Darkness stalls. Stretching roughly half of Suzanne Collins’ final Hunger Games book out to 118 minutes, Mockingjay – Part 1 proves to be something of a test for the franchise’s fanbase. In their co-commentary, director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson congratulate themselves on expanding Collins’ passages about heroine Katniss …
Read More »Gardening Mama: Forest Friends review
Get ready to help devastate an entire forest by growing produce for your furry capitalist friends under the watchful eye of Mama – who is, of course, running this entire operation. Seeds of friendship are nowhere to be found, as your woodland neighbours only drop by for a stock refill. …
Read More »Dead or Alive 5: Last Round review
As boxed games go, this one is pushing even Street Fighter’s famed iterations for the ‘least amount of new content per release’ award. But nonetheless, it does represent the first time the Dead or Alive series has appeared on PS4 and Xbox One, so it’s a relatively big deal. Well. …
Read More »The Walking Dead S5.11 “The Distance” review
There is no end in sight to The Walking Dead. Gale Anne Hurd has talked about this thing running for years – and if you’ve seen the viewing figures, it’s obvious why. Still, if they were to wrap things up, an episode like ‘The Distance’ wouldn’t be a bad way …
Read More »Arrow S3.10 Left Behind review
Midseason finale “The Climb” flung down a serious gauntlet. Its weapons grade cliffhanger saw a freshly shish kebabed Oliver Queen tumbling over the edge of a snowy ravine, blood flooding from his mouth and his social calendar seemingly cancelled until further notice. He’d made the mistake of going up against …
Read More »The Interview review
Bad Korea move. Ten years from now, no one’s going to remember anything about this fluffy stew of bro-comedy idiocy apart from all the cybermayhem caused by protesting hackers. Was it worth their trouble? Of course not. The Interview is the spawn of the same crew who brought us Pineapple …
Read More »Grim Fandango Remastered review
I don’t get many chances to bust out the phrase mise-en-scene in a video game review without sounding like a pretentious asshole, so I’m going to take the opportunity here. It’s a French term used in film to encompass the art of environmental storytelling – and it’s something Grim Fandango …
Read More »Taken 3 review
Mills and boom “You’re always saying I’m so predictable!” Liam Neeson tells Maggie Grace at the beginning of this third and probably final vehicle for the indomitable Bryan Mills, he of the intimidating phone manner and very particular set of skills. “I wanted to shake it up a bit!” Alas, …
Read More »The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death review
YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER Despite being 12A, James Watkins’ smash-hit Hammer horror The Woman In Black turned the fear factor up to 11, becoming the BBFC’s most complained-about film of 2012. Based on Susan Hill’s 1983 novella, and a successful stage adap, it was canny “boo!” cinema …
Read More »The Crew review
I’ve just got back from a two-week road trip around America, and boy, have I done a lot of driving. I’ve seen Niagara Falls, driven across the Golden Gate Bridge and sped through Time Square. I’ve dodged bears in Sasquatch country and I’ve chased after foxes in the snow. And …
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