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Beauty and the Beast [ Hits:1915 ]
Review: It's hard to believe that it's been more than 25 years since the original Beauty and the Beast. Before Pixar, Walt Disney was the animation giant responsible for box office success stories, Aladdin and The Lion King. While there's been some seesawing over the last three decades, they've reinvented themselves and have started adapting their most successful animated features into live-action films, most recently Cinderella and The Jungle Book. Their latest adaptation is of the beloved Beauty an...

The Great Wall [ Hits:1864 ]
Review: The Great Wall of China is a defensive structure spanning 8850 km along the historical northern borders of China. While it was thought to be visible from the moon, the theory has been debunked several times and at best, it's visible from a low Earth orbit. The Great Wall movie takes advantage of some of the mythology surrounding the wall, its origins and its primary use as a defensive line against invading hordes. Part war epic and part action fantasy, The Great Wall introduces us to the idea th...

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them [ Hits:1927 ]
Review: J.K. Rowling's adventures of a young wizard named Harry Potter have entrenched themselves in pop culture. Books, movies, theme parks, wand TV remotes... the franchise continues to swallow book worms whole. After the series came to an end in two parts, a relief for some and travesty for others, we thought we'd seen the end of Potter's world. However, like some American public house sitcoms... some things have a way of reviving themselves through what is called an open air quotes... spin-off... cl...

Warcraft [ Hits:2234 ]
Review: Warcraft started as a strategy game by a gaming company called Blizzard, which required you to create settlements and explore the unknown surrounding territory. Humans were pitted against Orcs in a race to become the strongest and only civilisation, using precious resources in order to build a town, manufacture armaments and expand your dynasty and fortify your army. Originally, the god-view kept your troops fairly anonymous and the enjoyment came in the strategy and progress, immersing yourself...

The Huntsman: Winter's War [ Hits:2159 ]
Review: Snow White and The Huntsman was a beautiful magpie of a fantasy adventure. While far from perfect, the film's unlikely duo in Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth kept us guessing as a dark, majestic performance from Charlize Theron stole the show. No one was expecting a prequel... no sequel... spin-off? Whatever it is, The Huntsman: Winter's War creates a continuity of its own by including Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, visual effects supervisor turned director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan and it's...

Gods of Egypt [ Hits:2283 ]
Review: Gods of Egypt is a fantasy adventure from the mind of Alex Proyas. The Egyptian-born director has built a cult sci-fi empire, having directed such films as: Dark City, The Crow, Knowing and I, Robot. The story follows a thief as he joins forces with a mythical god on a quest across Egypt. Unfortunately, while the film brims with potential under Proyas and a star-studded cast, it's a complete misfire. The ensemble includes: Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Rufus Sewell and...

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies [ Hits:2365 ]
Review: Peter Jackson has unleashed The Hobbit Trilogy in a similar fashion to George Lucas's quest to make the first three Star Wars films. Unfortunately, they too don't live up to the former glory of the original trilogy. While many were quite skeptical about Jackson splitting the adaptation into not two, but three chapters... for the most part, he's managed to pull it off. We're immersed into J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth one last time as Bilbo and Company are forced to keep the terrifying Smaug fr...

Maleficent [ Hits:2982 ]
Review: Maleficent is the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil, immortalised by Walt Disney's 1959 film, Sleeping Beauty. After not being invited to a royal christening, Maleficent curses the baby Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and die" before the Sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. The curse is softened from death to a deep sleep by one of her guardian fairies, with true love's kiss her only salvation. In Disney's live-action film Maleficent, the film-makers h...

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug [ Hits:2967 ]
Review: Will they be releasing an extended edition of The Hobbit trilogy? It seems as though that's already happening. If anything, there will be a special director's cut, which will probably get a cinema release, drawing all of the films together in the space of three-and-a-half hours. If not, there will undoubtedly be a fan-made version doing the rounds on the Internet. Everyone's thinking it - why did Peter Jackson decide to stretch The Hobbit into a three part saga? The short answer must surely be ...

Thor: The Dark World [ Hits:3632 ]
Review: Thor: The Dark World follows Thor, a film that cemented Chris Hemsworth as one of The Avengers and a Hollywood star. The sequel is a continuation of both Thor and The Avengers, making reference to both films while retaining the core ensemble from the first film, including Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston. We're introduced to Malekith, a new villain in the Marvel dynasty, whose quest is to be bond with Aether, a substance and weapon that co...

