America may love their grand stories of great heroics but us Brits love to weave our twee tales of local eccentrics and ordinary everyday people ding extraordinary things; think The Full Monty, Calendar Girls and Fisherman’s Friends to name but a few classics of British cinema. Now we have the story of the ‘World’s Worst…
Tag: 2021
Operation Mincemeat (2021) Film Review
If you’ve been following Love Popcorn for a while then you might already know that biographical pictures are my most favourite genre of them all, learning about stories that might otherwise go unknown and unappreciated. Couple that with the calibre of war films that us Brits deliver – The Imitation Game, 1917 and The Reader…
Top Ten… Worst Films of 2021
Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the same can be said for movies, so seeing as my previous blog post ranked my ten favourite films of last year it is only fitting that I counter-act that with my least favourite films from 2021….
Top Ten… Favourite Films of 2021
After the first year of the 2020’s turned out to be a complete and utter write-off, not just in terms of cinema but pretty much every aspect of our lives, we all went into 2021 with a quietly optimistic sense of hope. Twelve months later, we’re still talking about pandemics, social distancing and vaccinations but…
Hawkeye (2021) Series Review
If you cast your mind back to late 2018, before pandemics, lockdowns and social distancing were common everyday phrases, Disney announced the release of their own streaming service to be launched in 2019 (or March 2020 for us Brits). Whilst everyone was excited about the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, it was the announcement of…
The King’s Man (2021) Film Review
Despite the hubby being a fan of the graphic novels that are the source material for Matthew Vaughn’s surprising 2014 smash hit, there was something about Kingsman that really didn’t appeal to me and it took several years before I finally got round to checking it out, instantly falling in love with the self-deprecating humour…
Encanto (2021) Film Review
Given the rather lukewarm reaction to 2020’s The Prom and the epically spectacular failure of a Cats revival in 2019, you would be forgiven for thinking that musical theatre movies would slink away into the shadows for a while licking its wounds until enough time had passed for us to forgive – but never forget – the…
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Although Adam McKay’s previous offering, Vice, managed to rack up an impressive eight Oscar nominations, including one win, it didn’t exactly go down as much of a fan favourite – unlike his earlier films, including Anchorman and Step Brothers, that have developed quite a cult following – although personally I really enjoyed it, it even…
Dune (2021) Film Review
According to Wikipedia, Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel ‘Dune’ is widely considered to be the world’s best-selling science fiction novel and has already spawned one failed attempt at a film adaptation – from Oscar-nominated director David Lynch no less. Thirty-seven years later, Denis Villeneuve takes up the challenge and despite his Dune being one of the…
Love Hard (2021) Film Review
When the nights start drawing in, the weather turns frosty and the bombardment of Christmas begins in the supermarkets, there’s only one thing to do and that is embrace the Christmas spirit and bust out the festive movies. As well as the good old faithful’s like It’s a Wonderful Life and Love Actually, there’s always a wide variety of gloriously…
Clickbait (2021) Series Review
A few weeks before the Korean series Squid Game exploded onto our screens and dominated the Netflix top ten, Clickbait was enjoying it’s fifteen minutes of fame. The eight-part limited series, created by Tony Ayres, is a clever suspenseful thriller that is kicked off in quite spectacular fashion after a video appears on the web…
Voyagers (2021) Film Review
From invading aliens attacking the White House to a runaway virus turning the world into flesh-eating zombies to forcing children to fight each other to the death for the entertainment of the rich and wealthy, catastrophe and global destruction is not really anything new in the world of cinema but one common concept is becoming…
Last Night In Soho (2021) Film Review
Coming from my neck of the woods, Edgar Wright is the epitome of country boy making it good in the big city, garnering himself quite a following with cult comedy classic like Spaced and Shaun of the Dead alongside dramatic and cinematic masterpieces (yes, I stand by the word) such as Baby Driver. For his…
No Time To Die (2021) Film Review
My knowledge and experience of the Bond franchise before Daniel Craig controversially stepped into the role is pretty non-existent and what I have seen I didn’t really care that much for, the whole thing feels a little cheesy and outdated for my tastes. Even within the Daniel Craig era, my experiences with the legendary agent…
Army Of Thieves (2021) Film Review
If you’ve read my review of Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead then you may remember that I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of the big budget zombie/heist movie amalgamation that was far too much style and not enough substance, and I was more than a little dubious of an entire ‘Army’ cinematic universe but,…
The Guilty (2021)
Jake Gyllenhaal is one of Hollywood’s most consistent, and consistently under appreciated, actors working today – and I’ll admit I am guilty of it myself (pun not intended) – but he, once again, delivers the goods in Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the 2018 Danish film The Guilty. Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) is a disgraced police officer…
Help (2021) Film Review
Whenever there is a massive news worthy event, there’s always a question in the back of my mind – “How long before it is turned into a movie?” – but with the Covid-19 pandemic we were still in national and global lockdowns when the films started to churn out of the mill. Some, like Adam…
