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ALIENS (1986)
A famously amusing story is how James Cameron convinced 20th Century Fox to make Aliens by handwriting the word ‘ALIEN’ on the back page of his screenplay for the sequel, before adding an ‘S’… which...
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THE CROW (1994)
The tragic death of Brandon Lee casts a long shadow over The Crow, yet secures its place in cinematic history. No one can watch Alex Proyas’s superhero film without feeling saddened that Lee was...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.1 & 14.2 –‘Space Babies’&‘The Devil’s Chord’
Following last year’s frothy Christmas adventure, “The Church on Ruby Road”, the fourteenth series of the revived Doctor Who gets properly underway. (Or Season 1 if you prefer the Disney-dictated...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.3 –‘Boom’
Steven Moffat’s episodes were always the highlights of the early years of Russell T. Davies’s reign as showrunner. This made him the natural choice to take over Doctor Who in 2010. He then ran the...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.4 –’73 Yards’
The focus is on Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) throughout “73 Yards” as she arrives with The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) on the picturesque Welsh coast, only to disturb an occult “fairy circle” of string and...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.5 –‘Dot and Bubble’
There’s an intriguing premise behind this episode, heavily influenced by Black Mirror, particularly the episode “Nosedive” with its pastel-coloured society obsessed with social media interactions....
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THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (1980)
John Mackenzie’s low-budget British classic, The Long Good Friday, is a seminal gangster film, although often overlooked these days in favour of the more modern, post-Tarantino approach pioneered by...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.6 –‘Rogue’
There have been a lot of “unusual” episodes this season, which go against the grain of what a typical Doctor Who story is; the limited locations of “Boom”, the almost Doctor-less “73 Yards”, and “Dot...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.7 –‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’
After seven episodes, including the Christmas special, it’s time for answers about who abandoned Ruby (Millie Gibson) as a baby in 2004, and why the same woman (played by actress Susan Twist) has been...
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DOCTOR WHO, 14.8 –‘Empire of Death’
This finale showcased the strengths and weaknesses of Russell T Davies’s writing. The sci-fi plot mechanics made little to no sense, while everything that was down-to-earth and based on interpersonal...
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BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F (2024)
There comes a time in every pop star’s career when they accept that fans just want to hear the old hits. The same’s true for legendary Hollywood actors. Like Harrison Ford before him, the ageing Eddie...
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THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984)
The seismic impact of Star Wars (1977) can’t be understated. Much of the 1980s in Hollywood was spent trying to emulate its success. The Last Starfighter is one such attempt, borrowing from many other...
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ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024)
Fede Álvarez remade the “video nasties” classic Evil Dead (2013), but it’s fair to say Sam Raimi’s 1981 original had long shown its age and deserved a modern update. But how do you approach reviving...
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THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004)
The Chronicles of Riddick deserves reappraisal. A few decades after it debuted to poor box office and mostly negative reviews, David Twohy’s ambitious sequel is still underappreciated. Today, so many...
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VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (2024)
The unexpected success of Venom (2018) is to blame for Sony’s misguided belief that audiences care about their so-called “Spider-Man Universe” —that ironically doesn’t feature Spider-Man himself....
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DEMOLITION MAN (1993)
Sylvester Stallone’s heyday was the 1980s, as a poster boy for the decade’s brand of musclebound machismo. While his career truly went stratospheric thanks to writing and starring in the Academy...
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DOCTOR WHO –‘Joy to the World’
Christmas was reclaimed by Doctor Who last year when audiences got their first look at the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) in “The Church on Ruby Road”, and it seems...
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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 (2024)
One big franchise quietly making a fortune is Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog, which debuted in 2020 amidst fan outcry over the (hastily improved) design of the eponymous spiky speedster. It...
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SQUID GAME – Season Two (2024)
Hwang Dong-hyuk wrote and directed every episode of Squid Game / 오징어 게임 (2021), the South Korean survival thriller series that became a worldwide sensation on Netflix. It still holds the record as the...
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STAR TREK: SECTION 31 (2025)
This current era of Star Trek has been frustrating for longtime fans of the nearly 60-year-old franchise. JJ Abrams’s Star Trek (2009) reboot was a highly entertaining way to relaunch Gene...
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