Opinion, Reviews / 19.06.2016

Given it has been 13 long years, it may be easy to forget the cultural impact Finding Nemo had on the zeitgeist of the early 2000s. Instantly adored, the film not only dominated the box-office (highest grossing animated film, at that point), but it stood (and still stands) as one of the best reviewed animated films there has ever been. It's little wonder it has taken Pixar and Disney this long to deliver the sequel. Given their hit-and-miss history with sequels (Cars 2, anyone?), how do you possibly top such a cinematic...

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Opinion, Reviews / 30.05.2016

For a studio experiencing an impressive dream-run lately, Disney takes its first major misstep in months with Alice Through the Looking Glass; a film that improves on the previous chapter, but given that chapter was an insufferable bore, that's not really saying a whole lot. Following the well-worn "nobody really asked for this sequel, but the original made too much money not to make one" path, similarly paved earlier this year by Huntsman: Winter's War, James Bobin's Alice Through the Looking Glass unfortunately suffers from the same disappointing problem as Tim Burton's original film - visually impressive but narratively...

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Opinion, Reviews / 23.05.2016

Perhaps the most awkwardly ironic moment during the over-bloated mess that is X-Men: Apocalypse, Bryan Singer's latest chapter in the X-Men reboot trilogy, takes place after several characters leave a cinema showing Return of the Jedi. In an obviously snarky stab at X-Men: The Last Stand, one character is heard to remark something along the lines of "We all know the third movie is always the worst." Pot, meet kettle...

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Reviews / 28.03.2016

With a movie as grandiose (and that's putting it lightly) as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I always think it's best to wait a few days to let it all sink in before sharing my thoughts and feelings. Too often people share their initial reaction, be it positive or negative. I'm not saying that's wrong. Sometimes your gut reaction is spot on. But with so much crammed into one film (more on that later), it's impossible to really know how one felt without proper time for reflection. Now I've seen...

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Awards Season, Reviews / 29.02.2016

The most exhaustive and confusing Oscar season finally comes to an end today. We've had frontrunners come and go (remember when it was finally going to be Johnny Depp's year?). We've had the precursor awards be even more unreliable than usual. We've had shocks, snubs and surprises. We've had the Academy facing the worst (and deserved) press it's ever received. And going into the ceremony, we still have no solid prediction as to what will walk away with Best Picture and a handful of other categories. You may...

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Reviews / 06.08.2015

I was going to write a proper film review of the reboot/re-launch/re-imagining/re-whatever of Fantastic Four. Instead, I've decided to just rip this film apart. I'm not being a jerk. This film has it coming. A review can only be written on a film where at least something works. Nothing works in this film. Nothing. It is the most inexplicably terrible piece of cinema I have had the displeasure of watching this year. It's not often that I advise people not to see a film. Films are subjective, so...

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Reviews / 13.02.2015

Well, here we are again. Where on earth did 2014 go? And how did I manage to completely ignore The Jam Report for pretty much the entire year? Life/uni/film-watching/alcohol gets in the way, I suppose. I'm sure I made this promise last year, but 2015 will be different! I will devote more time to my writing! So how did 2014 stack up? For me, it was another phenomenal year in film. We had some fantastic box-office blockbusters that proved you could still create entertaining, intelligent, and thought-provoking art on a...

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Reviews / 20.01.2014

It's that time of year again, when The Jam Report looks back on the year that's been in film, and decides upon the ten best films of the year. 2013 has provided an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choosing this list, given we've seen one of the best years in recent times. You know you're in for a struggle to pick just ten when your short-list contains over thirty films, and it's meant some painful decisions to cut certain films from this year's list. So without...

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