Reviewed by GREG KING Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo Stars: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Reger-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Wagner Moura, Julia Butters, Shea Whigham, Callan Mulvey. This generic globe-trotting action thriller comes across like James Bond on steroids. The Gray Man is based on the 2009 thriller written by Mark Greaney, who was a frequent collaborator with the late Tom Clancy and is credited with writing some of the recent Jack Ryan novels. The Gray Man introduces us to Court Gentry (played …
FIRST MAN
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Damien Chazelle Stars: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Pablo Schreiber, Christopher Abbott, Ethan Embry, Patrick Fugit, Olivia Hamilton, Ciaran Hinds, Corey Stoll, Shea Whigham, Lukas Haas. Oscar winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle has quite a resume to his credit. He who gave us the superb drama Whiplash, which was my top film of 2014. He followed that with La La Land, a colourful and kitsch homage to the old Hollywood musicals of yesteryear, but I was not quite as enamoured with it as many other critics seemed …
BLADE RUNNER 2049
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Denis Villeneuve Stars: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Jared Leto, Ana De Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Edward James Olmos, Sean Young, Dave Bautista, Hiam Abbass, Mackenzie Davis, Barkhad Abdi, Lennie James. Blade Runner 2049 is the latest film from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, who has an impressive track record that includes Incendies, the psychological thriller Prisoners, the war on drugs thriller Sicario, and the sci-fi drama Arrival. Here he returns to the sci-fi genre, with this visually stunning and stylish long …
SONG TO SONG
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Terrence Malick Stars: Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Iggy Pop, Val Kilmer, Patti Smith, Flea. I loathed the past couple of films from revered auteur Terrence Malick, particularly his To The Wonder and Knight Of Cups, with their frustratingly obtuse, indulgent and abstract experimental nature, existential meditations, impressionistic and unconventional approach to narrative, the mumbled and at times inaudible dialogue often delivered as internal monologues, the …
LA LA LAND
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Damien Chazelle Stars: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, J K Simmons, Tom Everett Scott. The new film from director Damien Chazelle (the superb Whiplash) is a charming and ambitious take on the old fashioned technicolour Hollywood musical and it harks back to those classic musicals of the 50s and 60s, a bygone era of glamour and romance. The film is inspired by the likes of Jacques Remy's classic The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg and Stanley Donen's Singin' In The Rain, and is steeped in nostalgia. There are numerous in-jokes about Hollywood and …
DRIVE
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Nicholas Winding Refn Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman. Maverick Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn makes tough, unflinchingly brutal and uncompromising dramas like his Pusher trilogy and the physically bruising Bronson. For his first American film, Refn has made a dark and downbeat hard boiled noir-like thriller that has moments of quiet punctuated by sudden explosive bursts of graphic, bloody violence. Refn brings an outsider’s perspective to his depiction of LA, …
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE
Reviewed by GREG KING Directors: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa Stars: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei, Julianne Moore. Life is often messy, and Crazy, Stupid, Love reflects the darker side of life and the complex nature of relationships. Crazy, Stupid, Love was written by Dan Fogelman, who is better known for family friendly animated films like Cars and its sequel, Bolt, and the recent Tangled. The film is really heartfelt, and draws upon some painful and personal elements drawn from Fogelman’s own life. This smart and …