One of the best purchases I have ever made was signing up to be a part of Cineworld’s unlimited scheme where for just £10 a month you can attend as many movie screenings as you would like. When you consider the fact that a single ticket is £6 per screening then you only need to attend twice a month to get your money’s worth. On top of this Cineworld also regularly send exclusive offers to their unlimited members including a free regular combo (popcorn, hot dog or nachos and a drink) for FREE! These snacks usually cost around £9 which means that this free gift alone covers my monthly subscription cost before factoring the cost of the actual ticket itself. When it came to my choosing what snack I want in my combo box, I decided to try something new this time and opt for some nachos to enjoy during the films, as I have never tried them before, and I have to say they are the perfect movie snack! I am a big fan of nachos during game nights or for watching big sporting events but had never thought about enjoying them during a movie but from now on they are going to be added to my cinema essentials. On top of all this if you refer a friend to join the scheme then you both get a free month so if anyone is thinking about signing up to the programme feel free to use my code RAF-41UF-82LQ-14EX-70BM and we can both get a month of free movies! You can get up to a year of entire of free cinema if twelve people use your code and I have to admit that this is the goal!
This time we are back at Cineworld to watch the new comedy/adventure film “The Lost City” which boasts a rather eclectic cast of famous. The story follows the reclusive author Loretta Sage (played by the incredible Sandra Bullock) who writes a series of best-selling adventure stories inspired by her archaeological and dead language enthusiast recently deceased partner John. Loretta is struggling to come up with a satisfying end to her latest novel which I know from experience is a common affliction that many creative writers face semi-regularly. I believe that Sandra managed to perfectly capture the anguish creative writer’s face and in fact, the movie opens with a rather clever scene our writer is transported into the centre of one of her scenes and then actually edits/deletes elements as she realised they don’t work. Having taught creative writing to young people, this is a process that everyone goes through which often leads to the frustrating moment where you have to figure out how you are going to write yourself out of a trap you have made for yourself. Our author is kidnapped by a rather unhinged billionaire (more on him later) which means that she has to be saved by cover model of her stories, Alan Caprison / Dash McMahon who is played by Channing Tatum. To me, Channing was a highlight in this production as he was surprisingly hilarious throughout. Ignorantly, I always associate Channing with the Magic Mike series which are all about the attractiveness of the male strippers. What is clever however about the writing of “The Lost City” is that it builds on the negative stereotypes often associated with this actor and makes it apart of the narrative itself. At the beginning of the movie Alan is known for being the cover model of this adventure story but we discover after a while that he is not the martial expert he is portrayed to be. This sort of contrast was the basis of many of comedic moments for this character which Channing really leaned into!
Alongside our two lead characters, there are a plethora of wonderful supporting characters. On his adventure of saving Loretta, Alan brings in the help of the expert adventure Jack trainer who is played by acting juggernaut Brad Pitt. This character is ridiculously outlandish and helps to also deliver many hilarious moments. This highlight scene for this character was during a siege of a villainous base which was choreographed perfectly and made this character seem like an expert fighter. Jack climbs and flips his way around the base and uses the enemies to take themselves out in a logical but flawlessly which I thought was amazing! This character was a highlight for the limited amount of time they were on the screen which is clearly a testament to Brad Pitt’s stage presence. Also in this movie was the iconic Danielle Radcliffe who took on the role of a rather unhinged villain. Abigail Fairfax is outraged that his family’s business was left to his brother which fuels his pursuit of a priceless artefact that Loretta is very knowledgeable on. After kidnapping the author, Abigail becomes more and more frantic which was wonderfully portrayed by the Harry Potter star. Daniel was incredible in this role and made to capture the more insane moments of the character wonderfully! We also saw a brief appearance by Oscar Nunez who is probably best known for his role of Oscar during the US version of the office. In this movie, he plays an incredibly eccentric man called … Oscar … who adds even more comedy to this movie!
Overall, this is a rather unique adventure movie that contains buckets full of comedic relief. The absurdity and over-the-top-ness of key scenes really made sense within the narrative as the story is based on the creation of a fictional story. Going into the movie I would never have put together the collection of Mr Magic Mike himself, Harry Potter, Miss congeniality and Oscar from the office but the chemistry between the cast is clear to see! I personally think that Channing Tatum was a highlight by really exaggerating the connotations many people have of him which I found very clever but also brilliant to watch! I would rate this movie 4 out of 4 stars!
Rhysreviews 