Following sisters and adrenaline junkies, Drew and May, The Dive sees these thrill-seeking siblings embark on one of their annual aquatic adventures. However, while diving in a remote, cliff-side location, they are suddenly caught amidst a deadly rockslide. With a large rock trapping May on the ocean floor, it’s up to Drew to try and free her. But with limited oxygen supplies and no-one around to help, there’s only so much she can do. While its characters are quickly running […]

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South Korea’s space program has just launched Woori-ho, their own spacecraft meant to travel to the moon. On board are three astronauts, all from varying fields, bringing with them different skills and expertise. Much like Apollo 13, things go wrong from the get-go, as the shuttle is exposed to solar winds that cut off communication with earth and does damage to the ship. While two of the astronauts are out fixing the exterior, the solar winds pick up again, leading […]

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Centering around a monkey who calls himself the Monkey King and ventures with his magic stick and a girl named Lin in order to become one of the Immortal Ones, The Monkey King is a mostly lackluster film that’s seemingly bored with its own story, just flatly going through the motions of its screenplay. The only thing it really has going for it is its animation, which really is gorgeous at times. However, there’s a difference between good-looking visuals and […]

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Puppy Love is one of those made-for-TV type of rom-coms, and while there are certainly flaws to be found in some of the choices the film makes, it was a pretty decent way to spend 80 minutes of my Friday night. Puppy Love follows characters Max (Grant Gustin) and Nicole (Lucy Hale). After quarantining by himself for most of the pandemic, Max has gotten used to the status quo of being alone. He also faces struggles heading back to the […]

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Dog movies are known for being sweet, schmaltzy and sometimes even emotionally manipulative. However, director Josh Greenbaum’s new canine comedy, Strays, is none of these things. Subverting genre clichés, Strays instead opts for gross-out comedy to entertain its audience, earning itself an R-rating in the process. This combination certainly makes for a curious cinematic crossbreed, yet its funny bones are nowhere to be found. The film’s plot follows Reggie (Will Ferrell), a young Border Terrier who is abandoned by his […]

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There was a brief moment in time when romance book readers couldn’t stop recommending Red, White & Royal Blue. Every single time I asked – or didn’t ask – for a book recommendation, that was the title everyone couldn’t wait to name drop. And having read the book, I understand why. It’s an enemies-to-lovers romance done right, and it’s also very sexy. When I heard a movie was in development, I was of course skeptical, as every book reader usually […]

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Every so often, there comes a movie so moving and thoughtful that it just makes you feel life a little differently post-watch. In 2021, that movie for me was Pig, and last year it was Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. We’re not at the end of the year just yet, but I have a feeling Jules will be that film for me this year. It’s a wonderful film, and it’s great to see Sir Ben Kingsley in a movie that […]

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My husband loves music as much as I love movies. When he was young, he taught himself how to play the bass and guitar, and was part of a band before he met me. But as the practicalities of life caught up with him, he decided to put music aside and pursue a line of work that would offer him a stable income. Sometimes, when I watch him listening to music, or strumming absentmindedly on his guitar, I think about […]

The post Dreamin’ Wild REVIEW – Of Wistful Daydreams from Natasha Alvar appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

If good shark movies are considered an endangered cinematic species, then good shark movie sequels are all but extinct. The genre’s many B-movies offerings (Sharknado, 2-Headed Shark Attack etc.) are notorious for churning out silly amounts of sequels, and even the more mainstream titles (Jaws, Deep Blue Sea etc.) often indulge in extra instalments of their own too. However, in both instances, they’re rarely any good. The latest film hoping to swim against the stream of subpar shark sequels is […]

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I love that for some reason, we’re being blessed with a ton of rom-coms this fall season. Love in Taipei, based on the YA coming of age novel by Abigail Hing Wen, is Paramount Plus’ contribution. From the same producers as XO, Kitty, the movie follows Ever Wong (Ashley Liao), an American young woman who goes to Taiwan for a summer programme. She initially dreads having to spend her break in summer school, but quickly learns that many of the […]

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If the title sounds familiar, that’s because this is a remake of the film The River Wild, which starred Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. The reception to the film was divisive, but I think it’s entertaining enough and gets the job done. I don’t think this film does a better job than the original, however, it does have some charms of its own. The important thing to note here is that River Wild doesn’t merely copy its predecessor. There’s a […]

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Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael: four famous Italian Renaissance artists to some, sure. But to the really cultured among us, they’re of course better known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They’re also the latest characters to get an animated makeover for the big screen. Emulating the highly-stylized animation enjoyed in the likes of The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and both of the Spider-Verse films, director Jeff Rowe breathes new life into these classic […]

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A follow-up film to Zoey 101, Zoey 102 follows Zoey (Jamie Lynn Spears), whose life has become a mess now that she’s 32. She can’t find a decent guy to date, barely hangs out with anyone, and struggles to advance her career no matter how hard she tries. To make matters worse, her high school friend Quinn (Erin Sanders) asks her to be the maid-of-honor at her and Logan’s (Matthew Underwood) wedding, which means she’ll have to constantly interact with […]

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In recent years, the horror genre has felt just like a Jamie Lee Curtis press tour: nothing but trauma. Of course there are exceptions, but increasingly so, horror films – such as The Babadook, Hereditary and Smile – have become obsessed with weaving themes of mental health throughout their narratives. However, not all attempts have been received just as well, and the subsequent oversaturation within the genre has left some exhausted by this now common pairing. The trend doesn’t seem […]

The post Talk to Me REVIEW – We Are Listening from Hamish Calvert appeared first on Cultured Vultures, Cultured Vultures - .

Science-fiction, comedy, blaxploitation, satire, horror, and mystery all come together in They Cloned Tyrone. The ambitious film centers on an unlikely trio—played by John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx—as they discover and uncover the government’s secret underground lair, wherein they conduct cloning experiments. Boyega shines as the central character, Fontaine. Fontaine works as a drug dealer in a community called The Glen. After the film sets up the exposition—chiefly establishing The Glen as a predominantly Black neighborhood — Fontaine […]

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