Bradley Cooper

Review: War Dogs

As I was leaving my work office to come to the screening of this film, I happened to tell a colleague where I was going. His response was: "Oh cool! I saw a trailer for War Dogs. It looks like The Hangover meets Lord Of War". He's not wrong, but it's the kind of reference point used far too much these days and is so simplistic as to become meaningless. He might as well have said "Oh cool! War Dogs looks like Todd Phillips meets gun-running". Or "It looks like funny stuff meets serious dangerous stuff". "Oh cool! I saw a trailer for War Dogs. It looks like Jonah Hill meets Miles Teller". Yes. Yes, he does.

Shock: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made by same people as Vol. 1

Is all this really necessary? Next you'll be telling me Star Wars: Episode VIII features some of the characters from Star Wars: Episode VII. Some but not all. Too soon? Too soon.

22 plot ideas to make Burnt more interesting

Now Burnt, see, is a film about a chef, a bloody chef, and it looks very dull indeed. So dull that it was at one point called 'Chef', which is literally just the job of the person it's about, like if The Fugitive was called 'Vascular Surgeon'. Then it was called 'Adam Jones', which is not a good title for a film, or arguably a person. No one interesting has ever been called Adam Jones. Go on, name one.

Six awesome things you missed on the new Adam Jones poster

FINALLY the poster for Adam Jones has been released.

11 ways Clint Eastwood's American Sniper embellished the truth

Clint Eastwood's military biopic American Sniper tore through cinemas in the red states last week to break January box-office records, making military supporters fire their guns in the air in celebration. However, questions remain over the movie's accuracy, following accusations that the movie's subject, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, was a fantasist (he claimed he shot and killed two carjackers and that police covered it up, and that he picked off looters during Hurricane Katrina; neither incidents were ever confirmed). Eastwood's movie makes no mention of these events, so what other inconvenient truths does the movie ignore?

Review: American Sniper

Oh, great. This should help smooth things out. While I wouldn't support the action, I'm surprised to have heard no calls to postpone the release of American Sniper. Here's a portrait, entirely unshaded by grey, of a US Navy SEAL who claims more confirmed kills than any other sniper in US military history, all of them in Iraq. There are interesting questions about the morality of this, given how many more lives he likely saved, about the effect it had on him, and about the implications of American occupation in the Middle East. Clint Eastwood isn't terribly interested in asking them, though. While this is an effective and very watchable war movie, it's as uncomplicated as it gets.

Review: Guardians Of The Galaxy

Just for a second there it looked like Marvel might have let their foothold slip. Edgar Wright's departure had irreparably sullied Ant-Man; Captain America 3's release date clash with DC's Batman V Superman in 2016 seemed like a suicide mission; the suspicion lingered that Thor: The Dark World wasn't actually all that great in retrospect. Momentary blips, all, because Guardians Of The Galaxy is the most confident, daring and balls-out fun Marvel movie of the lot. The last two Marvel releases have been samey sequels, adhering largely to a tried and tested formula, but Guardians Of The Galaxy is one of Marvel's best films simply because it doesn't really feel like it's part of the Marvel universe at all.

Trailer breakdown: Guardians Of Ga'Hoole The Galaxy

You haven't properly seen the first teaser for Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy until you've seen my step-by-step analysis, which mainly consists of cries for help, fashion queries and unforgivable inaccuracy. Still, I do know one thing: raccoons are EEEEEEE! (*clutches hands beneath chin in girlish glee*)

There's someone missing in the first Guardians Of The Galaxy image

Disney have released the first official image from their forthcoming Marvel intergalactic adventure, Guardians Of The Galaxy. We can't help but feel there's someone quite important missing, especially given the obvious Usual Suspects homage. Thankfully it was my New Year's Resolution to do more rubbish Photoshopping, so I made amends. Send the cheque to the usual address, Disney.

Review: American Hustle

American Hustle does not fuck about setting out its stall. Its first glorious image is of a pudgy Christian Bale in a bathroom mirror, his face sheltering beneath a jacked-up haystack of atrocious seventies hair, methodically and painstakingly attempting to sculpt his ludicrous combover into a presentable form. It's immediately hilarious and tragic, and tells us that what we're about to watch is concerned with appearances, deceit, aspiration, unfathomable fashion choices and hair. Lots of hair.