TheRetroCritic

Jamie & I discuss The Fate Of The Furious on episode 73 of podcast The Big Rewind .

We review The Fate Of The Furious on podcast The Big Rewind .

The Fast And The Furious franchise got its 8th instalment this year with The Fate Of The Furious , another action-packed, star-studded rollercoaster ride which promised an even bigger scale, crazier set-pieces, a new intimidating villain and some unexpected twists and turns.  The film opens with a street race, something that helped make this franchise popular early on, as Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) makes a point by racing someone in a juiced-up relic that's slowly falling apart. It's corny and completely ridiculous but it's a welcome homage to those films' relatively humble beginnings. This is as sensible as it gets in this movie, believe it or not, as the plot that soon unfolds only gets sillier and sillier. The Fast And The Furious movies have made a point to attempt to jump the shark higher and higher each time and it's somehow paid off with audiences flocking to each new instalment. Series veteran Vin Diesel plays a villain of sorts in this one as ev

I finally talk about The Furious F8.

Before becoming one of Pixar's most valuable filmmakers, Brad Bird of course worked on The Simpsons but he also made The Iron Giant , an animated feature about a little kid who befriends a giant robot in the 1950's. Using a mix of 2D hand-drawn and computer animation to bring its characters to life, The Iron Giant was a critical hit and it soon became a beloved modern cult classic. Upon its release, however, it failed at the box-office and didn't come even close to matching its hefty $70M budget. This was due to Warner Bros. underestimating the film following a couple of financial set-backs and not wanting to invest in a proper marketing campaign. The movie eventually found its audience and the fact that it was once a flop is largely forgotten. The sweet, simple story is framed in post-war paranoia with the American government obsessed with competing against the Russians in the space race. When the titular Giant, who is far more adorable than its stature suggests earl

In this 62nd episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, review The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

The Fast & Furious gang are back once again in this 7th (yes, 7th) outing which promises to be bigger and even more ridiculous than the one before. You know, the one with the tank? Well, taking a page out of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise, Furious 7 sees your tank and raises you parachuting cars. New villain Deckard Shaw (Jason Staham) prepares his revenge against Dom (Vin Diesel) and co while his brother rests in hospital after failing to bring down our heroes in the last movie. Although that's soon reduced to more of a subplot when Kurt Russell shows up to steer the film into a macguffin-filled direction as Dom and the rest are hired to find a kidnapped hacker, then a hard-to-reach sports car and finally a super-powerful computer chip with some clichéd face-recognition technology on it. It's the same old magic tech-heavy plot we've seen a million times and it is just as tedious as it sounds. Then again, it does lead us to some truly wonderful

I review Furious 7 because this time: it ain't just about being fast.

Ah Riddick... Back in 2000, Pitch Black came out and proved to be one of the best cinematic surprises of that year. It was a B movie, for sure, but it was unique enough and entertaining enough to elevate it to cult status. One year prior to The Fast And The Furious , Vin Diesel already cemented himself as a charismatic lead and a worthy action hero. Pitch Black was a good sci-fi horror B flick on a budget. Riddick is... something else. On the one hand, this is a labour of love and you can tell: Vin Diesel did a lot to get this movie made and clearly he cares about that character and the world he lives in. Riddick is mercifully not a reboot or a remake but instead a direct sequel to Chronicles Of Riddick and a sort-of direct sequel to Pitch Black so it's obvious that the film is primarily aimed at fans of the franchise. There will be complaints that Riddick is too much like the first movie but, honestly, that's hardly this film's problem. Actually, there's

With a trailer promising tanks, loads more car-related shenanigans and... planes, Fast & Furious 6 certainly looked like tons of fun. And after genuinely enjoying the high-speed nonsense that was Fast Five , I was definitely looking forward to this one. Following on the "big twist" at the end of Fast Five, Michelle Rodriguez's return, this six-quel presents us with more Dwayne Johnson/Vin Diesel bromance (they don't hate each other this time), a brand new villain played by the usually reliable Luke Evans and a Michelle Rodriguez subplot which would have probably had more impact on me had I even known that her character had died in one of those sequels I failed to catch. Her disappearance is explained away in the most hilariously soap-opera way imaginable: one flashback and, I kid you not, AMNESIA. I can't wait until they introduce Vin Diesel's evil twin! Most of the action this time takes place in Spain and in London and, as relentless as the latt