Logan Lucky – 4.5 stars
Ending retirement after four years absent from filmmaking, acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh (Oceans 11, 12, 13 and Magic Mike) returns in the best of ways with Logan Lucky, a comedy heist film that follows three siblings planning to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600. Featuring an ensemble cast lead by Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough and James Bond himself Daniel Craig (like you’ve never seen him before) it’s an intelligently written script, charming characters and major blast of high-octane fun make for an excellent film.
A promising football star, career ruined by injury leaving him with a limp, Jimmy Logan (Tatum) is angry after being laid off from his construction job at the Speedway due to liability issues.
Hatching an elaborate plan with his one-armed Iraq War Veteran brother Clyde (Driver) to rob the Speedway, using his knowledge of how they move the money, the brothers enlist the help of their sister Mellie (Keough) and convicted safe-cracker Joe Bang (a southern accented, bleach blonde haired, tattooed and hard-boiled egg loving Craig), who they plan on breaking out of prison without anyone noticing. Preparing to siphon off the money relatively easily during an upcoming car show, the plan is compromised when circumstances force a full week ahead of schedule change, placing the heist during the biggest race of the year.
Brilliant in the way it shifts from scene to scene with a natural flow despite an intricate story requires you pay attention for clue upon clue teased before the big reveal. The plight of hard-working individuals hustling for their slice of ‘The American Dream’ playing out into a truly exciting heist is what makes this one special. Making use of filming at the actual Speedway by glimpsing a look at how one really operates, familiar faces Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston, Sebastian Stan and Hilary Swank all bring the heat as supporting players in Soderbergh’s perfectly assembled and often hilarious Ocean’s-meets-NASCAR triumphant return.
Terminator 2 in 3D – 5 stars
Often ranked one of the greatest action films, science-fiction films and sequels of all time, James Cameron’s massively influential Terminator 2: Judgment Day captured the attention of the entire planet when it was released in July 1991. The follow up to 1984’s The Terminator which launched Cameron’s career and made Arnold Schwarzenegger a household name, T2 – as it quickly became known – was the one and only film on everybody’s mind. Met with widespread critical acclaim and praised for its revolutionary visual effects, the highest grossing film of both 1991 and still to this day Schwarzenegger’s career also won four Academy Awards on its way to cementing itself as the icon of pop culture we know it to be today.
Now is the best time to revisit the epic blockbuster on the big screen. For the first time in over 26 years, James Cameron returns, offering the perfect excuse to experience T2 in 3D – and for many the first chance to catch it in theatres, and it’s an event well worth your time.
The second of his films to be given new life via the 3D treatment after the 2012 re-release of Titanic, Cameron spares no expense converting his baby to pristine remastered quality.
Spending over a year scanning and restoring the original 35mm print of the film, then calibrating in 4K and transferring to 3D using the best technology available, what were once breakthroughs in computer-generated imagery and the first use of natural human motion for computer generated characters still hold up beautifully well, even given the advancements in technological evolution.
Given that Cameron himself is the very same man who pioneered the latest cutting-edge version of 3D technology with his 2009 mega-hit Avatar (currently the highest-grossing film of all time), subsequently re-introducing the format to the average movie going experience thereafter, it makes sense why he would want to give audiences across the world the chance to see an older film polished with newer technology.
Judgment Day is upon you, T2-3D.
