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Blade Runner 2049

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Ridley Scott’s original “Blade Runner”, released in 1982, is an iconic science fiction film, ground-breaking in its striking sets and notable for some fine acting performances. It was therefore always going to be a challenge to do a sequel, and the task has fallen to director Dennis Villaneuve (who directed “Arrival” and “Sicario”). It has to be said that the visuals and sets are stunning, every bit as striking as the original and then some. Every bit of the rumoured $185 million budget is up there on the screen for all to see.

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Everest (7/10)

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In 1992, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), a Kiwi mountaineer, was the first to establish a commercial tourist business guiding (fit & wealthy) amateurs up Everest with his company Adventure Consultants, for $65,000 per person. With such an appealing income, other entrepreneurial mountaineers followed suit, offering the same climb for less money. Hall had a strong reputation for reliability and safety, and amongst the other mountaineering companies was known as The Mayor of Basecamp.

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The Congress (4/10)

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The Congress sets out a future where live actors are no longer needed – Hollywood will just ‘scan’ the people they want and from there on in their digital alter-egos will do all the work.

A potentially interesting concept, with Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel and Paul Giamatti. Halfway through the movie switches style from live-action to animation, which turns out to be a defining love-it-or-hate-it moment. It didn’t work for me, and you lose interest in a concept and storyline that seems to go from interesting to silly in a matter of a couple of minutes…

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