Kev's Reviews

He's a mean one, the Grinch. He's as cuddly as a cactus. He' s as charming as an eel - and he's about to steal Christmas. Just north of Whoville lives the Grinch inside a cave in Mount Crumpit. In the classic children's book,  Dr. Suess paints the Grinch as an immoral , vindictive creature who hates Christmas for no apparent reason - which, in my opinion, is a lack of character development. However, in the beloved film, directed by Ron Howard, he is interesting and has reservations about Christmas that have been deeply rooted from his ill-fated childhood. We discover this when Cindy Lou Who conducts an investigation into the Grinch's past, exposing the truth about the so-called "nice" Who's - even Mayor Augustus Maywho, who had bullied Little Grinch simply because he was different. While Cindy Lou is on the verge of exposing the Who's who drove the Grinch away from Whoville , the echoes of holiday cheer reach Mount Crumpit as the town p

2017 film When a murder has been committed on the Orient Express, the famed detective Hercule Poirot is enlisted to lead the investigation. The victim is Samuel Edward Rachette, stabbed twelve times, described by Poirot as a savage.  I know, it's a cliché. But, what else can you expect from a Kenneth Branagh film based on an Agatha Christie novel? Oh, where to start? Let me begin by saying that this film is a remake of a 1974 version of a 1934 film, which is quite confounding in and of itself.  The 1974 film was well-received at the 47th Oscars , having been nominated at the 47 th Academy Awards for  Best Actor  (Finney),  Best Supporting Actress  (Bergman),  Best Adapted Screenplay ,  Best Original Score ,  Best Cinematography , and  Best Costume Design . Of these nominations, Ingrid Bergman was the only one who came out with an award.  1974 cast There has been much debate over which of the two is better. New York Times Reviewer Glenn Kenny asserts, "Mr. Finney&

Before Whitey Bulger, before Al Capone came two of the most notorious gangsters, London-based Reggie and Ronnie Kray.  The Kray Twins were the forerunners of organized crime. The identical crime-lords -  both roles played by Tom  Hardy - might have been vicious thugs but they also rubbed shoulders with the wealthy and powerful, building their empire in the East End of London.  Similar to American gangster Al Capone, the twins accrued glamorous lifestyles to cover up their brutal killings. If you can look beyond their barbaric ways, you'd find the Kray's underlying charm. Falling for Reggie, girlfriend-then-wife Frances (Emily Browning) tells the story as an omniscient narrator (even though she dies roughly two-thirds into the movie). Since her image of Reggie is obscured by love, in the beginning, he comes across as suave and sophisticated. Weary of Ronnie, Frances maintains her distance but still is fascinated by his quirky charm. As Dan Jolin from empireonline.com wrot

At the Helm of this adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrook's novel, Director  Ron Howard uses his cinematic brilliance - not to tell - but to show the peril of the epic true journey of the ship Essex that inspired Herman Melville's fictional tale Moby Dick. In 1820, the New England crewmen aboard the Essex become submerged in a battle of survival when a whale of extraordinary size and power attacks, crippling their vessel and leaving the Essex adrift with ocean on all sides stretching for miles. With limited supplies, and in the midst of storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men must take drastic measures to beat the odds of dying at sea and, ultimately, inspiring Melville. In the beginning, as the writer (played by Ben Whishaw, the new Q in 007) sits down with one of the much-aged crewman, the film has an eerie Titanic-like feel. Much like the old lady in Titanic, you are unsure whether or not he is telling the truth. Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson) is, after all, a was