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The Last of Us
The Last of Us (2023– )
10/10
The Curse Is Lifted
16 January 2023
Gamers and geeks of all persuasions, unite and rejoice! This is the game-to-screen adaptation we've been waiting for. The Last of Us delivers in spades.

It helps the the source material is incredibly detailed, nuanced and immersive - playing the game is in fact like playing a movie - but even if viewers haven't played the game, it's an absolute win.

The show is beautifully shot and directed, superbly acted and while faithful to the game, introduces believable and credible new characters to the narrative that make sense. Having Neil Druckman on board was a master stroke, without his influence this could have been any other generic post-apocalyptic tick-the-box exercise.

Bravo!
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Antlers
Antlers (2021)
6/10
Bleak, bleak, bleak
14 November 2022
I am a red-blooded horror fan, I like 'em all. This was a solid mid-tier movie but boy, was it depressing. The kids in peril in this movie are not the same as the kids in peril in, for example, It Chapter One, who are (with one obvious exception) redeemed. The poor kids in this one are downtrodden, damaged and real victims to the bitter end - and the adults aren't any better. Overall it's dark, desperately sad, and there's not much in the way of redemption for anyone beyond the temporary. Lucas is just so world-weary at the age of 12, you want to pluck him from the screen and give the blighter a hug and a cheeseburger. I did get it, I do dig it, but it's an instant trigger for depression. Abandon hope, then stick on Harold and Kumar.
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The Matrix Resurrections
The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)
7/10
You cannot rate this 1 star
19 December 2021
We're in a world where original stories have the hardest journey to the screen, it takes hundreds and hundred of people doing their best to get the job done so we don't have to watch another remake of a remake... And with a stroke of the keyboard so many will dismissively rate it just 1 star to make a point that they're butt hurt? Seriously? We should be thankful we get to go back to The Matrix at all and enjoy the ride, not be so arrogant to dismiss it with the rating of a reprehensible, unwatchable pile of garbage. It's cruel, unnecessary and not even vaguely true. Get a life - or better yet - let average people (just like you) rate YOUR masterpiece. I don't think you'd like that, now would you?
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The Shining
The Shining (1997)
7/10
It's not Kubrick. But is is King.
15 November 2018
Didn't hate it, but watched both this and the Kubrick version after reading the book.

Firstly, this is a TV show and not a movie - so lower your expectations slightly and enjoy it for what it is.

No doubt about it, this is a good version of King's vision. Love it or hate it, it's pretty faithful and I gotta say that you needn't overanalyse this to see that Steven Weber and Rebecca de Mornay did a good job playing the very average Torrance spouses, come on, give Weber some credit - those are some ridiculous shoes to fill after Jack Nicholson.

Danny was a miscast for me, but then again so was the kid in the Kubrick version.

So this doesn't get all the stars, but it does get some credit for leaning into the source material and busting a gut to 'rectify' (at least for Stephen King) the many omitted moments from the book in Kubrick's version... which is of course, in a different league.

We all know that - so haters, chill out and enjoy the fact that there are two versions of the story and there's no undoing that.
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Ready Player One
Ready Player One (2018)
10/10
An Expansion Of The Book, and That's Awesome.
30 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I read the book twice and loved it.

And I loved this movie equally.

So many of the reviews I'm reading here lament that it was different from the book, and have given it 1 star because of that. For real? 1 star?

You know what? We should be thankful that a completely original, complex movie like this is even getting made in this age of franchise, indie and remake hell. And, by Steven Freakin' Spielberg, no less.

So there were big differences from the book. So what? So much of the good stuff remains. The stacks? Check. The Oasis? Check. Easter Egg Hunt? Check. High 5? Check. Bad guy Sorrento, MechaGodzilla, Cataclysm? Check. Check. Check. It's all there and it looks totally amazing.

The new stuff? Loved it. The backwards race was so cool. The Shining! Holy crap, what a killer and unexpected FlickSync, executed to perfection. And, and, and.

Why should the movie have been a complete retread of the book? Bringing a book like this to the screen must be a mammoth project. Surely we as moviegoers, who watch and love movies can understand that it's not as simple as 'oh well, we'll just make a different movie because we can or should'? A book like this is so geeky, so long and involved, so chock full of its own Easter eggs, that it would be nigh impossible to make and EVEN HARDER for a general moviegoing public to digest were it a literal, step-by-step version of the book.

I see this as exciting and unexpected, an expansion of the book's ideas into a movie format. I hope that people who watched and enjoyed it, will now pick up the book and really, truly get into the world that inspired this absolutely wonderful film.

Ready Player One rules!
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Resident Evil: Retribution
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
6/10
Resident Evil: Disappointalypse
27 September 2012
Real disappointing.

These movies have come under a lot of fire, as video game adaptations always do. However, I've really enjoyed 'em - the franchise has been great movie fun with each offering a different angle on the spread of Umbrella's T-Virus.

That said, this one was quite horrible! A very 1980s plot, super-clunky script, some ropey effects... And I'm pretty sure I caught a couple of recycled shots. Not to mention really average use of 3D.

To me this one was saved only by Milla Jovovich's hotness and some pretty cool action sequences. But the essence of RE, for me, is lost completely in a mess of retro technology and a basic lack of story development since Afterlife.

Bring back the claustrophobia, the zombies and the scares! Chuck out the underwater training simulation stations and the red queen regurgitating silly lines!

I'm done.
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