Tomb Raider

Lara Croft is back in the form of Alicia Vikander. I am and have always been a huge fan of hers and I was really excited for this movie. Tomb Raider needs a reboot and this movie has done it so well.

When Angelina Jolie made these movies I loved them and I think that most people did but we were always a little curious as to why, in the first movie, an American was playing a Brit while a Brit was playing and American. Maybe they haven't quite got round to casting a Brit in this role but at least we didn't have the same problem this time around.

There have been many questions going through my head since those movies were made. How did she maintain her money when she seemed to not really do any work? Why are the games SO different from the two movies that were made? I guess the idea is that they took a concept and made it work but as the games got more popular and started to develop back stories and more of a plot we as an audience started demanding more from our movies and so they decided to reboot the movies and draw on the games a little more.

This movie is like a prequel to the Jolie movies. This film explains what happens when her father goes missing and how she continues to live. Then she finds her father and has a bit of an adventure with him and manages to be like a female 'Indiana Jones' as well which means that we got a feeling of watching two movies at the same time! When this movie ends we know what she is going to do with her time, what happened to her father and what to expect from the next movie. The use of a bow and arrow reflects on the game character and also explains to us that being rich didn't mean that she grew up running around with guns. She only transfers to guns at the end and always prefers the bow and arrow. Everything about this setting has more reflection on some of the games and whatever people thought of the film wont seriously hinder the development of these movies because the games are so successful.

I really enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed the £2.50 I spent on it, the company of Bekah and the overall feel of the movie. I enjoyed Dominic West as her father and spent most of the movie staring at him asking myself where I knew him from (The Affair). Kristen Scott-Thomas was superb and her character is going to be one to watch with slight enjoyment. The same can be said for Derek Jacobi because I have many suspicions about his character role and I am waiting for the next movie to confirm or deny my suspicions.

Next up is Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then Ready Player One.

I, Tonya

This movie is half a documentary and half a movie. This makes it a good thing because if it were entirely a documentary I would not have watched it.

Margot Robbie stars as Tonya Harding who, if any of you remember was a figure skater, a very good one but one who never got the scores that she deserved. Tonya Harding was the first woman to land a triple in a competition and that should have earned her great fame but it didn't because she was disliked by the American judges and there was a lot of controversy over her landing a place at the Olympics.

I didn't know the story because I don't even remember Torvile and Dean winning their gold medals at that Olympics so I have no chance of knowing anything about this woman. She was correct, she didn't get the scores that she deserved because her skating was fantastic and her presentation was also exceptionally good. She just came from a family where her mother was crazy and just insulted her, told her that she was no good and threw knives at her. Her father left when she was a child and her mother had to raise her whilst working, which is always difficult.

To work out the actual events of this story is fairly hard because what they say in the documentary and what they say in the acted parts of the movie are totally different and contradict each other; meaning that you came out of the movie still a little confused as to what was the actual truth and what was made up. In the end, her husband was an idiot who tried to scare off other competitors with a well thought out plan and let it be executed by a total idiot. Tonya knew about it, didn't stop the plot to send death threats but didn't actually get involved in any of it and she was given a lifetime ban from skating which was stupid and unfair because the others received minor prison sentences for their part in the attack on another world class skater and yet she had her life ruined for not actually being involved in anything.


For me that was the worst part, the unfair system and a life that was ruined by an idiot. In the movie he is made out to abuse her and his friend was a total idiot. She was a victim her entire life and got treated like rubbish for it.

The soundtrack was fantastic. Fleetwood Mac and some other old school rock songs just summed up why she wasn't liked. It should have been okay to be different and the country should have been embracing it but they weren't and they didn't. She worked hard to get to her level and she deserved more than what she got. I learnt from this movie but I can fully see why it wasn't really pushing for any awards. I felt like Alison Janey was playing a similar character to one that I have become accustomed to seeing her take on and for me that was why I wasn't convinced that she was the outright winner of the award for best female actor in a supporting role. The movie is good enough but not a movie that I will add to my collection.

Black Panther

The most hyped marvel movie for a long time. I heard both positive and negative opinions about this movie.
The introduction of Black Panther in Avengers was much better than the introduction of Wonder woman in Batman vs Superman or Spiderman in Avengers. This is a superhero who only cares to protect his people. He doesn't use his powers to fight every evil that comes his way but only the ones that threaten his life and his world which in some ways could make him a little self centred but most superheroes are underneath it all.

Black Panther is a family affair. It takes you through a brief history and then moves to the current affairs of Wakanda. It is full of action, conflict, technology, compassion and morals. None of the stunts looked unreal and they resisted the temptation to go overboard with the technology or the sequencing which made it feel more real.


In this movie there is an obvious villain who at times is a little unnecessary but is probably one of the most controlled villains portrayed in a movie for a long time. What I liked the  most about him was that you could understand why he was doing what he was doing but you could also see that it was wrong and was not going to do any good. This is more than a battle of good and evil and that makes it a lot easier to watch.

This was better than Spiderman and Wonder woman. This is better than any superhero movie that has ever been  made. Black Panther is incredible and if they can continue to make exceptional stand alone movies then Black Panther will have the longest screen time of any hero in the cinematic universe. There is so much potential for crossovers within the cinematic universe as long as they do them properly. So many people got a chance to shine in this movie with stars like Forest Whitaker and Martin Freeman leading the line there was space for new stars and for old names like Andy Serkis to take on a different role.

I saw this movie with my brother and he was happy with the movie. He said that it followed the story of the comics and that it was true to itself. This movie was about putting Wakanda on the map and giving us a taste of what could be done and now it is time for the creators and cast to rise up, make more of these movies to this high standard and go also take the time to make a few different movies and show us what they can really do. Daniel Kuwayla has already done a few things such as 'Black Mirror' and 'Get Out'. This movie will help further his career but he needs to build on it and expand the platform that he has created for himself.

Everyone involved in this movie should be proud of themselves.