Free Guy (2021) Film Review
Unfortunately for gamers the world over, movies adapted from or inspired by video games don’t tend to have much luck in cinema, although some have been more successful than others – check out my post ranking my top ten game-to-film adaptations for my favourites – the latest attempt to unite video games and cinema is…
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021) Film Review
For those still reeling from the loss of some of our favourite superheroes, the likes of WandaVision and Loki, have acted as a bridge from the Marvel Cinematic Universe of old to the scary unknown of the new. And whilst it may offer something of a comfort to know that familiar faces are still there, with Hawkeye coming to Disney+ in November…
Untold: Breaking Point (2021) Film Review
With Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from this year’s French Open and Simone Biles dropping out of a couple of events at the Tokyo Olympics there has been a huge amount of discussion and focus on mental health in sports recently which perhaps makes Breaking Point, the fifth and final episode in Netflix’s Untold series, the most…
Sex Education Season 3 (2021) Series Review
Sex Education season three is finally here – the wait is over!! Thanks to Covid related delays, fans had to wait an extra half a year to reconnect with the students of Moordale High and the longer the delay went on the higher the expectation. So the real question is whether season three will live…
Untold: Crime And Penalties (2021) Film Review
From the film’s introduction, and the revelation that a seventeen year old high school student was given the ownership of a hockey team, I was expecting Crime and Penalties to be a story about some entitled and immature brat, that didn’t understand or appreciate the value of money, running the team into the ground but…
Untold: Caitlyn Jenner (2021) Film Review
Netflix’s five part documentary film series is delivering above and beyond my expectation with fascinating stories from all around the world of sport, from basketball to hockey to boxing. The third episode tells the story of Caitlyn (‘Bruce’) Jenner’s journey to Decathlon Olympic gold, her struggles with her identity and the eventual transition to her…
Untold: Deal With The Devil (2021) Film Review
Netflix’s Untold, the new five-part documentary series that takes a look at some of most notorious events in modern sporting history, with a new feature length documentary released each week got off to a powerful start with their frank and open look at the brawl that shook the basketball world. The second instalment (released 17th…
Charlie’s Angels (2019) Film Review
I was a little apprehensive going into the new Charlie’s Angels, as twelve year old me loved the 2000 version and I am still kind of in two minds about straight out and out remakes. They tend to have a ‘been there, done that’ kind of vibe – a la 2016 Ghostbusters – but the…
Beckett (2021) Film Review
As someone who writes about film and TV you would think that I would try and keep on top of all the upcoming films but I really don’t. Part of the reason is because I want to try and go into a movie with no prior expectations or pre-conceptions, the other (somewhat larger) part is…
Untold: Malice At The Palace (2021) Film Review
Regardless of the sport, whether it be the likes of football, rugby or basketball, for some die-hard fans sport is life. Whilst I admire that level of passion, personally I’m a much more laid back sports fan saving myself for the big tournaments such as World Cup’s, Grand Slams or the Olympics. Timed to perfection,…
Nobody (2021) Film Review
From John Wick to Bryan Mills, the idea of an ex-something or other being dragged back into a life they managed to escape is not exactly new but writer Derek Kolstad (who gave us the John Wick franchise) gives his 2021 story Nobody a fresh spin for Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell it’s not a kidnapped…
Loki (2021) Series Review
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gave us a new Captain America. WandaVision delivered us a Wanda Maximoff who has finally tapped into the potential of potential of her powers and Black Widow potentially paved the way for a new widow. But where these all hint and tease at the future of the MCU, Loki…
Black Widow (2021) Film Review
Before Covid, the long awaited standalone Black Widow movie was set to kick off Phase 4 of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe but, with cinema’s closed and the subsequent reshuffling of movie releases, Black Widow made way for MCU’s first canonical forays into television. No matter how much buzz WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and…
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier (2021) Series Review
Following on from the risky but effective genre-bending WandaVision, Phase 4 of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe continues with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which in essence is more in line with the MCU’s usual fare. With WandaVision‘s point of difference dividing both fans and critics alike, would the somewhat safer, more traditional set up of…
Luca (2021) Film Review
I don’t think I’m the only one who has been a little disappointed by Pixar’s last couple of offerings, Onward and Soul. For me, they didn’t have the same level of heart or spark that I have come to expect from my favourite animation studio. I remember when Pixar releases were once every 12-18 months,…
Things Heard And Seen (2021) Film Review
Over the last few months Netflix have been churning out a host of female-led psychological thrillers, including Amy Adam’s The Woman in the Window and most recently Gina Rodriguez’s Awake. Kicking off this influx was Amanda Seyfried in Things Heard And Seen, a part gothic horror, part psychological thriller inspired by Elizabeth Brundage’s acclaimed novel…
Love And Monsters (2021) Film Review
