Rocky 17: the coaching years?

The Gender equality Giant

What’s it about?
Well you see there’s a Detective who’s just hit 40 and is questioning what to do with his life. Then there’s a widower living her dreams, but wondering if she’s doing everything she’s meant to. And then there’s this old guy who’s just trying to be the best travelling salesmen he can be. Or maybe he’s lying about that and really just likes to rob banks. Whichever one he is, he’s a charmer.

What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: Surprisingly, for a ‘mostly true’ tale about a charming criminal, this is a story about ordinary people. It’s a love story, and it’s about finding happiness by doing what you love.

There is a delightful attention to detail in the telling of this tale, which, coupled with Redford’s brazen confidence as the untouchable Forrest Tucker, weaves a story that confounds you with contradictions of character.

After all, is a thief really that bad a person if he’s stolen your heart?

Footnote: If you think this review goes a bridge too far with references to a certain legend’s career, wait till you see how the river runs through this flick. You’d need all the Presidents men to help you unravel the sting.

What’s it about?
Mike Myers (the bad one) returns to Haddonfield to wreak havoc on the one night of the year that it feels mostly okay to do so.

What did we think?
Nick John Bleeker says: I walked into the cinema thinking I could handle it and came out of the cinema so horribly wrong. Halloween doesn’t really present anything too fresh, but Jamie Lee Curtis is great and David Gordon Green’s handle on the source material is incredibly solid, and I did kinda shit myself thanks to some of the scares.

3.5 / 5 stars

What’s it about?

While cleaning junk out of an old, abandoned house just before Halloween, some kids come across an old book and a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy. Spooky chaos ensues. Jack Black eventually turns up.

What did we think?

James Tinniswood says: ERMAGERD, GERSBERMS TER

I HERF TER ADMERT *clears throat* I have to admit I liked this more than I thought I would. It does have a bit of a “made-for-Nickelodeon sequel” feel, but it zips along at a good pace and I was never bored. And I liked that it (mostly) plays like a standalone Goosebumps story to the point where it (almost) didn’t need to go back to the meta “RL Stine is a character” well … until it does and reminds you it’s a sequel.

The kind of movie I would have liked the first Goosebumps to be and the third Jumanji to be. “Goosemanji”. Sony, call me, let’s talk.

What’s it about?
Root-rat movie-star Errol Flynn’s legend began long before Hollywoodland beckoned, as these adventures recollected from his biographical Beams End illustrate.

What did we think?
Stephen Scott says: In Like Flynn is a boys own adventure gone bad. It has all the elements of a successful movie: the director of Highlander, up-and-coming acting superstars (one is “the next Chris Hemsworth” I read somewhere), a David Wenham cameo (then again, his appearances make up 80% of the movies highlights), and the “true” life story of Errol Flynn … what could go wrong?

Oh, it’s awful. I honestly thought I was watching a 3rd year film students homage to Indiana Jones until Quint from Jaws turned up on the Sirocco. To be fair, aside from a handful of roaming accents, the acting isn’t too bad (with Clive Standen’s Charlie / Quint doing what he can to raise the standard alongside Wenham’s brilliant Dastardly Whiplash), but the script is as wooden and rotten as the boat they sail in, and the whole endeavour just ends up a misogynist try-hard mess.

Rent Highlander or Errol’s Captain Blood instead. This deserves to rest on the floor of the ocean alongside the boat it sunk in.