett Jr. is the park head honcho who ignorantly refuses to listen to Quaid and Armstrong and close the damn park. Money to be made, tourists...you know the drill by now. Simon MacCorkindale plays a dashing but arrogant and reckless adve...

Two tennis careers collide in this recount of the notorious 1973 tennis match between female tennis star Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and the very shy and retiring male tennis star Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). While women players like Billie Jean are struggling for recognition and parity within the sport, self-proclaimed chauvinist Riggs is 55 years-old and looking for the next thing to bring him a little bit of attention and money. And that’s when he gets the idea of a man vs. woman tennis match. Initially King baulks, and so Riggs offers the opportunity to King’s rival, Conservative Australian tennis champ Margaret Court (Jess McNamee). Eventually though, Riggs and King are destined to have a showdown. Meanwhile, King strays in her marriage, getting involved with female hairdresser Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough). Bill Pullman is the sexist, unwavering head of the Tennis Association, Sarah Silverman is the female players’ spokesperson, Alan Cumming is a swishy fashion designer, and ...

Set in a Southern California high school, where crime and vandalism is becoming an unfortunate frequent occurrence. A student body full of the school’s richest (WASP) students band together as a vigilante gang named The Sentinels, aimed at apprehending the hooligans and keeping the school clean and safe. Or so they say. It turns out that The Sentinels have rather aggressive tactics, and might even be involved in murdering students, possibly even ones who aren’t delinquent in nature. Certainly it is rather alarming that the students end up dead shortly after a visit from The Sentinels. J. Eddie Peck plays a new student (who isn’t rich) and school journalist who is recruited by Sentinels leader John Stockwell (best known as the second lead in “Christine” ) to try and paint them in a more positive light. But Peck starts to feel uneasy, especially when his pun, non-conformist best friend Krooger (Bradford Bancroft) suddenly disappears after a visit from The Sentinels. Carey Lowell play...

Jessica Rothe is a generally unpleasant college student who wakes up in the dorm of a guy she doesn’t know after a night she doesn’t remember. It’s her birth day, but it’s also set to be her last day on Earth. Well, sort of. You see, by the end of the night Rothe meets a violent end…only to wake up the next morning…actually, she wakes up to the same morning. Over and over again. Unable to escape it, let alone unable to escape dying at the end of the night. Eventually she realises that the best course of action is to try and figure out who her masked killer is, and perhaps put a stop to this whole cyclical mess. Horror movies weren’t exactly gory in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, so I don’t outright believe a horror film stands or fall on the basis of how much blood is in it. Hell, they don’t even need to be ‘scary’ to be ‘great’. However, if ever a film needed to be violent (or at least scary), it’s this tepid 2017 mixture of “April Fool’s Day” , “Heathers” , “Before I Fall” , and “G...

Kyle Mooney is a young man raised in a bunker in Utah by a failed kids TV show creator (Mark Hamill) and his wife (Jane Adams). One night, authorities raid the bunker, arrest Mooney’s ‘parents’ and inform him that his life has been a lie. The world isn’t toxic to human beings as he has been told, and his favourite TV show “Brigsby Bear Adventures” (an amusingly bad mixture of “The Care Bears” , “Barney” and “H.R. Pufnstuf” ) is really a failed TV series Hamill couldn’t get anyone interested in. No one in the outside world has ever heard of nor seen the show, and Hamill basically kidnapped Mooney as a kid so he could brainwash someone into liking the damn show. Mooney finds life in the real world difficult, and can’t quite relate to his real family (and vice versa). So what is a stunted man-child to do? Why, create his own “Brigsby Bear” movie of course, to express himself and share the “Brigsby Bear” love with everyone. Did I mention that Brigsby looks like a Satanic giant Teddy R...

Ashley Judd, a troubled and substance abusing bartender at a lesbian bar hooks up with brooding but gentle-natured oddball Michael Shannon in her crappy motel room. She’s still troubled by the disappearance of her son in a supermarket years ago, and is fearful of her mean and abusive husband Harry Connick Jr., whom she suspects of making nuisance phone calls to intimidate her. Shannon, meanwhile, is an AWOL war vet who claims to have been used as a guinea pig in US government experiments, and is in constant fear of capture by government agents. The two become lovers, two lonely and mistreated people finding peace in each other’s arms. But then Shannon notices the bugs...they’re beneath his skin...they’re on the bed sheets...they’re everywhere! Or are they? Exceedingly creepy, slightly stagy, slow-paced psychological horror film from William Friedkin ( “The Exorcist” and the landmark police actioner “The French Connection” ), is one of the uneven director’s better films, so l...

Mickey Rourke is King Hyperion, searching for a magical bow that will unleash the Titans from captivity and unleash hell upon the gods, whom he wants to rid the world of completely. Attempting to thwart his plans is the brave peasant Theseus (Henry Cavill), whose mother was among several killed by Hyperion and his minions. Freida Pinto plays a supposed Oracle, who can guide Hyperion to the whereabouts of bow. Instead, she hooks up with Theseus and his fellow slaves, including thief Stavros, played by Stephen Dorff (Yes, that Stephen Dorff). Luke Evans plays Zeus, Isabel Lucas is his daughter Athena, and John Hurt is credited as ‘Old Man’, who narrates the film. It looks like “300” , is about a similar subject to “300” , and at the end of the day, this 2011 flick from Tarsem Singh (director of “The Cell” and REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’ video) is pretty much as good as “300” (or “Clash of the Titans” ). And in my view, that means it’s somewhat watchable, but nothing memorable....