You have to admire the ability of the people behind the James Bond franchise to keep the movies “fresh.” At least somewhat, as Daniel Craig’s last outing as the iconic British hero manages to deliver a lot of the familiar … Continue reading No Time to Die (2021) Review
A Franchise Review is where we look at the whole series of movies in a franchise and review them as a whole rather than individually. As with all Views from the Sofa reviews, it will be rated out of 5 … Continue reading New Features Week: Harry Potter Franchise Review
Superheroes are ridiculous. The concept is silly, the ideas usually stupid and most ridiculous of them all is The Batman. Not only is he a man dressed as a bat using his wealth to fight crime: he does this very … Continue reading The Lego Batman Movie (2017) Review
Where Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows story was definitely designed to set the scene and place all the pieces of the tale in place, Part 2 is the finale. To say that this movie is one large set-piece may be … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) Review
The Harry Potter movies have always been hinged on the central mysteries. This is usually the unlocking, discovering, decoding or understanding of the titular macguffin until we get to the usual Voldemort linked finale. Unusually, The Order of the Phoenix isn’t necessarily … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) Review
You could argue that there is a lot less focus on story in the fourth Harry Potter movie and much more focus on action. It is a movie of set-pieces and spectacle rather than advancing any of the larger mythology forward … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2004) Review
Yesterday I started examining the career of Hollywood siblings. The idea was to see if there was any pattern. Do older siblings achieve more than their younger brother or sister? Is the sister always outshining the brother? I couldn’t find any … Continue reading Sibling vs Sibling: Who does it better? (Part 2)
Finally, Daniel Craig gets a proper Bond film. From Casino Royale through to the end of Skyfall, it felt like it was a long, drawn-out (but very entertaining) process to rediscover, rebuild and “reboot” Bond. The classic tropes and traditions had … Continue reading Month of Bond: Spectre (2015) Review
James Bond may be the central character to the whole 007 franchise but there are also many regular contributing characters that make the movies so successful. You can name a clear-cut ” Bond family” and arguably, at the “Head” of this … Continue reading Month of Bond: A Tribute to M
I have mentioned before that I’m not a fan of Wes Anderson as a director. I just don’t get the appeal of his style. The long cuts, the holding scenes on one location and the over-detailing of aspects like symmetry do … Continue reading The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Review
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