Released: 2nd August
Seen: 2nd August
Paddington 2
Released 21 December
Seen 3rd December (Charity Preview screening)
Directed by Paul King
Written by Paul King & Simon Farnaby
Produced by StudioCanal, Anton Capital Entertainment S.C.A., Amazon Prime Instant Video, Canal+, Ciné+, Heyday Films, Marmalade Films Ltd.
Starring Ben Whishaw, Madeline Harris, Samuel Joslin, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville & Hugh Grant
Justice League
Seen 16th November (Opening Day)
Directed by Zach Snyder
Written by Chris Terrio & Joss Whedon
Produced by Atlas Entertainment, Cruel & Unusual Films, DC Comics, DC Entertainment, RatPac-Dune Entertainment LLC, Lensbern Productions & Warner Bros.
Starring Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa & Ray Fisher
In 2012 the long awaited movie The Avengers was released to rave reviews. It was a movie that took years to set up, build an entire universe, introduce a ton of superheroes to this new cinematic entity that was created and was one of the highlights of the 2012 film scene. Marvel proved that you could create an amazing superhero team up movie and, in the process, cemented their place as a company that would define how superhero movies were going to look for the next decade… DC would like to do that, but it sounds hard!
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Released 18th May (Australia)
Seen 14th November
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Written by Joby Harold, Guy Ritchie & Lionel Wigram
Produced by Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Weed Road Pictures, Safehouse Picture, Wigram Productions , RatPac-Dune Entertainment
Starring Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law & Astrid Bergès-Frisbey
The tale of King Arthur and the Knights of Camelot is one that has been told hundreds of times throughout the ages. It’s been a musical, a cartoon, a TV series, a Disney Channel Original Movie… hell, it was literally the starting point of the last Transformers movie. Arthurian legend is a tale as old as time and now it’s Guy Ritchie’s turn to have a stab at the well-told tale. Many critics seem to really hate this film… I am not ‘many critics’, despite what my talking scale might tell you.
The Lego Batman Movie
Released 30th March (Australia)
Seen 11th November
Directed by Chris McKay
Written by Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern & John Whittington
Produced by DC Entertainment, Lego System A/S, Lin Pictures, Lord Miller, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Warner Animation Group, Warner Bros. Animation & Warner Bros
Starring Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson & Ralph Fiennes
Earlier this year I saw Lego Ninjago, a movie that was clearly spewed out to capitalize on the cinematic success that was The Lego Movie. At the start of that review, I mentioned that “Lego Batman… showed you could play around in multiple established universes and still tell your own story”. I knew this because my younger brother told me the basic storyline of the Lego Batman movie and, at that point, I hadn’t seen Lego Batman. I’ve now rectified that and somehow, it makes me think Lego Ninjago was actually worse.
Monster Trucks
Released 12th January
Seen 10th November
Directed by Chris Wedge
Written by Derek Connolly
Produced by Disruption Entertainment, FortyFour Studios, Nickelodeon Movies & Paramount Pictures
Starring Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Thomas Lennon, Danny Glover & Rob Lowe
One of the classic film tropes that have been a major part of cinema is known as the “A Boy and His Dog” trope. The idea is that the story revolves the bond between the boy (Usually our main character) and his dog (Though this can vary). Monster Trucks is absolutely a Boy and his Dog kind of film… it’s just that I don’t care about either the boy or his dog/giant-alien-truck-controlling-creature.
