Movie reviews of Baz Nugent

This finale also comes with a sense of closure. Review

While hardly groundbreaking or challenging, it’s a relatively brisk 112 minutes, and while it’s part of a long-running franchise, the movie is tight enough to not require much prior knowledge. Moreover, it’s a fun horror movie, the kind that you need to be able to watch in a big dark room without interruptions to really enjoy the experience. Review

Had they made this in the late 1990s or early 2000s when the idea was first mooted, then it would have been when Red Dwarf was at its peak. At one time, it was an anarchic and insightful work of punk sci-fi that was willing to go to rough places that Star Trek wasn’t brave enough. Instead, we have four lads in their 50s trying to do the same gags as they did in their 20s. Review

Whereas the recent Just Mercy was a by the numbers true story but hit every beat it needed to, Dark Waters is missing something. There are no glaring flaws, but it lacks the impact necessary to make the issue of forever chemicals stick in people’s minds as another thing to be writing to their TDs and senators about. Review

There’s the brilliance of Greed. As a comedy just about rich people, it would have seemed cheap. And as a critique of the practices of the retail fashion industry, it would have been too serious. By mixing the two, each brilliantly counterpoints one another. Review

Just Mercy does have all the hallmarks of Oscar bait, yet is oddly absent from the list this year. Perhaps it’s just a matter of timing, or maybe the film is too similar to so many other courtroom dramas about wrongful incarceration that for all its merits, doesn’t stand out in an unfortunately crowded genre. It’s a shame because it is a very watchable movie. Review

It is a hard watch because it makes demands of the audience, to reflect on the horrors inflicted in the past and to ask why compassion is so important. Review

In an era of populist floppy-haired demagogues railing against Fake News, Official Secrets does remind us of the potential power of whistleblowers and the press to counteract government excess. Sadly, much like the illegal memo, the movie is paper-thin. Review

Gemini Man has nothing special about it. The question is if you could rewatch Armageddon, why would you want to watch this movie which has none of the cheesy nostalgia value. Gemini Man isn’t just about a clone, it is a clone, but one that looks as old as the original. Review

Is Joker one of the better superhero movies out there? No, because it’s no more a superhero movie than Joaquin Phoenix is a rapper. But it’s compelling watching and shows what can be done with material from comic books by movie makers willing to abandon the preconceptions associated with “funny books”. Review

Sitting between the child-friendly and the full-on shock horror genre was always going to be a tricky one; too scary, and parents complaint, too gentle and people get bored. What Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark does is not pull its punches, but not swing wildly either, choosing when to throw in its jump scares relatively judiciously. Just enjoy the feel, don’t overthink the story. Review

When the movie tries too hard to be Superbad it’s usually just kind of bad, but when they’re just being kids, it’s pretty good. Review

It will make its money, but frankly, Hobbs & Shaw is a missed opportunity. They could have gone back to the roots of the franchise and let Johnson and Statham trade barbs for two hours while they argue over who’s driving. Review

Far From Home is willing to make changes and stick with them, rather than trying to reset everything cleanly. Homecoming ended with a cliffhanger (ceilinghanger, in Spidey’s case) and Far From Home doesn’t disappoint in this regards. Review

Maybe a few fallow years and an MCU reinterpretation will reinvigorate the X-Men franchise, as sadly, Dark Phoenix is X-Meh. Review

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is exactly what it promises to be, a spectacle with a simple enough plot that’s designed to showcase what everyone paid their money to see; His Radioactive Royal Reptileness showing why he’s the monarch of monsters. Review

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is at its best when it remembers that dogs are good, bad people are bad and they need to be introduced to bullets, knives and the occasional book. Books, after all, are the new pencils in the assassin’s world. Review

But is it worth a watch? It’s cheesy as hell, not exactly high-brow and full of stock horror tricks. But you’ll leave uttering “¡Dios mío!” and hankering for nachos. Review

The LEGO Movie 2 is perfectly functional, and in a way, it’s unfair to measure it against its predecessor since that was so good. There’s definitely the standard failings of a sequel here, but it just doesn’t click the way the first movie did. Review

While it’s great that a big budget anime adaption has made it to the screen without the controversies that dogged Ghost In The Shell or the sheer awfulness of Dragonball: Evolution, perhaps a tighter story might have made the movie better. Review

This could easily have been a straightforward biopic. But narrated by Jesse Plemons as his character Kurt lives through the Bush administration with some time in Iraq and changing nappies for fun, explains almost everything. Review

Throwing the hero and villain from Unbreakable, and the monster from Split together should have resulted in Ragnarok in Philly. Instead, it’s mostly a movie about Samuel L. Jackson acting sedated in a wheelchair, James McAvoy doing an audition reel, and Bruce Willis getting involuntary showers. Review

What could have been something interesting only showed a brief moment of self-awareness before returning to the standard superhero fare. You might say DC is stuck in a fishious cycle. Review

American Animals knows when to be factual, when to be fictional, and when the two should tango. And it is done masterfully. Review