Christopher Symonds

John Locke from Lost , Admiral Pressman from Star Trek , the benevolent pacifist Alex McSween from Young Guns . All fascinating characters, all uniquely different and all masterfully rendered real thr...
Oh, there is nothing that can bring a smile to my face quicker than a Stephen King story sent for review. Whether his books or film/TV adaptations, more often that not it means I’m going to enjoy myse...
“It doesn’t even feel like they’re trying to make a good movie.” — Gene Siskel 1996 The name Chris Farley always brings a smile to my face and sting in my heart. He was a bright, shining star, the lif...
Sequelitus has been an affliction that Hollywood has been marred with since the 80s, only now outshone by remake-itus. There are very few hit films since the 80s that haven’t been given, or forced, a...
The 90s was the decade where filmmakers embraced the burgeoning new tool of CGI, after films like Jurassic Park and Independence Day showed the scope of what was now possible to get on screen. It seem...
Back in the eighties, DC Comics were facing a bit of a sales slump. In a move to reinvigorate their roster of well-trodden characters and titles, they engaged the services of writer Marv Wolfman and a...
“I have no tolerance for the unexplained.” — Detective Ralph Anderson Stephen King went down a detective-well several years go, releasing what has become known as the Bill Hodges Trilogy. And what a s...
“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? The perfect organism… Its structural perfection is only matched by its hostility.” —Ash ( Alien 1979 ) Perfection is what Ridley Scott managed w...
A notoriously difficult film to make, the first to show off James Cameron ’s obsession with the depths of the ocean. Lead actor Ed Harris still refuses to talk about it to this day. It’s one of three...
Alex Proyas ’s supernatural action thriller is a masterful example of triumph over tragedy, both as a narrative, and (sadly) as a monument to its late star, Brandon Lee . Lee , in the final week of sh...
The re-rebooted Planet of the Apes series trilogy was a fantastic surprise for me. It was yet another roll your eyes ‘reimagining’ of yet another done to death franchise that had already been remade w...
Can you believe we have been waiting almost twenty-five friggen years for an upgrade on home media for this movie? Released in 1994, True Lies saw its last home media release in 1999 on DVD. Now, gene...
FINALLY! After years having only Ridley Scott ’s original masterpiece in the Alien series, we get what many (including me) consider one of the best sequels ever made. The wait is over, and there’s goo...
Keanu Reeves is hands down one of the most likeable human beings in the public eye. His gentle ways and easy-going nature have cemented him into the zeitgeist of Hollywood legend. But in the 2010s, we...
Hong Kong action director stalwart John Woo transitioned to Hollywood movies in the 90s. His kinetic style, use of slow-mo, and many, many doves, quickly became an oft ‘homaged’ technique in the actio...