Posts

Showing posts from April, 2020

Extraction Review

Image
 (A version of this article originally appeared on kernelnow.com / mynewslike.com) Almost exactly a year removed from the release of their cultural earthquake Avengers: Endgame (and fresh off the successful Netflix upload of cult sitcom Community where they first emerged), Anthony and Joe Russo return with Extraction , a one-man actioner that serves as Netflix’s latest big-budget spectacle. Whilst still based on a comic series – Ande Parks’s Ciudad – and starring a familiar face – the God of Thunder himself, Chris Hemsworth – this world is a universe away from superhero ensemble pieces: expensive but troubled mercenary Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) travels to Bangladesh to rescue Ovi (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of an imprisoned Mumbai druglord, from the clutches of his father’s Dakar-based rival, Amir Asif. What follows is a bloody chase across the city to the titular extraction, with a heavily-armed trail of henchmen, child soldiers and corrupt police seeking to stop the duo.

Trolls World Tour Review

Image
 (A version of this article originally appeared on kernelnow.com / mynewslike.com) By rights, Trolls World Tour is a movie that should have found its way onto the big screen. That’s not exclusively because it demands a theatrical presentation, nor is it entirely because of the cruel effect that pandemic and lockdown have had on the cinema industry. No, it’s because, for various reasons even before the cruel reality of COVID-19, it had as many as four different planned release dates this year. Having now settled for a digital outlet , this sequel follows the same group of pop-and-scrapbook obsessed creatures from 2016’s Trolls , with best friends Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) again at the forefront. As Poppy struggles with how best to be queen and her companion wonders how to declare his love for her, they’re suddenly exposed to a musically-diverse world outside of their home, Pop Village – and more importantly, a race of rival Trolls bent on co

Blow The Man Down Review

Image
 (A version of this article originally appeared on kernelnow.com / mynewslike.com) As the world remains on epidemic-enforced lockdown, movie fans are looking to a variety of platforms to find their filmic fix (hopefully acquiring a newfound appreciation for those that create along the way). For most, that involves streaming; perhaps to discover and re-watch old favorites, or perhaps to keep up with brand new content. Services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are proving ripe with these fresh titles – fresh titles like Blow the Man Down . Following a successful run in last year’s film festival circuit , the film – set in the fictional town of Easter Cove, Maine – sees the Connolly sisters Priscilla (Sophie Lowe) and Mary Beth (Morgan Saylor) finding themselves in a new world where they must now run their family’s fishmongers without their recently deceased mother Mary Margaret. Oh, and there’s the small matter of the man that Mary Beth murders, probably in self-defense