The Falcon and the Winter Soldier review - a refreshing deep dive
Given the space to breathe, these two look likely to shine says Jake Helm
Reviews
Reviews
Explore a selection of my criticism and reviews below.
Superhero sitcom WandaVision shouldn’t work - but it does
The Marvel Cinematic Universe meets The Dick Van Dyke Show in this risk-tasking success
MANIFF Review: Lost Transmissions (2020)
“I just don’t see you being a cog in a big machine” – Theo Ross (Simon Pegg)
Films have the ability to transport us to fantastical realms, to spaces and places that appear aesthetically and narratively detached from our reality – worlds that feel completely unlike our own. But they also can root us in the harshest and grittiest of realities, unsympathetically displaying depictions of suffering, social anxieties and complex subject matter. Katharine O’Brien’s directorial debut, Lost Transmission
Films have the ability to transport us to fantastical realms, to spaces and places that appear aesthetically and narratively detached from our reality – worlds that feel completely unlike our own. But they also can root us in the harshest and grittiest of realities, unsympathetically displaying depictions of suffering, social anxieties and complex subject matter. Katharine O’Brien’s directorial debut, Lost Transmission
Review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
Anyone anticipating a tell-all biopic crammed with revealing secrets, lewd scandals and profound behind-the-scenes insights will be left bitterly disappointed by A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Much like Morgan Neville’s delightful 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, this film unearths and explores very little about Fred “Mister” Rogers’ raunchy private life. This is simply because there isn’t one.
Review: Jojo Rabbit (2019)
This week Todd Phillips, director of various comedies (such as Old School, Road Trip, Due Date and The Hangover trilogy) before turning his attention to the much-hyped, gritty Joker origin film, brashly stated that he had moved away from comedies because they are now too challenging to make with today’s “woke culture”.
Review: Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly (2019)
In the past three years, Travis Scott (Jacques Berman Webster II) has rapidly become one of the world’s most electrifying icons who is as much recognised for the thrilling hysteria he manifests at his concerts as he is for his Grammy-nominated hits. His exhilarating and, at times, extremely honest Netflix documentary film ‘Look Mom I can fly’ manages to capture the very same mosh-pitting mania of his concerts.
Review: The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)
If the 2016 adaptation of the hugely popular App store game was something nobody asked for, then a sequel based on an iPhone App, certainly wasn’t and would’ve been inconceivable prior to 2016 (or at least before the original took over $350 million at the box office). But yet this is 2019 – a multimedia, cross-platform age filled with sequels, remakes and everything in between.
Surprisingly, however, I’ll happily concede the sequel is actually wittier and more pleasurable than anyone would’ve e
Surprisingly, however, I’ll happily concede the sequel is actually wittier and more pleasurable than anyone would’ve e
Review: The Lion King (2019)
In Jon Favreau’s new photorealistic copy of the 1994 animated classic, Timon (Billy Eichner) relates one of the most ironic lines of modern cinema – “To change the future you’ve gotta put the past behind you”.With their box-office-hungry attempts to recycle their animated classics into photorealistic blockbusters, this is exactly what Disney aren’t doing – putting the past behind them.
Review: Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
Avengers Endgame was undeniably a momentous film. It rapidly became the second-highest-grossing film of all time and the must-see event of 2019. Marvel, guided by the Russo brothers, had carefully constructed a spectacular, heart-wrenching and, more importantly, fitting finale and tribute to the past 21 films in the MCU (Marvel cinematic universe) an
