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Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Two months after acquiring both halves of the cruciform key, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is ready to put an end to the Entity, once and for all. However, in that time the rogue A.I. has increased its stranglehold on cyber space and the planet. Spreading lies and misinformation, the people of the world are divided more than ever, and governments are on high alert. All of which should make it rather difficult, maybe even impossible for Ethan and his team to find a sunken Russian submarine and, use whatever they find there to kill the artificial intelligence that's slowly taking control of the world's nuclear arsenals. It is entirely possible that Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning  could be the most anxiety inducing instalment of the franchise - the second half, anyway. Once again, Tom Cruise puts himself through the absolutely ludicrous in the name of entertainment... and a possible adrenaline addiction. Every scenario in which Ethan and the gang find themselves seems to be d...
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The Lucky Bucks | Average Guy Movie Review

A young buck named Alex looks forward to his first mating season. But when Mortimer shows up to challenge Alex for his territory, their antlers become locked. Now if either of them are to have a chance this season, they're going to have to get unlocked, and fast. Much like he did with The Disposable Soma , writer/filmmaker Zeb Haradon brings another of his stories to life with the help of A.I. Only, whereas before the imagery was odd, even mind-bending, and occasionally vulgar. With The Lucky Bucks  he goes a step further, because the tale of these two deer - or at least the look of it - is haunting. Visually speaking, this short film can only be described as the acid trip from hell, as the interlocked descend into isolation and madness... well, one of them does. More cervine tragedy than cervine sex comedy, you might say. Inspired by the work of German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, there is a bleakness to this story. Mortimer's more than melancholic ramblings not only refl...

Superman (2025) | Average Guy Movie Review

After suffering his first defeat, Superman (David Corenswet) finds that the battle for the hearts and minds of the people can be a lot harder than simply saving them. But while he attempts to be a beacon of hope, a maniacal Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) does everything he can to stop him, manipulating events from the shadows. In rebooting the DC  universe, James Gunn found himself a mammoth task. Thankfully - and rather unsurprisingly - it is one he has more than risen to. The other thing that won't surprise you is the soundtrack. It's very cool, very eclectic. In other words, very James Gunn. Now, it might say " Superman " on the poster, but in many ways this is so much more than a movie about the man of steel. There's no dipping your toe into the water with this one. Instead of coming up with a simple origin story to introduce us to this new world, Gunn has decided to throw us head first into the deep end of his DCU , and I'm very glad he did. Not only does he...

Enter the Room | Average Guy Movie Review

When Brian (Peter Mastne) agrees to let his brother Jeremy (Rich Holton) stay with him whilst in town for work, they quickly discover it was a bad idea. Two people stuck in a small studio apartment, one very uptight and the other totally laid back, it's not long before they begin to grate on each other, and tempers flare. But is there something else behind their animosity towards each other? The first thing that springs to mind when watching Enter the Room  is the Covid lockdown. Writer/director Harry Waldman and his team have managed to recreate that sense of both isolation and being trapped that many were faced with when the world was brought to a standstill. In fact, they have made that tiny studio apartment feel very small indeed. And by clever use of colours, editing and score they dial up the intensity of the atmosphere within it, as brothers Brian and Jeremy come to blows.  From the very start everything is on a knife edge, and despite only being 15 minutes long,  ...

Perhaps Better That Way | Average Guy Movie Review

Jule (Marlene Fahnster), an aspiring photographer who has seemingly lost her taste for the art, is given a task by her sister. She is to go out into the city and find something to photograph, something she wouldn't want to forget. After warning us about the potentially dangerous rise of Artificial Intelligence with Turing Test , writer/director Jaschar Marktanner is now exploring the human experience through a unique lens - pardon the pun. Jule is a person who was searching for something - striving, even - but for some reason she has stopped. She has almost walled herself off from the world. What is it that she was searching for? And why has her love of photography waned? These are questions that this curious short never really answers, because it doesn't need to. The point here is the journey, and that we all need a push from time to time. Someone to help us get back up. Which is why Jule's task proves so compelling, even without those answers. Marlene Fahnster delivers a ...

One Battle After Another | Average Guy Movie Review

A former revolutionary, who has spent the last 16 years vegetating in hiding, is forced to get off his couch in order to find his missing daughter, while also avoiding the government forces that are hunting them both. Following his very separate desires to adapt Thomas Pynchon's Vineland , and to make an action movie, Paul Thomas Anderson has somehow combined the two, and in the process created something quite brilliant. One Battle After Another  is, for the most part, exactly what the title suggests; with many of the movie's main characters battling their way through a series of obstacles and challenges. And yet it is so much more. The movie has a lot to say about immigration policy in present day USA, and battling oppression. But at its heart it is the story of two peoples' fight for survival, and a father's desperate attempts - no matter how comical - to find his daughter. The whole thing is set in this crazy alternate world, but one not too different from our own. I...

TRON: Ares | Average Guy Movie Review

Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), the grandson of the man who once stole the work of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), has found a way to bring that which he creates on the Grid into the real world. This includes his Main Control security program; Ares (Jared Leto). The only problem is, he can only keep them here for 29 minutes. Legend has it that Flynn once discovered the key to "permanence", and now it's a race between Dillinger and Eve Kim (Greta Lee), new CEO of Encom, to find it. In many ways TRON: Ares  is exactly what you'd expect of a sequel to the 1982 cult classic. A story about big tech, light cycles, and life within the computer world of 'The Grid', that loosely links to what has come before. This seems to be the tradition that all must adhere to when carrying on the story of Flynn. There are, of course, many call-backs and references to both TRON and TRON: Legacy . But TRON: Ares  is not a direct sequel to either, although some of those not so subtle cal...