Alicia Vikander is Lara Croft, heiress to Croft Holdings and like her father, driven toward adventure and discovery. Having given up on her father returning after being missing for seven years, Croft digs into his past and uncovers the legend that had him consumed. To find her rightful place in the family business, she will have to break some rules, solve some riddles and become a Tomb Raider.
In Love, Simon we meet Nick Robinson playing the lead role as 17-year-old Simon. He has one Goliath secret that no one knows about. He is gay and it’s time to let everyone know.
We say, “Either of these films will entertain.”
TAYLOR: For the uninitiated, Tomb Raider was first a video game, released in 1996. In that game a curvy, fit brunette ran around in short shorts, shooting her way through levels, raiding tombs. In 2001 Angelina Jolie was Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, in the first movie. I saw that film too, from it I remember only one particular moment. Seems to me that everyone then said it was a silly film and perhaps now they say the same, but I liked this new one better. I see no shame in enjoying silliness from a film about a video game.
HOWE: Love, Simon is not a video game from the ’90s. What it is is a movie which is funny, moving and with a dash of seriousness to it. I didn’t know anything about this film going into it but I must say, this is one of the best movies so far this year. There have always been teenager love stories every year and in all honesty 95 per cent of them are pretty dull and predictable, but for some reason this sucked me in. Maybe it is due to the fact that it is a little different than the norm or maybe it is due to the fact that it had The Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink vibe going for it. Whatever it was I really enjoyed it.
TAYLOR: Tomb Raider won me over, but then it was designed to. First we meet Lara in the boxing ring, so we can see she can fight and she’s fit. Then we see her in her common poverty, because she doesn’t take Dad’s money, so we respect her. Then we see her overcome challenges in her job as bike courier. Then we see her pain, her missing father, her dead mother, so we sympathize. Boom, done. Twenty minutes in and we’re sailing into the Devil’s Sea like we’re Indiana Jones. The rest is booby traps and bad guys. It’s completely unbelievable, but at least Lara is likeable. So this reboot of Tomb Raider wins on the strengths of five-foot-four Vikander.
HOWE: Love, Simon is a film that has its secrets, you see Simon isn’t the only one with a secret. There is another who is gay and it is Simon’s job to figure out, via emails to one another, who he is and if love is on the horizon for them.
Taylor gives Tomb Raider 3.5 boulder combination locks out of 5.
Howe gives Love, Simon 4 kitchen mixing gadgets out of 5.