The King of buddy comedies, Shane Black, is back. His latest movie, The Nice Guys follows Private Investigator Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and Enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) in their attempts to find a missing girl called Amelia (Margaret Qualley), who's somehow linked to the death of porn star Misty Mountains (Murielle Telio). As with the other buddy comedies written by Black like Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the movie is reliant on the relationship between the two leads and The Nice Guys doesn't disappoint! Crowe and Gosling work very well together, not only are they believable in the portrayal of their respective characters, their antics are also highly amusing. If you didn't know better you'd think Crowe was reprising his role of Bud White from L.A. Confidential. Oddly enough, this is the first time Crowe and Basinger have worked together since L.A. Confidential. Gosling's character shares traits with characters from Black's past p

Today is the 72nd Anniversary of Operation Overlord - the Allied invasion of Nazi occupied France. On the night of 5th June 1944 the operation began with multiple parachute and glider drops behind Hitler's Atlantic wall all along the Normandy coastline. At 5:45 am the naval bombardment preceded waves of landing craft carrying Allied troops to the beaches codenamed: Sword (British and French) Juno (Canadian) Gold (British) Omaha (US) Utah (US) and the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc where at the top the Germans had built a large gun battery that threatened the Allied forces at Utah and Omaha beaches. In honour of those who served during World War 2 I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of my favourite movies and TV shows relating to Operation Overlord. The Longest Day The Longest Day tells the story of Operation Overlord from the perspective of the Allies and the Germans.   Based on the book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan, this was the most expensive bla

The final instalment of the 'First Class' story arc has arrived, Apocalypse is awoken and he's more than slightly pissed off! But to be fair, D.I. Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) wasn't too impressed when she woke up in the early eighties either (yes I made an Ashes to Ashes reference). Bryan Singer brings us back to the mutant story ten years after the events of Days of Future Past, it's 1983 and human/mutant relations are better after the world saw Mystique save President Nixon. Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is prospering, Mystique continues to fight for mutant freedom and Magneto has gone into hiding. Apocalypse or En Sabah Nur as he's also known sees himself as a god and means to rule the world. When awoken, he's displeased with what the world has become so he begins to gather his new Horsemen; four of the most powerful mutants whom he makes more powerful.   Oscar Isaac delivers a great performance as the world's first mutan

This week two videos were released on the internet: first we got the second trailer for Paul Feig's Ghostbusters reboot which was followed pretty closely by Screen Junkies' "Why does Everyone Hate Ghostbusters?" Much like the first trailer, we got  to see a lot of very slap stick comedy and over the top characters. I know Feig is trying to put his own spin on the franchise but I think he's gone too far. The original was funny because it involved characters that felt like real people, four average guys (with PHD's) tackling anything paranormal in New York City, including the apocalypse. The new team and their secretary feel more like cartoon characters with antics that feel like the writers are trying too hard to be funny, like Patty giving a dragon ghost a piggy back ride of sorts while people around her take selfies. Before you start leaving angry comments about how sexist I am, let me point out that gender isn't the issue, in fact I

In 1987 Lethal Weapon hit cinemas, it was an instant hit that spawned three sequels over the course of a decade. For a while there was a possibility of a fourth sequel but it never gained traction. On the 25th Anniversary of the first movie's release, Empire met with Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and Director Richard Donner, all of whom confirmed that Lethal Weapon 5 would never happen. But it seems there are some who feel they haven't milked that particular cash cow enough. That's why Fox has rebooted it as a TV show starring Damon Wayans (The Last Boyscout) and Clayne Crawford (24, The Glades, Justified) as Roger Murtaugh and Martin Riggs. McG is directing the pilot. What we get is a standard American police procedural with a comedy element and familiar names. The problem is Riggs and Murtaugh are an iconic cop duo because of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover and the relationship they had both on and off screen. Under a different name this project might work, but as Lethal

One of the most famous events of World War 2 is the bombing of Hiroshima. On the 6th August 1945 the "Little Boy" bomb was dropped from the Enola Gay and detonated 1,900 feet above the city. Nagasaki became the second target of an atomic strike on the 9th August 1945. Many believe President Truman's decision to use atomic weapons on the Japanese ultimately saved lives. The alternative was continued fire bombing of Japanese cities and the invasion of the Japanese mainland, these actions would have resulted in heavy casualties on both sides and it's possible the war would have continued a lot longer than it did. USS Indianapolis But there's a part to this story that's not so well known. Which is strange because it's considered the worst disaster in US Naval history. If you've seen the movie Jaws you would have heard about it. The USS Indianapolis, a heavy cruiser with a crew of 1,196 men (I got this number from ussindianapolis.org), left