Critical Popcorn

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Another Simple Favor review: Dir. Paul Feig

1 week ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Pete Messum |Dan Bullock |Nick Bartlett

“This movie is bonkers,” Blake Lively tells the audience at the Ham Yard Hotel before the screening of Another Simple Favor. It’s a fitting precursor to this film, the sequel to the equally madcap A Simple Favor, released to decent box office in 2018 before discovering cult status on Prime Video mid-pandemic.
Hammer Films’ Four Sided Triangle: A Collector’s 4K Restoration Edition

1 week ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Dan Bullock |Pete Messum |Nick Bartlett

We’ve been having a proper look at Hammer Films’ excellent new 4K restoration boxset release of Four Sided Triangle, and it’s impressive! These fresh releases clearly indorses their new plan to bring cinematic cult classics to a dedicated Home Entertainment fanbase, so it’s great to see that John Gore Studios’ Hammer Films have not only restored the film, but it also takes the deep dive into both the creation of the film, and its heritage.
Doctor Who 2.2 Review: Lux

1 week ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Pete Messum |Dan Bullock |Nick Bartlett

One of the most distinctive and exciting images from the trailer for Doctor Who’s 2025 season was that of a cartoon character emerging from a cinema screen. It’s the sort of visual that could give younger viewers nightmares, while older viewers can appreciate what the new storytelling possibilities offered by the increased budget. It makes for a pretty spooky opening to Lux, an episode filled with potential that – for whatever reason – it never manages to capitalise on.
Neil Young: Coastal review - Dir. Daryl Hannah

1 week ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Dan Bullock |Pete Messum |Nick Bartlett

Some documentaries flip the focus, or expectation of approach to its subject matter – watch One to One: John & Yoko as a unique example – and while Daryl Hannah’s film certainly offers an authentic journey, as we sit on the tour bus with the legendary Neil Young, and his driver Jerry Don Borden, it doesn’t excitingly disrupt any rules when it comes to storytelling.
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme shares its first marvelously mad trailer and all-star cast!

1 week ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Dan Bullock |Pete Messum

The story of a family and a family business.
Explore Live Odyssey: An Immersive Journey through British Music History in London

1 week ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Pete Messum |Dan Bullock

Now, this does sound like another inventive exhibition coming to London in May! Live Odyssey is a new music experience that promises to take fans on a journey through British Music History, and an immersive, interactive ground-breaking tribute to the sounds that shaped Britain is in the heart of Camden. They’ll offer a unique trip through 6 decades of UK music, blending state-of-the-art technology with live performance that celebrates the nation’s most iconic sounds and artists.
Doctor Who 2.1 Review: The Robot Revolution

2 weeks ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Pete Messum |Dan Bullock

One of the most refreshing aspects about this new era of Doctor Who has been its consistent presence on television. We had a trilogy of 60th Anniversary Specials in 2023, a full season in 2024 (bookended by a pair of Christmas Specials) and now a second full season in the show’s familiar spring slot.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning trailer: the concluding countdown begins..!

2 weeks ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Dan Bullock |Matt Dennis

Our lives are the sum of our choices. Every choice, every mission, has all led to this. I’ve got nothing else to add but sheer, unadulterated excitement (and character fear) for a franchise I’ve loved for… *quietly* 28 years!Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningSee you at the movies!
One to Watch: Carême [Apple TV+ Preview]

2 weeks ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Dan Bullock |Nick Bartlett |Matt Dennis

What if The Bear, but in Revolutionary France? Apple TV’s upcoming drama Carême follows the life of the real-life culinary wunderkind who became the world’s first ‘celebrity’ chef Antonin Carême, played here by Benjamin Voisin. Born to humble origins, we first meet Carême working with his father as a chocolatier, concocting the large decorative dishes he became famous for, whilst playing Don Juan to a coterie of Parisian women.
One to One: John & Yoko review - Dir. Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice-Edwards

2 weeks ago | criticalpopcorn.com | Dan Bullock |Nick Bartlett

Directed by Kevin Macdonald, and co-directed and edited by Sam Rice-Edwards, One to One: John & Yoko is a creative documentary that takes you on an illuminating political, societal and music-encapsulated journey.