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‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Trailer Reaction: Cameos and Cuteness

With just three months to go until Star Wars returns to the big screen, we finally have a full-length trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, which appears to give a very good indication of what to expect from the movie. The trailer opens with a shot seemingly riffing off The Force Awakens–we’ve truly hit a…
Narnia is Not Epic Fantasy

The Netflix Chronicles of Narnia adaptation has finished filming and is now in post-production for a release in November this year. There are lots of reasons why I’m not confident in this adaptation (more on that here), but one I’ve not seen mentioned anywhere might seem counter-intuitive to fans, but it’s a problem that’s affected…
Why Do We Need a ‘Stranger Things’ Spin-Off?

We’ve only just seen the end of Stranger Things, but already Netflix are preparing to wring all they can from the property before it fades out of relevance, with the trailer and release date conformation for Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, the show’s first spin-off. Probably the best way to sum up my reaction to…
‘The Wrecking Crew’ Review: Double-Barreled Star Power Can’t Save This Generic Action Flick

The Wrecking Crew is a low-budget action movie that was quietly dropped on Amazon Prime with practically no marketing. Sounds like a good time, right? It stars Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista as two estranged brothers. They are forced to reunite when their father dies, and as the circumstances surrounding his death become more intriguing,…
I Have No Faith in Netflix’s Narnia Adaptation

If I had to choose a single book to take to a desert island, it would probably be The Chronicles of Narnia (the seven-in-one omnibus edition), so there’s nothing I’d like more than to see a good adaptation of it onscreen. Sadly, I don’t think that will ever happen now. There have been several adaptations…
Where Next for ‘Star Wars’?

Star Wars is back in the loop, with the “news” that Kathleen Kennedy is once again leaving her role as Lucasfilm president, to be replaced by Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. We’re also getting the first Star Wars film in seven years, due to hit theatres in May. With all this commotion, it might seem…
Films and Fiction is Now on YouTube

I’ve a big update to bring you about about Films and Fiction. After months of deliberating, I’ve finally gone and set up a YouTube channel! So now alongside my blog posts, I’ll also be delivering videos with reviews, breakdowns, and my takes on all things pop culture. It’s only fitting, I think, that my first…
‘Primitive War’ Review: Brilliant, Old-School Dino Action

It’s not the best time to be a movie fan, but every so often something comes along that’s a real spark of creativity and passion. So it is with Primitive War, the dinosaur-filled action movie by Luke Sparke, based on the novel of the same name by Ethan Pettus. The movie takes place in 1968…
Hollywood Needs to Make More Movies Like This About AI

A trailer has released for the film Mercy, starring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Fergusson. It might not be a cinematic marvel, in fact it looks bland and uninspired, the kind of movie you’d expect to find on Netflix. But at least in concept it’s the kind of movie Hollywood should be making about AI. In…
Has James Gunn Already Sunk the DCU?

Superman has come to the end of its domestic run, with a total gross of $354M. I don’t know if it’s worth trying to argue that this movie is, at best, a middling success, as since the claim that it made $125M profit, people just seem to be running with that number. Does it actually…
Streaming Needs More Seasons, More Quickly

The aptly-named Duffer Brothers have made an embarrassing remark in an interview with Variety, where they say that the three-year wait between new seasons of streaming shows is actually a good thing. I’m sure almost no one would agree, but more telling is the part where they say they don’t like 20-episode seasons, and only…
‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’: Is This The Way for Star Wars?

The new trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu has dropped, and I have to confess, I was left cold by it. I didn’t love it; I didn’t hate it. I just watched it with a shrug. It could have been worse or better, but I really don’t care very much about this movie. This will…
Is Netflix Trying to Enter the Movie Business?

The word is out that Netflix is considering making a bid for Warner Bros., just a few days after Paramount expressed interest in buying the studio too. I’m not going to defend WB, they’ve made a lot of bad choices in recent years, but any kind of buyout would be bad right now. What we…
The ‘Terminator’ Franchise Won’t Be Back

As Hollywood’s current obsession with nostalgia continues, it seems odd that one ’80s franchise is missing out on a reboot: where is Terminator? Well, maybe we will be seeing it again, because James Cameron says he’s writing a script for a new movie, but I have no confidence we’ll ever see it, and certainly no…
Paramount Buying Warner Bros. Would Be Bad for Movie Fans

After their recent merger with Skydance, Paramount is now looking to buy Warner Bros., which would be a bad thing for movie lovers. Obviously Warner Bros. has made a lot of bad decisions (and a lot of bad movies) in the last few years, but the one thing that we don’t need right now is…
Liam Neeson’s Back With a Vengeance!

Since his reinvention as an action star, Liam Neeson seems to have a thing for various forms of transport, with his movies taking place on planes, trains, big rigs, and now a bus. Ice Road: Vengeance is the sequel to the 2021 movie The Ice Road, though it only bears the slightest connection to that…
Expect More Gimmicks from Movie Theatres

Have you ever wanted to watch a whole movie while walking? Well now you can. In a special screening of The Long Walk, you spend the entire film on a walking machine, where you need to maintain a minimum speed of 3MPH or else you’re thrown out of the theatre. Based on Stephen King’s novel,…
Why Did Obi-Wan Not Kill Vader in the ‘Kenobi’ Show?

Films & Fiction Weekly #2 The more I think about the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, the more I’m convinced it should never have been made, and never could have been good. It’s my least-favourite of all the Star Wars Disney+ shows, but while I can think of ways to improve most of them, at least a…
Are Movie Characters Dumber Now?

Films & Fiction Weekly #1 Are movie characters getting dumber? When you look at films like Alien, most of the characters react to the presence of an unknown life form in a pretty intelligent way. None of them are trained for such a situation, but they do their best. Ripley won’t allow Kane onboard with…
Is Netflix Looking to Update Narnia?

New leaks from the set of Netflix’s Narnia adaptation suggest it could be set decades later than the books