The Dog doesn't Die in This One

I'm currently experiencing a revelation of disappointment. You see, I had come to believe that nothing would top the pinnacle of modern cinema that is Captain America: The Winter Soldier; in terms of cinematography, story, and economy of storytelling I believed there was no much which stood up there with it in recent years. Sure, there was The Raid 2 which I consider practically perfect in terms of fight choreography and blocking, but that was perhaps the only contender.
Now, however, we welcome another challenger into the ring.

Bigger, Better, Bloodier!

If Gareth Evans is a name with which you are unfamiliar, why do you read this blog? It's about movies. And Gareth Evans is a name which, in the movie, world, is quickly becoming huge. When The Raid hit screens three years ago, it was a low-budget, gritty martial arts action film and its visceral action sequences and close camera work made it a cult hit and raked in fifteen times its one million-dollar budget.

Now, The Raid 2: Berandal is out in cinemas and it's bigger, badder and bloodier than ever before. Featuring a more expansive world, more involving story and an impressive array of detailed characters, it's still the bone-crunching, face-breaking fist-thrower the prequel was; only this time, Evans has the budget to spread it about a bit.

The new Robocop: It's good, but it's no Verhoeven...

So, as you might have guessed from the title, I went to see the new, action-packed reboot of Robocop today. It tells a pretty similar story to the 1987 original: rendered comatose thanks to a bunch of criminals, Alex Murphy is rebuilt as the titular Robocop, a robotic police officer who, in between snippets of satirical news shows, single-handedly cleans up the streets of Detroit. But when his human side begins to override his robotic body, he goes on a quest for revenge against those who made him what he is. In fact, the most notable difference is that it is not a ridiculous jab at big-money corporations, but is in fact a serious movie where they try to play the whole "robotic police officer" thing straight.