Sydney Pollack’s classic romantic weepie Out of Africa was one of 1985’s most popular films, audiences really falling for Meryl Streep and Robert Redford as Karen Blixen and Denys Hatton, whose complicated early 20th century relationship in Kenya formed the basis of Blixen’s popular memoir. The film won seven Oscars – including Best Picture and […] The post Out of Africa first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

You can imagine the pitch meeting for this: “Oh that’s a great idea – an origin story for Mufasa. Let me just check one thing: you do mean doing it like the 2019 “photorealistic” version that everyone hates, don’t you? And not like the 1994 one that’s universally-beloved? You do, that’s great, thanks.” One of […] The post Mufasa: The Lion King first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

While undoubtedly very silly, Moonraker still has its attractions: “He’s attempting re-entry, sir”, Holly Goodhead, Ken Adam’s amazing production design and John Barry’s brilliant music. Incredibly, it was the highest-grossing Bond movie until Goldeneye, and when adjusted for inflation it took in more money than any of the remaining Moore films, either of the Dalton […] The post Moonraker first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

After Santa bumps his head and comes to believing he is the superhero SuperKlaus, the Christmas caped crusader takes on a nasty businessman and it’s up to his elves to save the day in this Spanish animation. Providing the score is the ever-reliable Diego Navarro. Most years there seems to be a new lovely festive […] The post SuperKlaus first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

Based on the final part of Homer’s Odyssey, Uberto Pasolini’s The Return covers Odysseus’s return to Ithica after decades away fighting in the Trojan war. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, the film has garnered positive notices, especially for the actors. Interesting fact: Pasolini is no relation to the other director of that name – […] The post The Return first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

Roger Moore’s second Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun was released precisely fifty years ago on the day I’m writing these words. It raised the camp levels so far that the film is generally regarded as one of the series’ weakest (though – while acknowledging it is clearly not at the level of […] The post The Man with the Golden Gun first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

Penned by Richard Curtis and helmed by Simon Otto, That Christmas is an animated family story about stockings, snow and Santa and is the first Christmas movie scored by John Powell. It is far from the first animated movie scored by John Powell however, and if you like them then you’ll be pleased to know […] The post That Christmas first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

Say what you want about director Jaume Collet-Serra, you certainly can’t accuse him of lacking balls: reviving the once-popular Carry On series in these woke times is a bold move indeed. I have to say I didn’t find it as funny as the better films in the series – Taron Egerton is no Sid James, […] The post Carry-On first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

In the middle of all the creatively bankrupt “live action” remakes of classic animations and increasingly desperate Marvel movies, Disney did release a couple of genuinely great animated features in the last decade in Moana and Encanto. Both of these featured wonderful sets of songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, suggesting they may have finally found their […] The post Moana 2 first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more

I found Steve McQueen’s revisionist tale of life for one family during the German bombardment of London to be slick and well-made but surprisingly unmoving; the concentration on terrors domestic rather than foreign is of course the whole point but takes a little getting used to. Musically, there are two elements here – first, period […] The post Blitz first appeared on movie-wave.net ..read more