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters [ Hits:3043 ]
Review: Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief was exciting, entertaining, tongue-in-cheek fantasy action fodder. Everyone knew it couldn't possibly compete with the likes of Harry Potter, so our low expectations were rewarded with an imperfect, yet fun and action-packed thrill ride that warranted a sequel. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is in the same position as the first installation, except instead of Harry Potter, it's competing with itself and losing. While Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief appealed...

Jack the Giant Slayer [ Hits:5043 ]
Review: Jack the Giant Slayer is a hybrid reworking of the cult classic, Jack the Giant Killer, and the fairy tale, Jack & The Beanstalk. Individually, these stories are simple and too insubstantial for a feature film. By combining the special effects action, medieval fantasy romance of Jack the Giant Killer with the humble, imaginative, magical zero-to-hero quest of a lowly farm boy in Jack & The Beanstalk, Bryan Singer has created an action-adventure of epic proportions. The only problem is t...

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [ Hits:4923 ]
Review: Bloemfontein born author, J.R.R. Tolkien, would have been very proud of Peter Jackson if he was still with us today. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, undoubtedly the greatest trilogy of all-time, has a special place in most people's hearts and movie collections and is the new standard by which all fantasy adventures will be judged, until bettered. Adapting The Hobbit was second prize for Jackson, who almost didn't direct Tolkien's other classic. Although, it seemed almost irreverent for Jackson n...

Snow White & The Huntsman [ Hits:5479 ]
Review: Snow White & The Huntsman is a beautiful magpie and revision of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. While it may sound like a pretentious new wall paint, you won't feel like you're watching it dry. Recent Snow White adaptation Mirror Mirror is a pantomime compared with Snow White & The Huntsman, which spins an intensely dark, mature and captivating tale from an old thread. Charlize Theron's commanding performance as the evil queen Ravenna sets the stage for franchise figureheads Chris Hemsw...

Mirror Mirror [ Hits:5299 ]
Review: Mirror Mirror is a re-imagining of the fairy tale classic Snow White. The comedy fantasy stars Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer with Nathan Lane and is directed by Tarsem Singh, best known for Immortals. This is the first of two Snow White inspired films for 2012 with Snow White and the Huntsman scheduled for later this year. Singh's recent Greek action epic Immortals was a dazzling spectacle, but lacked in performance and storytelling. Sadly, the same is true of Mirror Mirror. Whil...

Wrath of the Titans [ Hits:7392 ]
Review: Clash of the Titans was disappointing. The action-adventure relied too heavily on visual effects, offering a tired video game script, wooden performances and substandard post-production 3D in the face of much anticipation. Yet as tarnished as it was, the blockbuster made enough money at the box office to warrant a sequel. Greek mythology is getting the Hollywood treatment with competition from another Greek hero franchise in Immortals, making it only a matter of time before Wrath of the Titans w...

Immortals [3D] [ Hits:5683 ]
Review: Immortals is yet another action-fantasy epic in a spate of Ancient World mythology-based adventures. Frank Miller's 300 and the popularity of the God of War video game series has sparked off a fascination with tragic Greek heroes, resulting in visual-intensive 3D follow-ups in Clash of the Titans and now Immortals. Despite the comparisons and influence, Zack Snyder's virtual back lot technique remains in its own league with 300 head-and-shoulders above the latest blockbuster offerings. Immorta...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 [ Hits:9214 ]
Review: It all ends in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The boy wizard has grown up to grab hold of his wand, or any number of oddly shaped wands, and wreak havoc upon Lord Voldemort. For some... it's a moment for melancholy and sweet relief - the long wait is finally over, the books have been dog-eared and the Harry Potter shrine has been swept clean with a genuine Nimbus 2000 in preparation for the homecoming. For others, it's a joyous occasion... as an irritating little prick with glasses...

Beastly [ Hits:5356 ]
Review: Beastly... the title says it all. A shaggy, tween take on Twilight and Beauty & The Beast with a marketing campaign mimicking Fear, the stalker flick that launched Mark Wahlberg and Reece Witherspoon's film careers in the '90s. Paranormal romance aside, this is a simple teen high school movie with a fantasy concept, Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four) and Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) in a cheesy tale of morality speaking out against superficiality and popularity.Twilight has been a huge in...

Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader [ Hits:5242 ]
Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the latest offering in C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. After Prince Caspian's "disappointing" box office run, Disney washed its hands of the franchise. However, the series went under new management with Fox taking the reigns with Michael Apted (Amazing Grace) attached as director with Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley taking over as co-leads from their siblings and Ben Barnes reprising his role as Caspian. Prince Caspian was strongly influenced...

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