Review – Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

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by Armando Vanegas

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is one of those movies I would’ve loved when I was younger and it was playing on Comedy Central on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It knows what it is and sometimes that’s good enough. It even has a really dependable cast for the most part and they were a big reason that I was curious about this. That and I couldn’t see Ghostbusters as it was packed at the time but it’s still a good substitute if you want to have some laughs. Some of the people providing those laughs are Adam DeVine and Zac Efron as Mike and Dave Stangle, two brothers who have a reputation for getting too out of control at their family get togethers.

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Review – Batman: The Killing Joke

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by Old King Clancy

The 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke is widely considered to be one of the best Batman comics of all time, and the definitive origin story of The Joker thanks to its look into the history of Batman’s most notable enemy, as well as the shocking turn where Joker shoots Barbara Gordon in the spine, crippling her, ending her career as Batgirl, and setting up the events that would lead her to reinvent herself as Oracle. When news broke that DC animation was adapting the novel for its own animated feature, as well as getting back the cast of the Animated Series – Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as Joker, Tara Strong as Batgirl – people were excited to see this defining novel come to life. Even more so when it was announced that for a single night on July 25th, the film would be shown in Fathom Events and Vue Cinemas across the US and UK (with a further 2 screenings on the 26th when demand became too much to handle). Not wanting to miss the chance offered to them, many fans – myself included – opted for the theatrical experience.

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Review – Star Trek Beyond (2016)

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by Henry Hill

Stringer Bell from HBO’s The Wire vs. Captain Kirk, who wins? We all do. This is my spoiler-free review of Star Trek Beyond.

Since J.J. Abrams gave us the fantastic 2009 reboot of Star Trek, we’ve all been reminded just how fun it can be to beam up into space and enjoy creator Gene Roddenberry’s space adventures. The new cast with Chris Pine at the helm as Captain James Tiberius Kirk have a great chemistry on screen together and they make you willing to follow them wherever they choose to boldly go. The sequel, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, solidified the staying power of the new crew and gave the Federation a worthy adversary in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison (Or was it something else, hmm…).

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Review – Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

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by Armando Vanegas

Independence Day: Resurgence continues 20 years since the events of the first movie and the Americans have been using alien technology to defend the world from aliens and the whole world has achieved world peace as a means to work together to avoid any future attacks on Earth. It turns out that the aliens are about to make another attack on Earth. Things seem to be going okay until signs of another attack begin to appear and it’s up to Bill Pullman’s former US President Whitmore, who’s been left traumatized by the aliens and Jeff Goldblum’s David Levinson, who’s now serving as an advisor as he investigates the recent signs appearing around the world.

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Review – The Man Who Was Thursday (2016)

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by Old King Clancy

Hearing that a film is based on an existential novel that’s over 100 years old, you should expect some level of confusion and indeed controversy. That’s what The Man Who Was Thursday delivers: it’s a film that examines themes of religion, anarchy, faith, dictatorships and metaphysical consequence and never allows its audience to get too comfortable with what is really going on. It’s a challenging piece and no doubt some of the elements will be controversial, but there’s still something interesting here that’s worth trying to crack open.

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Review – Hunt For the Wilderpeople (2016)

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by Old King Clancy

New Zealand director Taika Waititi has been around for a few years, but it wasn’t until his breakout What We Do In The Shadows that his name become recognizable. While I’m not a huge fan of Shadows, Waititi did do good work with the material. Recently Waititi was named as the director for the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok; an odd choice, perhaps, but there was word that it was Waititi’s work on his upcoming Hunt for The Wilderpeople that put Marvel’s faith in him. And having now seen it, there’s no doubt why. Not only is Wilderpeople a great double-act comedy, it’s also perhaps the best family film of the year.

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Review – A Patch of Fog (2016)

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by Old King Clancy

One of the most difficult things about festival viewings is that in today’s society of social media and the ease of throwing out an opinion on everything, you’re sometimes among the first people to actually see a film. With little to no prior thoughts on the film out there you have to choose your interest carefully. I bring this up because it was the central cast that brought A Patch Of Fog, the feature debut of Michael Lennox, to my attention. With Conleth Hill (Varys on Game Of Thrones) and Stephen Graham (Capone on Boardwalk Empire and more importantly, Combo from This Is England), the film plays into this modern day obsessive thriller. The result is a very successful piece, but one that falters a bit when trying to decide how far into the fog it wants to go.

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Review – Finding Dory (2016)

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by Old King Clancy

The news of Finding Dory didn’t initially sit well with me. Finding Nemo was one of Pixar’s all-time best efforts, with a story that nicely wrapped up everything it had to. Putting Dory at the forefront ran the risk of overselling a supporting role, plus until Inside Out came along, Pixar hadn’t been hitting the heights they usually do. Coming out, I have to admit this is a fine follow-up that manages to make Dory a main character without stretching her too thin, but it comes up lacking compared to the first film.

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