Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh make a great pairing in this action buddy-comedy throwback that shows the 80s had that formula down pat. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein Mayday is vastly entertaining. Reynolds, when he wants, can do a lot more than the one-note sarcastic charming guy, but that seems to work,…
Tag: buddy
Wolfs (2024) – Jon Watts
Jon Watts wrote and directed this crime thriller with buddy overtones that shines with the banter and chemistry with its two stars, George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The two leading men play fixers who are summoned to a hotel, Margaret’s (Amy Ryan, who I always delight in seeing, she’s wonderful) Man (Clooney) is summoned by…
Heads of State (2025) – Ilya Naishuller
The thing that I found the hardest to believe in the action-comedy Heads of State, is the idea that the U.S. President could be compassionate, universally liked and form complete and coherent sentences. But I guess that says more about the reality of the world we live in than the film itself. Heads of State,…
Bone Tomahawk (2015) – S. Craig Zahler
Kurt Russell saddles up for another western, and though the basic premise of the story may sound familiar, where that narrative takes you may be a little too gruesome for some viewers, but it’s a helluva ride. Russell is Hunt, the sheriff of Bright Hope, and he and a couple of locals are about to…
The Gift (2000) – Sam Raimi
The Gift is definitely an underrated entry in Sam Raimi’s filmography. It lacks the frenetic energy in a number of his films but is completely engrossing in the way it unfolds. With a ceaselessly moving camera, Raimi tells a captivating ghost story that was written in part by Billy Bob Thornton, which was based in…
TIFF 2021: Belfast dir. Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh delivers a stand out event at TIFF with his beautifully and lovingly made, Belfast. Featuring a gorgeous score by Van Morrison, this cinematic jewel is something to behold. Equally awash in nostalgia as it is with the realities of the time, Belfast guides us to a little street that is the midst of…
Dreamscape (1984) – Joseph Ruben
Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Eddie Albert, Christopher Plummer, Max von Sydow, George Wendt and David Patrick Kelly (has this guy ever played a good guy?!) star in Ruben’s 1984 psychic thriller, Dreamscape. Quaid is Alex Gardner, a psychic who has been using his gifts for his own benefit, but gets recruited by Paul Novotny (von…
Tremors (1990) – Ron Underwood
The work of producer Gale Anne Hurd is my next port of call in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, I’ve previously covered her work with James Cameron, so that left some of her other films to take a look at, and I loved that I got to start with Tremors. This fun, creature feature that hearkens…
Quantum Leap (1989) – How the Tess Was Won and Double Identity
Oh, boy. Deborah Arakellian penned the first episode up for review this week, How the Tess Was Won, and it aired 14 April, 1989. Sam (Scott Bakula) finds himself as a vet named Doc, in a pig pen on 5 August, 1956, and about to be roped into a competition to win a ranch,…
Buck Rogers: Planet Outlaws (1939) – Ford Beebe & Saul A. Goodkind
We dive into a whole new era in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book, the previous chapter was about the beginnings of science fiction, and now we enter the pulp age, so there will probably be a number of fun books to read as well as some familiar faces in terms of movies and television… Buck…
