Mac's Movies

UK Release Date: 24 June 2022 Certification: 12A Director: Baz Luhrmann Cast: Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge, Tom Hanks, Kevin Harrison Jr, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Dacre Montgomery, Richard Roxburgh, Helen Thomson Rating: 70% Thank you, thank you very much.  Review: Elvis is the latest in line of biopics regarding famous rock and roll stars - Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman - and it entertains but could be seen as a disappointment due to its failure to live up to its clear Oscar winning potential.  Austin Butler's performance is magically spectacular. He had to beat out the likes of Ansel Elgort, Harry Styles and Miles Teller in order to get the role. He embodies 'The King' that was Elvis Presley. He moves like Elvis, sounds like Elvis and even shares the same mannerisms as Elvis. Butler just plays every single scene to perfection. This is definitely his route into the Hollywood limelight. Tom Hanks is just as good as Colonel Tom Parker, even with a...

UK Release Date: 14 January 2005 Certification: 12A Director:  Clint Eastwood Cast: Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Mackie, Michael Peña, Hilary Swank Rating: 88% A dramatic, unconventional sports movie. Review: This is my second watch of Million Dollar Baby and that really benefited my viewing experience because I first viewed the film as a sports movie but it's much more than that. Instead of telling the typical underdog tale seen in Rocky , Clint Eastwood focuses on the phenomenal performances and the gut-wrenching story, that is at points tough to watch.  M illion Dollar Baby is a character study and so the acting had to be great to entertain the audience, and each of the three main cast took their performances to another level. Hilary Swank perfectly encapsulates the 'You can do whatever you put your mind to' mindset embodied by Maggie Fitzgerald. She's dogged, determined and most importantly likeable.  Swank, of course, won ...

UK Release Date: 27 May 2022 Certification: 12A Director: Joseph Kosinski Cast: Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Connelly, Tom Cruise, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell, Bashir Salahuddin, Miles Teller Rating: 82% "I feel the need... The need for speed!" X2 Review: Top Gun: Maverick is a must see cinema experience. A near forty years on from the original this stunning film breaths new life into the franchise becoming Tom Cruise's highest grossing movie of all time.  No one is doing what Tom Cruise is doing today. At 59 years-old, he is the epitome of a real life action hero. He obviously expands upon the death-defying stunts that he's known for putting himself in the cockpit of a Boeing F/A 18F Super Hornet for the majority of the runtime, encouraging the other cast members to do the same. But this is one of Cruise's most endearing and emotional performances of his career so far. From subtle glances of grief and despair to his undying charisma - every single frame th...

UK Release Date: 3 October 1986 Certification: 15 Director: Tony Scott Cast: Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Michael Ironside, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Tim Robbins, Tom Skerritt Rating: 43% "I feel the need... The need for Speed!" Review: Top Gun was an interesting watch ahead of a trip to the  critically acclaimed Top Gun: Maverick . It's very much a film of it's time and doesn't hold up at all today. Starring a young Tom Cruise - who's still on a motorbike - and helmed by Ridley Scott's brother, Tony Scott, it had the makings of a fun 80's action movie but  unfortunately, it was far from it for me.  However, the movie really works when it focuses on the pilots in the air. It feels astonishingly real, immersing the audience head first into the action, which saw a huge surge in people joining the navy. You feel a sense of achievement when an aviator takes out a MiG and are on edge during tense moments.  It was a phenomenal feat that they were abl...

UK Release Date: 30 September 2021 Certification: 12A Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga Cast: Ana De Armas, Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Lashana Lynch, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright Rating: 84%  The name's Bond. James Bond. Review:  No Time to Die is the final instalment of Daniel Craig's James Bond. It was the first movie to see major postponements due to the pandemic but it was worth the wait. The movie is not only it's own unique story but it's a brilliant sendoff to his portrayal of the iconic character.  Daniel Craig is brilliant on his final outing as James Bond. At times his age maybe spills through as he's not getting any younger but he does a great job. He can act emotively, he pulls off the cheesier lines and when an eventual new Bond is chosen they will have big shoes to fill. Although, No Time to Die is as much Madeleine's film as it is Bond's. I didn't enjoy Léa Seydoux in Spectre , or the movie in gen...

UK Release Date: 15 January 1993 Certification: 18 Director: Quentin Tarantino Cast: Kirk Baltz, Randy Brooks, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Tim Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Lawrence Tierney Rating: 86% Mr Ginger. Review: With iconic shots and witty dialogue, crime thriller,  Reservoir Dogs  is Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut and my first exposure to one of his movies.    Every member of the cast is terrific but the three leads, without question, standout. Tarantino originally penned in to play Mr Pink himself but Steve Buscemi's audition was so good that Tarantino changed his mind and decided Buscemi would be the perfect fit. Mr Pink is the 'professional robber' of the group who cares only about the job - nothing or no one else - and Buscemi sells that exceptionally well right from the very first scene. Harvey Keitel (who plays Mr White) makes it easy to empathise/sympathise with him as we understand his thought proce...

UK Release Date: 15 April 2022 Certification: 15 Director: Robert Eggers Cast: Claes Bang, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Gustav Lindh, Alexander Skarsgård Rating: 79% "I will avenge you, Father! I will save you, Mother! I will kill you, Fjölnir!" Review: The Northman is acclaimed director Robert Eggers' third feature film and it lives up to the hype. A Viking story unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's visually stunning, has a boisterous score and some superb performances.  I hadn't seen a Robert Eggers film before  The Northman  so the first half an hour was just bizarre and it did take me a while to acclimatise to what exactly I was watching. There were naked men, people pretending to be dogs and fantastical elements.  Alexander Skarsgård's pivotal performance as Prince Amleth is the centre point of the movie's success. His arc is really great and kept me captivated from start to finish. From a boy who is h...

UK Release Date: 19 October 2001 Certification: PG Director: Hayao Miyazaki Cast: Yuriko Ishida, Kaoru Kobayashi, Yôji Matsuda, Akihiro Miwa, Masahiko Nishimura, Sumi Shimamoto, Yûko Tanaka Rating: 90% "Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed. But still, you find reasons to keep living." Review: Princess Mononoke, released in Japan in 1997, tells the tale of a cursed boy who finds himself entangled in a war between a mining colony and forest spirits. Distributed under the banner of famous Japanese movie studio, Studio Ghibli - whose films include Grave of the Fireflies , My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away - and directed by legendary director, Hayao Miyazaki, it was always going to be a huge success.  It's difficult to talk about the voice cast because I watched the movie in Japanese with subtitles (the way foreign language films should be watched) but I felt they all did an incredible job. I often struggle to connect with characters when I watch fo...