Idris Elba stars in this mediocre action movie in which an American pick pocket is linked to a terrorist bombing in Paris. When CIA Agent Sean Briar (Elba) is able to identify our friendly neighbourhood pick pocket as Michael Mason (Richard Madden) a game of cat and mouse across Paris ensues on the eve of the Bastille Day celebrations. Bastille Day attempts to be like Bourne and Taken but doesn't quite make it. Elba's performance is like an overly cheesy combination of Jason Bourne, Brian Mills and Jack Bauer with really bad one liners included. Maybe he got tips from Gerard Butler on the set of London has Fallen. Briar's methods range from questionable to down right ridiculous. Mason is a low life pick pocket who's supposedly smart but comes across stupid at best and only cares for himself making it impossible to care what happens to him. It looks like the writers tried to emulate the relationship between Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in Die Hard with a Ve

 The Russo Brothers have kicked off Phase 3 of the MCU with Captain America: Civil War. In his third solo outing, the man out of time must watch his team and his friends  get torn apart at a time when his new life collides with the old one. After a mission goes bad, the Avengers are faced with the Sokovia Accords, a document that'll put them under the control of the UN. This decision pits the team against each other, with half wanting to keep their independence and the other half wanting to keep the team together and on the right side of the law. The biggest rivalry somes in the form of Steve vs Tony. Steve fears the "agendas" and corruption of politicians and wants the Avengers to remain independent; "the safest hands are still our own". Whereas Tony is still dealing with the guilt of the Ultron incident and is possibly still carrying the effects of Scarlett Witch's fear inducing vision, and therefore believes the Avengers should be held acco

The classic movie that was a remake is getting a re-imagining. Antoine Fuqua is bringing The Magnificent Seven back to the silver screen with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt in the starring roles. Could this be a sign that the western is making a return or are they flogging a dead horse? The trailer is mostly action shots, you get the basic premise; a town is being victimised by industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the townspeople raise what little funds they can to hire gunfighters to protect them. As a widow puts it "I want righteousness...but I'll settle for revenge". What follows are gunfights, explosions and a bad guy being bad.  Denzel being...Denzel and Chris Pratt's funny tough guy are good choices for the lead roles, add to that Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee and Peter Sarsgaard and you've got a strong cast.  It looks like The Magnificent Seven will be a fun movie with a mix of action and humour, like classic

July is looking good now that the first Jason Bourne trailer has been released (minus the superbowl spot). In the wake of the financial crisis, Matt Damon returns as the super assassin for the first time in nine years. When the CIA falls victim to a cyber attack Bourne and his ally Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) are somehow linked, what follows is Bourne doing what he does best. First he takes out the people chasing him and then he goes after the ones in charge, including CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones).  Paul Greengrass has returned as Director and he looks to be on true form with both an interesting story and intense action unfolding on screen, including a chase through a riot and a literally smashing car chase down the Las Vegas strip. Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross will not be appearing however he will get a sequel between 2018 and 2020, a Bourne/Cross team up has not been ruled out at this point. Right now I'm just excited to see Jason Bourne back on the sil

With the release of Shane Black's The Nice Guys just over a month away, I thought it would be a good idea to re-visit his directorial debut and one of my favourite movies of all time; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  In New York, petty thief Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) runs from Police straight into a movie audition, he quickly finds himself in Hollywood mingling with A listers, where he's reunited with his high school friend and failed actress Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan). To prepare for his role he's given "Detective lessons" by Perry van Shrike A.K.A Gay Perry  (Val Kilmer) , a Private Detective working for the movie company. When a surveillance gig goes slightly wrong Harry finds himself in the middle of a criminal conspiracy, in order to stay alive Harry, Perry and Harmony must solve "the case of the dead people in L.A." Harry Lockhart narrates the movie just like the main character in many classic mysteries. But Harry bring

In 2005 Shane Black released his directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; the story of a thief (Robert Downey Jnr), a Private Detective (Val Kilmer) and a failed actress (Michelle Monaghan) caught up in a murder conspiracy in modern day Hollywood. Despite doing well at Cannes it got a limited release and just made back its budget at the box office. Today, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a cult classic but it's unlikely we'll ever see Harry, Gay Perry and Harmony get a sequel. But we may get something close to it. This June sees the release of Shane Black's The Nice Guys starring Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger. Set in 1970's Los Angeles; Private Investigator Holland March (Gosling) and Enforcer Jackson Healey (Crowe) are hired to find Basinger's missing daughter Amelia (Margaret Qualley) while at the same time investigating the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. During the course of their investigation they stumble into a criminal conspiracy wh

Doctor Strange The teaser trailer for Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange has arrived, and what does it tell us? Not a lot really, it's more about intrigue and the scale and spectacle. I know a teaser trailer is only supposed to provide small pieces of information, I've said this myself enough times, but I think they took the word snippet and ran with it! Maybe the creators wanted the trailer to feel broken, just like Strange's hands, and Strange himself. Stephen Strange was a man who'd found purpose, something he was good at. As a surgeon he saved lives, but when a car accident badly damages his hands and robs him of his ability to perform surgery, he's lost. No doubt future trailers will help us put some of the pieces together, fans of the comics will have a pretty good idea of what's going on, although Marvel aren't afraid to change things when it comes to the MCU. Some might say the trailer is underwhelming, but I like the mysterious, broke