From The Hunger Games to Divergent to The Maze Runner, I do enjoy a good young adult fantasy film so I was cautiously optimistic when Netflix released their monster adventure film Love and Monsters especially with Maze Runner star, Dylan O’Brien at the helm. In order to prevent the Earth’s destruction from an approaching asteroid,…
Cruella (2021) Film Review
The origins of the deliciously devilish, dog-napping fashionista, Cruella De Vil, was never really something that had crossed my mind but with the announcement of Emma Stone (one of my favourite actresses) taking on the role and those incredibly edgy early images of her in full costume, I think it’s safe to say that I…
Army of the Dead (2021) Film Review
After being out of the limelight for a few years, Zack Snyder is taking 2021 by storm with the highly anticipated Snyder cut of Justice League and the return to his zombie flick roots with Netflix’s Army of the Dead. Penned by Snyder himself, Army of the Dead is a unique and interesting blend of…
The Mitchells Vs The Machines (2021) Film Review
With the surprising success of the LEGO movie franchise and the groundbreaking, Oscar winning Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse, it seems as though anything that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller touch right now turns into gold, and with the release of their latest endeavour The Mitchells Vs The Machines, the question is whether they can keep…
Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (2021) Film Review
It’s good to be back! On the 17th May, UK cinemas reopened their doors in the country’s next big step towards normality and after fourteen long months Mark and I finally settled in our seats to watch something on the big screen. In a rather dramatic change of pace from our last outing which was…
The Woman in the Window (2021) Film Review
Much in the same way that it took Leonardo DiCaprio five nominations before he finally took home an Oscar, Amy Adams has been nominated six time (SIX!!) and has still not received one of those coveted statues. So when I first saw the trailer for Joe Wright’s psychological thriller, The Woman in the Window, I…
The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness (2021) Series Review
The fact that there are so many well known serial killers is an unfortunate reflection on humanity’s capacity to inflict harm on one another and our seemingly ingrained fascination with the macabre. From Ted Bundy to Richard Ramirez to Peter Sutcliffe, Netflix have been capitalising on that fascination with a seemingly endless parade of documentaries…
Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021) Film Review
I am one of those unsocial butterflies who likes nothing more than to stay in my little bubble hanging out with the hubby and our two kitties, and largely ignoring the wider world around me. I very rarely pay much attention to the goings on in the news which means that a lot of the…
The Dig (2021) Film Review
If you’ve been following me for a while, then you may already know that biographical dramas are one of my favourite genres, they are a great way to uncover some of history’s little known stories. Simon Stone’s The Dig shines a light on the discovery of an ancient Anglo-Saxon burial site in Suffolk during the…
Oscars 2021 – Best Actress
The culmination of the 2020 awards circuit is just around the corner with the 93rd Academy Awards taking place on the 26th of April. We’ve already taken a look at the Best Picture, Best Animated Picture and Best Actor nominees (check them out if you haven’t already) and now it’s time to celebrate the women…
Oscars 2021 – Best Animated Feature Film
As the world finally starts to get back to normal and the prospect of returning to the hallowed halls of a cinema complex becomes more of a reality, the awards season comes to its end on the 26th April, with the 2021 Oscars. We’ve previously had a little look at the Best Picture nominees, and…
Oscars 2021 – Best Picture
It’s something of an understatement to say that the last 12 months have been rather unorthodox for the world of cinema but as things slowly start to return to some form of normality, the 93rd Academy Awards are just around the corner. So let’s take a little look at the 2021 nominations for the highly…
Yes Day (2021) Film Review
The idea of being a ‘Bad Guy’ as a parent is a rather common trope in many coming-of-age movies. Netflix takes that concept and runs with it in their new family comedy Yes Day starring Jennifer Garner, Edgar Ramirez and Jenna Ortega. Allison Torres was never afraid of saying yes to new experiences. Travelling alone…
Bigfoot Family (2021) Film Review
Currently streaming on Netflix, Bigfoot Family is the sequel to the 2017 film The Son of Bigfoot but don’t worry if you missed it, you can still follow the story with ease. As a quick recap, The Son of Bigfoot sees teenager Adam go on an adventure searching for his long-lost father, eventually finding him…
WandaVision (2021) Series Review
Us poor Marvel fans barely had enough time to reflect on the events of Endgame and Far From Home before the next three years of our cinematic lives were neatly planned out with new release dates acting as mini milestones to mark in our diaries. If there was one good thing to come out of…
Murder Among The Mormons (2021) Series Review
Netflix have been churning out the goods at a surprising rate this year, with something new dropping pretty much every week. Following on from the rather lacklustre The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, their latest true crime docu-series Murder Among The Mormons delivers in a way that The Vanishing just didn’t. Using a combination of…
Below Zero (2021) Film Review
To take the stress out of deciding what movie to watch, and save a certain someone from getting the blame if the film turns out to be sh*t, I decided to create a lucky dip and the first test of our new system was the new Spanish drama film Bajocero aka Below Zero. Set over…