Marisa Tomei

News, Reviews & Features
  • Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home but back to brilliant basics

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 28th June 2019

    The epic, end-of-times extravaganza of Endgame left us with many questions: Has the timeline now been irreparably changed? Who are the Avengers now? Where the fuck did Valkyrie suddenly get a flying horse? And also, how does the world adjust to half of its population now having a five-year age gap? What about all the parents that missed out on seeing their children grow up? All the spouses that remarried in that time? All those people that were snapped out of existence while on their way to return something to a shop, only to be brought back and find out that their receipt is now five years out of date? If those questions are going to be addressed at all, it isn’t happening with this first film out of the gate since the 'snapback'. No, this is just very much Spider-Man back to doing whatever a spider can.

  • The First Purge

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 6th July 2018

    The Purge is an odd, scrappy sort of franchise that's stumbled clumsily into the zeitgeist without so much as taking its mask off. The first movie, released in 2013 in the middle of the Obama administration, was a high concept home invasion thriller that preyed on the fears of suburban white folk, starring Ethan Hawke, the most Caucasian man in the observable universe. Now, after five years, two sequels and one particularly flatulent Trump, The Purge has flipped its racial politics completely: starring an almost total African-American cast, prequel The First Purge has aligned itself with black fears of a government out to extinguish them. It’s quite the position for a low-budget horror movie to take (studio Blumhouse were also behind Get Out, another racially charged genre picture that blew up), but this prequel never quite fulfills its brief of winding back the clock to ask why America felt the urge to purge in the first place.

  • Spider-Man: Homecoming

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 30th June 2017

    Following his glorified cameo in Captain America: Civil War, everyone has been wondering exactly how how Marvel will reboot the character in his own solo outing. No one wants to see another bitey radioactive spider, but how do you tell an origin story without actually telling the origin story? Is he definitely part of the ongoing Marvel timeline forever more? Can he suddenly slot into the meticulously planned MCU? Basically, is the title correct? Is Spider-Man really coming home?

  • The Rewrite

    Movie Review | Becky Suter | 10th October 2014

    Before I launch into my review of The Rewrite, I'd like to take the opportunity to tell you about my own script entitled "Another Shit Movie Starring Hugh Grant", where Hugh Grant plays Hugh Grant, a Hugh Grant who is trying to make a film about Hugh Grant being Hugh Grant, but Hugh Grant doesn't want to Hugh Grant anymore, so Hugh Grant must out-Hugh Grant's Hugh Grant, and everyone's Hugh Grant. If by now, you want to stick pins in your eyes to prevent me from going any further, then you will know how I felt watching The Rewrite.

  • Crazy Stupid Love

    Movie Review | Ali | 20th September 2011

    Crazy Stupid Love is a movie that wants it all. It's a romcom that knows it's a romcom and wants you to know it knows it's a romcom. Characters reference popular movies and the clichés therein; by pointing out the elephants in the room, they're allowing us in on the joke. "Damn, love is crazy and stupid," they nudge and wink to us, but because they acknowledge the craziness and stupidity of movie romance, they assume they'll get away with it. Luckily for us, the characters of Crazy Stupid Love are so darn charming, they do.

  • Cyrus

    Movie Review | James | 15th September 2010

    Appearances can be deceiving. Take Cyrus, the latest comedy from writer/director pairing Jay and Mark Duplass. Certainly, if one were to gaze upon its theatrical poster a number of seemingly telling points stand out; John C. Reilly smirking like a bemused bulldog, Marisa Tomei's alluring half-smile and Jonah Hill's cold, reptilian eyes piercing through your soul. Fox Searchlight seem to want this film to resemble another Apatow-esque comedy conflict, a first impression which is entirely erroneous; Cyrus is, in fact, a slow, sincere film more interested in characters and relationships than timed pratfalls - arguably to its detriment.

  • The Wrestler

    Movie Review | Ali | 21st January 2009

    It's easy to laugh at Mickey Rourke. He's a has-been; a dog fancier; an actor reduced to the stakes of a bum. After a well-publicised career meltdown, an ill-advised return to boxing left him with, in the words of Charlie Brooker, "a face like wet cat food." He is, in short, a joke. Yes, it's easy to laugh at Mickey Rourke. But ...