20th century fox

The Greatest Showman – Fitting Title or Mediocre Musical?

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

714306-main

I very rarely want to watch the same movies that my mum does (I still haven’t forgiven her for making me watch The Tourist, which was GARBAGE in case you were wondering), but I made an exception when she wanted to show me her new favourite movie, The Greatest Showman. Part of it was out of politeness but there was another reason, and it wasn’t necessarily because she absolutely loved the movie. It was the fact that she absolutely loved it but so many others hated it. Not disliked, hated. What kind of movie could generate two wildly different opinions of it? I had to see it for myself to find out.

So is The Greatest Showman a cinematic marvel that deserved all of the Oscars? Is it a raging dumpster fire and offensive to the very senses? Or is it kind of mediocre and everyone’s just overreacting and making a big deal out of nothing? Continue reading →

Favourite Moments in Fiction #6 – Marge Leaves Homer (The Simpsons Movie)

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Simpsons Movie

The_simpsons-1-

In the 20+ years The Simpsons has been airing on TV, we’ve seen Homer and Marge have marital problems multiple times as early as the first season. It’s since become one of those recurring plot-lines that, nowadays, feels tired and hackneyed. But there’s something about the way this scene from the movie is done that averts that pitfall. Continue reading →

Logan – The Wolverine Movie We Deserve

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

loganheader-1

If you had seen both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine, I wouldn’t blame you for being highly skeptical of watching a third solo movie starring everyone’s favourite, slash-happy mutant. But believe me when I say that Logan isn’t just better than those previous outings; it’s quite possibly one of the best comic book movies of all time.

Very loosely based on the Old Man Logan graphic novel (so no inbred, hillbilly Hulks here, thank God), the film is set in the not too distant future, where not only have mutants become practically extinct but the X-Men are long dead. A much older and much more miserable Logan (Hugh Jackman) now lives a semi-normal life as a chauffeur, alongside a severely ill Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart).

While he has very much quit the ‘hero’ gig and is kind of just counting down the days until he dies, Logan finds himself thrown into action once more when a young mutant girl named Laura (played by newcomer Dafne Keen) enters his life, having escaped from an organisation called Transigen that were trying to create mutant child soldiers. Logan and Xavier agree to help her flee to North Dakota, where a supposed safe haven for mutants called Eden awaits. Continue reading →

What I Liked about Deadpool

/ Michael Beckwith / Leave a comment

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Deadpool

deadpool-logo

Deadpool could very easily have been a travesty; a complete mess of a movie that ultimately failed to appeal to either the average movie-going public or the die-hard fans. But, it didn’t. While I was certainly looking forward to it (especially when I saw the marketing), it managed to be even better that I initially hoped.

Because of the rather bizarre nature of the film, it’s a bit hard to review it in a traditional sense. So, I figured I’d take take the easy route and simply list off all the things I liked about the movie. Continue reading →