Action

Red Tails

George Lucas pet WWII project suffers from thin characterization, cliché and crude simplification

11 May 2012

Star Wars creator George Lucas used clips from his favourite aviation dramas to stand in for battle scenes in the original rough-cut of Star Wars, so it’s no surprise that several decades later, Lucas has invested some of his personal wealth in an…

The Cold Light of Day

Clumsy, by-the-numbers action thriller starring Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver

12 Apr 2012

(12A) 93min Wall Street trader Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) is taking a break from his Stateside business worries to visit his family in Spain, despite terse relations with his father (Bruce Willis). Unfortunately, he barely has time to sip a sangria…

Trailer for new Oliver Stone film Savages

John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Benicio del Toro star in the director's drug war action movie

10 Apr 2012

It's been a while since Oliver Stone has made an unequivocally brilliant film. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was fair, but not brilliant; W. was a bit of a damp squib; World Trade Centre contained graphic scenes of flag-waving; and Alexander was just…

Beyond a Joke - Dark Knight

17 Jul 2008

As the latest Batman adaptation arrives on the silver screen, Alan Bissett explores the colourful history and enduring appeal of the caped crusader’s arch nemesis, the Joker

21 Jump Street

Deceptively smart big screen revival of the once popular TV show, with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill

12 Mar 2012

(15)109min Taken at face value, 21 Jump Street is another mis-matched buddy cop outing that mixes elements from the original television series, Superbad coming-of-age values and the gung-ho rhetoric of Michael Bay's action movies. But there's a…

Avengers Assemble

Joss Whedon’s finely balanced superhero extravaganza is well worth the wait

27 Apr 2012

The main issue facing the making of a superhero ensemble piece is balance: with so many strong personalities on screen, how do you ensure each of them get their due? It’s a problem Joss Whedon has tackled effectively in Avengers Assemble, keeping…

Ralph Fiennes, star and director of Coriolanus - profile

Man behind the modernised Shakespeare adap has Bardic pedigree

5 Jan 2012

Name Ralph Fiennes Born Ipswich, Suffolk, 22 December, 1962 Background Initially a star onstage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Fiennes gained international film recognition for his Oscar-nominated performance as Nazi Commander Amon Göth in…

Piggy

Ultra-violent London-set thriller starring Martin Compston

23 Apr 2012

(18) 106mins Fight Club meets Death Wish in this ultra-violent vigilante movie, one so gratuitous it will turn even the strongest of stomachs. Set in a modern-day London where hoodies wielding knives seem to lurk on every street corner, Martin…

Act of Valour

Impressive technique and verisimilitude delivered at the expense of plot and characterisation

2 Apr 2012

(15) 110min The on-screen pursuit of combat verisimilitude is the driving force behind Act of Valour, an anti-terrorist action flick which aims to make a virtue of casting real life Navy SEALs (United States Navy's Sea, Air, and Land Teams) as…

The Raid

A short, tough, pumped-up flick for die-hard action fans

17 Apr 2012

(18) 101min ‘1 ruthless crime lord. 20 elite cops. 80 floors of chaos.’ The advertising sets exactly the right proficient tone; crunching the numbers as well as bones, The Raid features a small group of policemen taking on a vertically stacked army of…

Guy Pearce delivers futuristic TED talk for Ridley Scott's Prometheus

Pearce stars as the founder of Weyland Industries

29 Feb 2012

We appreciate a well-thought out viral online campaign here at List HQ. We're also fans of the inspirational TED talks, where the leading lights of culture, technology and industry come together to deliver talks based on their chosen field of expertise.

Interview: Gareth Evans brings The Raid to GFF 2012

The Welshman on directing his high-tension Indonesian action movie

17 Feb 2012

Gareth Evans is apologetic: ‘Sorry for beating your guys in the rugby at the weekend,’ he says in an unmistakeable Welsh accent down the line from his home in Indonesia. No apology necessary. While we may have to endure the indignity of the Scottish…

The Debt

Sober-minded spy movie with Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington

14 Sep 2011

(15) 113min The Debt has languished on the distributor’s shelf for a year since screening in Toronto last September, betraying a lack of studio confidence in the commercial prospects for John Madden’s sober-minded remake of 2007 Israeli espionage…

Bat's Life - Dark Knight

17 Jul 2008

Leigh Rafferty traces the highs and lows of the caped crusader’s cultural career

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

Tightly directed action-comedy that even ardent Mel Gibson-haters will find difficult to dislike

10 May 2012

There are probably quite a few people – not least screenwriter Joe Eszterhaus, judging by his recently published missive – who would probably like to see Mel Gibson languishing in a filthy Mexican jail. But sadly for them, How I Spent My Summer Vacation…

Safe

Guilty pleasure action flick starring Jason Statham

23 Apr 2012

(15) 94mins You have to admire Jason Statham. An actor that knows his limitations but plays to his strengths, while you’re unlikely to ever find him starring as Hamlet, it’s hardly surprising he’s ascended the ranks of Hollywood’s tough guys with…

Chronicle

Suspenseful non-horror addition to the found footage canon

16 Feb 2012

(12A) 84min The found footage genre is beloved by horror filmmakers (Blair Witch, [REC], Paranormal Activity). With its panicked shakiness and POV perspective, it’s a neat shortcut to instilling a sense of panic. Godzilla clone Cloverfield attempted…

Polish director, writer and actor Jerzy Skolimowski on new film Essential Killing

Vincent Gallo-starring film tells tale of fugitive on the run from the CIA

18 Mar 2011

‘I live in a remote area of the Masurian forest in Poland and one night I was driving back home on a very slippery road. My car skidded and I very nearly went over the edge, which would have killed me. I felt a real shock and I realised I was near this…

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Inspired take on the Dahl classic

16 Oct 2009

Wes Anderson’s animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s much loved book is no straightforward children’s film. Wee ones might enjoy it to a degree, but they won’t get much of the typically arch humour and wanton eccentricities the filmmaker once again…

Indiana Jones All-nighter

10 Sep 2009

Insomniac fans of the iconic adventure hero played by Harrison Ford will be happy to learn that Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will be showing back to back in this good old fashioned…

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

23 Jul 2009

The sixth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise suffers from as many growing pains as its young wizards. While Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince does venture into darker, more adult areas than its predecessors it also injects more humour and…

Wild Geese II

9 Jul 2009

If you’re a man of a certain age, chances are The Wild Geese made a lamentably unPC impact on your youth. So too, it’s likely that you found your way to the sequel, seven years later in 1985, but you don’t remember much about it. Here’s why: Peter…

American Gangster

15 Nov 2007

Ridley Scott’s American Gangster opens with callous urban cruelty as a man is tied to a chair, doused with petrol and set on fire. But the reasons behind this violent act are less to do with anarchy than with good business, or at least that’s the lesson…

Apocalypto

(18) 138min

3 Jan 2007

Welcome to the jungle. A place where pierced savages josh and jest as they rip the flesh of a freshly speared boar. Life is simple, life is good, but trouble is hiding in the undergrowth and young family man Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is about to go…

Battleship

Michael Bay-inspired blockbuster burdened by bog-standard plot and uneven tone

11 Apr 2012

(12A) 131mins Inspired by the Hasbro board-game, Battleship is part Michael Bay-inspired planet-trashing mayhem and part love letter to the US Navy, with whom director Peter Berg shares an intimate family history (his father was both a former Marine…