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Cas Harlow
Cas Harlow works as the movie review coordinator for AVForums and is responsible for all the cinema, streaming, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray content. He also organises the movie coverage, PR screenings, PR discs and competitions, and produces reviews and articles for the site, as well as participating in the podcasts.
Cas has been reviewing movie content and discs for over 20 years, is an avid film buff and is our resident movies expert, having reviewed several thousand titles both on the Big and Small Screen, across DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray and now Ultra HD Blu-ray.
Cas is also a non-practising Barrister and practicing Solicitor and has a degree in Electronic Engineering and a Postgrad in Law.
Marvel's new standalone "Spotlight" brand kick-starts with a show that absolutely requires you to have boatloads of previous knowledge, enjoying a decent anti-hero action lead and elevated no end by Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin - UPDATED FOR FULL SEASON.
6
Movies & TV Shows
One More Shot (Sky) Movie Review
by Cas Harlow
Scott Adkins fashions a solid follow-up to his perfectly watchable continuous-shot-style actioner, One Shot, recruiting Tom Berenger and Michael Jai White to add to the mix.
Slow Horses: Season 3 - Real Tigers (Apple TV+) TV Show Review
by Cas Harlow
Apple's gloriously grungy spy show returns for its third season in two years, with Gary Oldman still flatulating his way around being the best spy that nobody ever noticed - UPDATED for full review.
Fashioned from an impossible set of seemingly incongruous ingredients, Young Guns is a cracking Western that earns a stateside 4K release that you may just want to consider importing...
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (Netflix) Movie Review
by Cas Harlow
Zack Snyder's pitched Star Wars-esque sci-fi epic franchise thingy plops on Netflix, and is about as well-received as anybody expected, making you wonder how on earth anybody is going to make it to Part 4.
Action maestro John Woo returns to Hollywood after twenty years for a seasonally-themed dialogue-less revenger set on a pair of fateful Christmas Eves.
A Murder at the End of the World (Disney+) TV Show Review
by Cas Harlow
Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, regrouping after the cancellation of The OA, bring their brand of left field mystery to what would otherwise be just another tech-flavoured Agatha Christie romp. UPDATED FOR FULL REVIEW.
Bradley Cooper's sophomore symphony doesn't hit the raw, accomplished notes of A Star is Born, but is an impressively staged biopic nonetheless, with committed lead performances.
Brian Helgeland, of Award-winning LA Confidential / Mystic River screenwriting fame, writes and directs this small town crime drama with a great cast and a chewy purpose.
The Crown Season 6 - The Final Season (Netflix) TV Show Review
by Cas Harlow
Dropping its final ever 6 episodes, the latter half of its sixth and final season, The Crown doesn't exactly go out on a high, but does offer a modicum of closure.
Intricately layered and audaciously framed, Todd Haynes' Natalie Portman / Julianne Moore psychodrama may be a little too ambitiously avant garde for its own good.
A.V. Rockwell's striking directorial debut lands in the UK with none of the fanfare it received on the festival circuit, making it all too easy to miss this remarkably raw and noteworthy gem.
Best Movies, TV and 4K Blu-rays of 2023 - Editor's Choice Awards
by Cas Harlow
The movies team takes a look back at 2023, highlighting some of the best theatrical and streaming movie releases TV shows, and 4K discs, as well as the studios behind them.
A flawed, frequently tense, fitfully fervent, overly ambitious but mostly modestly satisfying and atmospheric effort from Michael Mann, Blackhat still remains an odd choice for his next 4K release, a Limited Edition bells-and-whistles set from Arrow - UPDATED FOR DIRECTOR'S CUT REVIEW
Thirty-five years, and five sequels and spin-offs later, and finally we have a clever, original, and truly worthy Predator follow-up, seeing this non-core Disney title land on 4K disc too.
Harrison Ford's 1993 classic remains a propulsive, defining chase thriller, landing a native 4K release with stunning video and... wait, is that ATMOS?
Adam Sandler curiously nudges his recent Netflix average into more hit than miss with this charming and surprisingly insightful look at both teaching and parenting through the eyes of... a lizard.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 4K Blu-ray Review
by Cas Harlow
The Mitchells vs. The Machines' Jeff Rowe gives TMNT the Spider-Verse makeover, crafting a superbly scripted teen action-comedy with unsurprisingly innovative sound and visuals that all come together for a must-have 4K release.
Ironically, for such a culture-centric production, DC's now 'non-canon' Blue Beetle is a pretty blandly paint-by-numbers Superhero Origins 101 outing that lands with an unsurprisingly shiny new 4K release.
Nicol Paone's sophomore outing is a jet black comedy with Uma Thurman commendably but also at-times awkwardly navigating a satirical clash between the art world and the underworld.
6
Movies & TV Shows
Desperation Road Movie Review
by Cas Harlow
Defying its DTV gun-toting marketing, Desperation Road is a small-scale Southern noir that deserves credit for aspiring to be something like Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace.
Too early to get into the Christmas spirit? Studiocanal don't think so, with their new 4K restoration of the both quaintly beloved and more often derided 1985 box office disaster Santa Claus: The Movie.
Takeshi Miike directs this samurai demon-slaying show based on the Capcom videogame universe, bringing the greatest samurai actor who ever lived back to life for one last epic battle.
Absolutely one of the finest Netflix productions ever put together, created by the co-writer of Blade Runner 2049 and Logan, Blue Eye Samurai is visually stunning, brutally bloody, kinetically action-packed and fabulously unravelled over an epic 8 episodes and 6 hours.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves (Paramount+) Premiere TV Show Review
by Cas Harlow
Ditching its Taylor Sheridan/Yellowstone Universe ties somewhat, and clearly designed to pioneer a whole new "Lawmen:" Universe, Bass Reeves is a well-drawn Western show, with Silo's Sheriff, David Oyelowo, clearly finding his calling as the eponymous lawman.
7
Movies & TV Shows
Butcher's Crossing (Amazon) Movie Review
by Cas Harlow
Continuing to make interesting movie decisions, Cage returns to the Wild West for the second western of his career and it's a much more interesting and unusual effort which just hasn't got the means behind it to make for a compelling whole.
Jessica Yu's Fox/Hulu/Disney/Star comedy, Quiz Lady, enjoys a clever pairing of Awkwafina's trademark grumpy old woman schtick with an utterly against-type, deliciously OTT Sandra Oh.
Christos Nikou's English-language directorial debut is an intriguing little sci-fi idea never quite done justice by its otherwise conventional romantic drama narrative, despite committed performances from its leads.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One 4K Blu-ray Review
by Cas Harlow
Hitting home formats after an unexpectedly disappointing Box Office run, and in the wake of news about not only production delays on Part 2, but maybe even an inexplicable title change, Dead Reckoning is still a cracking piece of escapist entertainment and a stunning 4K DV/DA disc.
Writer/director Kitty Green reunites with her star from The Assistant, Julia Garner, for another slow-burn brew of toxic masculinity steeped in palpable, simmering, dread.
All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix) Limited Series TV Show Review
by Cas Harlow
Based on Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, directed by Stranger Things' Shawn Levy and scripted by Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight, Netflix's lavish WWII adaptation paints a piteous portrait of war and greed, but is it worth 4 hours of your life?
William "The Exorcist" Friedkin's last film may feel distinctly TV-movie in style, but it's a solid courtroom drama that provides a fitting final feature to bookend an impressive career - now available in the UK!