The Matrix (1999): What Is the Matrix, Five Times Over
My The Matrix 1999 review: the cryptic ads, five trips back to the cinema, the dojo, the subway and the rooftop. Everything about it worked. 5 out of 5.
My The Matrix 1999 review: the cryptic ads, five trips back to the cinema, the dojo, the subway and the rooftop. Everything about it worked. 5 out of 5.
My Revenge of the Sith review: Vader’s birth is the useful part and Order 66 is interesting, but the rest was average. 3.5 out of 5.
My Attack of the Clones review: slightly better than the last one, with good fights and a story that was a waste of time. 2 out of 5.
My The Phantom Menace review: I queued for the midnight launch and it hurt. Jar Jar, midi-chlorians and a slow plot. 1.2 out of 5.
My Return of the Jedi review: the Ewoks put people off but I loved it, from Han’s rescue to Endor to Vader and the Emperor. Better than Empire for me.
My The Empire Strikes Back review: the Hoth battle, Luke and the wampa, Yoda, Cloud City and Vader’s reveal. One of the darkest endings ever. 10 out of 5.
A review of X-Men: Days of Future Past, which puts both casts on screen at once, adapts the most iconic X-Men story, and quietly repairs the timeline.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 crams in three villains and one devastating ending. Garfield and Stone are great. The film around them is doing too much.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier turns Marvel into a seventies conspiracy thriller, and I think it’s one of the better MCU films so far.
My Resident Evil Retribution review: good action and some favourite faces back, but nothing much happens and Alice as a mom didn’t work. 2.5 to 3 out of 5.
The Amazing Spider-Man reboots Peter Parker five years after Raimi. Andrew Garfield’s take, mechanical web-shooters, and a Lizard that never quite lands.
My Avengers 2012 review: Joss Whedon turned five films of setup into a team-up that works, funny and legible where it counts.
My Resident Evil Afterlife review: 3D that didn’t work for me, a copout loss of Alice’s powers, but baddies that match the games. 3 to 3.5 out of 5.
My Resident Evil Extinction review: a desert apocalypse, an Alice with no limits and a clone twist. Fun, but not my favourite. 4 out of 5.
Spider-Man 3 finally puts the black suit on screen and then wastes it, with a thin Venom, a buried Sandman and a jazz club scene I can’t defend.
My Resident Evil Apocalypse review: characters lifted straight from the games, bigger action, a superhero Alice, and a solid 5 out of 5 from me.
Spider-Man 2 review. Molina turns Doc Ock into a man overruled by his own machine, the train scene is iconic, and Peter walks away from the job.
Spider-Man review. Raimi puts the wrestling ring and Uncle Ben on screen exactly as the comics did, and Dafoe is magnificent. The leads are too old.
Dune 1984 review. A bit camp and it looks like the 60s, but all of book one is on screen, and Patrick Stewart, MacLachlan and the Baron are exceptional.
My Resident Evil 2002 review: not a direct adaptation of the games, but there’s enough game in it, plus that laser corridor, to score a 5 out of 5.