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Projection Room: The Smit Awards 2018

What a year it’s been. YouTube channels got ripped apart, launched and ripped apart even more, Disney actually closed the Fox deal, life at two cinem…
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The Journal Christmas Special: The Past, Present and the Future

Merry Christmas, and Happy #BornIndependent Day, readers.
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First Take: Mary Poppins Returns- she’s back, and better than ever

Spoiler free as usual . Because that would be telling. SYNOPSIS: Decades after her original visit, the magical nanny returns to help the Banks siblings …
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Projection Room: Ripped Ticket TV Movie of the Week- the Christmas listings

If you’ve listened to the Ripped Ticket Show on a regular basis since I came on board, every week I have scoured the UK free-to-air TV listings for t…
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First Take: Bumblebee- no explosions, no problem.

SYNOPSIS: On the run in the year of 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 a…
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First Take: Aquaman- has the DC curse finally been broken?

SPOILER FREE AS USUAL . BECAUSE MY CINEMA IS LITERALLY NEXT TO A RIVER. SYNOPSIS: Arthur Curry learns that he is the heir to the underwater kingdom of At…
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First Take: Beautiful Boy- some things should just remain unseen

SYNOPSIS: Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring …
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First Take: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse- who said cartoons aren’t cool

SYNOPSIS: Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his reality and crosses paths with his counterparts from other dimensions to stop a threat to all re…
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First Take: Creed II- well, it barely made the count

SYNOPSIS: Under the tutelage of Rocky Balboa, heavyweight contender Adonis Creed faces off against Viktor Drago, son of Ivan Drago. The difficult secon…
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The Journal, Episode 6 | Inside The Mind of a Film Critic

As the blog reaches a big milestone, Jack took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some of the most frequently asked questions he’s had over…
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First Take: Ralph Breaks The Internet- what the Emoji Movie could have been

SYNOPSIS:  Six years after the events of “Wreck-It Ralph,” Ralph and Vanellope, now friends, discover a wi-fi router in their arcade, leading them int…
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First Take Classics: Creed- a very hard hitting film indeed

SYNOPSIS: The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former r…
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First Take: Sorry To Bother You- but really though?

SYNOPSIS: In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him …
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First Take: Robin Hood- stealing the ticket prices of the rich, to make a poor film

SYNOPSIS: A war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventur…
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First Take: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald- is the magic even there anymore?

Spoiler free as usual. Because even reviews can be misinterpreted by Muggles. SYNOPSIS: When rumour has it that Gellert Grindelwald is heading to Paris…
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Projection Room: A Haunting Awaits

In the last episode of The Journal, I got to tease a project that will shed some light inside this fantastic industry- we weren’t allowed to reveal t…
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First Take: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms- since when was ballet welcome in modern films?

SYNOPSIS: A young girl is transported into a magical world of gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice. Strap yourselves in folks, the first of this y…
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First Take: The Grinch- this is so sad, Alexa, play Fairytale of New York

SYNOPSIS: A grumpy Grinch plots to ruin Christmas for the village of Whoville. Let’s face it, living up to Jim Carrey’s 2000 effort as the dude who hat…
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First Take: Widows- another masterclass from Steve McQueen

SYNOPSIS: Set in contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ c…
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First Take: The Old Man and the Gun- a nice farewell to the Sundance Kid

SYNOPSIS: Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists t…
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First Take: Juliet, Naked- the obligatory Nick Hornby film

SYNOPSIS: Juliet, Naked is the story of Annie (the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan) and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, now …
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First Take: The Hate U Give- a young adult adaptation, actually made for young adults

SYNOPSIS: Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressure from all sides…
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The Journal, Episode 5 | The Horrors of a Review Day

This month it’s a rare look behind the scenes on review days for this very blog, plus, a taste of things to come for next year’s Journal content, as …
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First Take: Bohemian Rhapsody- not quite a killer queen, but still damn enjoyable

SYNOPSIS: A chronicle of the years leading up to Queen’s legendary appearance at the 1985 Live Aid concert. It has taken Brian May and Roger Taylor ne…
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First Take: First Man- one small step for man

SYNOPSIS: A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Mo…
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First Take: Bad Times at the El Royale- literally the wrong cinema, at the right time

SYNOPSIS: Seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one fatefu…
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First Take: Johnny English Strikes Again- it’s all literally falling apart

SYNOPSIS: After a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all of the active undercover agents in Britain, Johnny English is forced to come out of retirem…
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Projection Room: a star isn’t born at some cinemas... it’s negotiated

Legal note: the following views are those of TheJackSmit.com and not those of any employer or cinema chain UPDATE: As of October 12th, Vue and Warner …
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We’re Back on the Radio: The Ripped Ticket Show returns

Earlier today, I made my return to Pulse Radio’s Ripped Ticket Show for our first programme of the brand new season. If you missed out on it, it’ll b…
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First Take: Venom- never trust a symbiote

Spoiler free as usual. Because the world has too many superheroes spoilers. SYNOPSIS: When Eddie Brock acquires the powers of a symbiote, he will hav…
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First Take: A Star Is Born- a very good view into a complex music industry

SYNOPSIS: A musician helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral. Usually I’d be …
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