Film Guide

Devon Sawa and Kerr Smith. That was the reason I saw the first ever ‘Final Destination’. To be fair I was a 15 year old girl. And unashamed to say that I loved it.

Now that I’m a older, and a tiny bit wiser, I have to say, albeit hesitantly, “I lllll…iked Final Destination 5.”

If you’ve never seen any of the ‘Final Destinations’, here comes the basic outline. If you have, even just 1, you know the story already and you know exactly what’s gonna happen, “pass go”. A bunch of people are about to go somewhere/are somewhere, but a guy has a premonition and convinces some of the people in the plane/bus/car/roller coaster/speedway to get the heck out of there. Some (although reluctantly) leave and escape certain death… for now. Mysteriously, they start dying one by one because apparently you can’t cheat death. But oh, do they try. While we laugh at the gory, outlandish ways the writers kill off the characters.

In Final Destination 5, death is let loose after a group of coworkers on their way to a work retreat are saved from a bridge collapse, when Sam sees them all dying in a premonition. I’m not going to tell you much more about the story line, because I don’t want to give away the tiny bit that is left.  Read the rest of this entry »

In a private, wealthy community, priority is placed on security and no exception is made for the Miller family’s estate. Behind their pristine walls and manicured gardens, Kyle (Nicolas Cage), a fast-talking businessman, has entrusted the mansion’s renovation to his stunning wife, Sarah (Nicole Kidman). But between making those big decisions and keeping tabs on their defiant teenage daughter (Liana Liberato), Sarah often finds herself distracted by a young, handsome worker (Cam Gigandet) at their home. Nothing is what it seems, and it will take a group of cold-blooded criminals led by Elias (Ben Mendelsohn), who have been planning a vicious home invasion for months, to bring the Miller family together. When they storm the manor, everyone is tangled up in betrayal, deception, temptation and scheming. Kyle, Sarah and Avery will take the ultimate risk to make it out with their lives – and their family – intact.

The U.S. Army Special Forces Green Berets is America’s top fighting force. They specialise in unconventional warfare, are experts in guerilla warfare, sabotage and subversion. What makes the Green Berets stand tall above everyone else? Well for one, they have extremely high standards, as you’ll soon find out if you watch Two Weeks In Hell.

Two Weeks In Hell is a documentary that condenses the two week Special Forces selection process into a frighteningly high energy 90 minute overview. This two-week selection process will only qualify you to train as a Green Beret, it doesn’t guarantee than you will become one.

The two week assessment kicks off with a hellish multiple hour long team exercise involving huge logs and lots of rolling in the dirt. The entire two week program is specifically designed to physically and mentally destroy the applicants, weeding out the weak, and stripping the strong down to their core being and exposing their real character.  Read the rest of this entry »

Once again I found myself sliding a BluRay into the PS3 with very low expectations for my night ahead. Battle: Los Angeles has a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and nobody that I know has had anything good to say about it. But hey, I’m a sucker for a night of brain dead Hollywood action and alien CGI, so why not?

Battle: Los Angeles is pretty much the same as every other alien invasion film that has been produced in the last 10 years or so. Yes, the aliens are invading the entire world, but it’s more important that they’re invading America. But Battle does has it’s own point of originality in that it’s a squad focused combat film.

We get to follow Aaron Eckhart who plays Staff Sgt. Nantz, a US Marine whose just handed in his resignation, wanting to turn his back on his recent mistakes. But when all hell breaks loose, he finds himself thrown into a squad of marines, lead by a much younger, fresh from officer training, marine and with the brother of one of the men he left behind on his last tour. Awkward.

Of course, being Hollywood, you know it’s gonna work out fine.

The squad gets sent off on a recon and rescue mission, and it’s here that Battle really kicks into high gear. An intense street battle ensues and we see the marines on the back foot almost immediately, knowing that they’ve come up against a much stronger, better equipped enemy. They’re scrambling for their lives and their fresh squad leader is scrambling his nerves. It’s intense, gritty and best of all it feels real.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes when reviewing DVDs you have to approach them with low expectations and a relisation that you are not the target market. Red Riding Hood is a classic example. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke whose only real claim to fame – that she has the biggest film opening ever for a female director – really is only a nod to the runaway success of the Twilight franchise than any real directing skills Hardwicke may (or may not) posses. The cynical side of me would suggest the mere fact that she was dropped from her role for all subsequent Twilight films is an indication of her industry standing.

But I digress. When I first heard about Red Riding Hood (or at least Hardwicke’s version) I had no idea Hardwicke was involved or that it was firmly aimed at that lucrative Twilight market. I had high hopes that t could be a dark re-visioning of the tale, something closer to it’s probable roots than the sanitised fairy tales we all grew up with.

Alas it was to be nothing of the sort.

But because I have teenage daughters, I decided to give it a go.

In places Red Riding Hood is a dark gothic tale and one that does have a few very nice twists in it. The direction of the story may even surprise you a little. The real trouble is that Hardwicke decided to populate this dark gothic tale with the same plastic barbie doll type actors that Twilight is famous for. And then, not realising that no one gets turned on by plastic fiction, Hardwicke tries to inject some rampant sexuality into a film aimed at a market that isn’t allowed to witness explicit imagery, resulting in a terrible combination of dark brooding gothic mixed with plastic models with a failure to act but trying to seduce the audience without being given the ability to even tease.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Kate Beckinsale, star of the first two films, returns in her lead role as the vampire warrioress Selene, who escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.

Chris Ryan’s Strike Back is a British television series based on the novel by ex-Special Air Service member, Chris Ryan. It was produced by Left Bank Pictures for Sky1 and was originally screened as a 6 part series. The DVD release combines the episodes into their more logical 3 parts.

The story follows the life of John Porter, a British Special Forces soldier who is relieved of duty after he lost 3 men in a rescue mission in Basra, which is the main story-line for the first of three episodes on the DVD.

John’s life falls apart until seven years later (in the second episode) he gets back into the action after recognising the a photo on TV of one of the men who have kidnapped a prominent TV reporter. Through this episode John discovers a nasty little secret that may be his way to atonement.

Atonement has to wait to the final episode however as wee see all the strands come together, tying all three episodes into one cohesive story.

Strike Back starts off well, a fairly grounded British military drama, the first episode hooks you in and reminds you how much better the British are at producing great dramas – even though Strike Back is heavily infused with action.  Read the rest of this entry »

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption. When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed–in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives–and eventually his own.

I’d heard a little bit about this dude going by the weird name of Bear Grylls. He was the dude who would explore the wilderness in search of bugs and such that could sustain you if you were lost. It was supposed to be pretty gross stuff. It also sounded like it wasn’t really essential viewing, and to be honest, it all seemed like it was a bit of a set up, something that would make itself out to be more than it was.

So I decided that I’d test the water with my little toe, so to speak, and grab the compilation DVD Man Vs Wild: Extreme Moments. The DVD was supposed to be a collection of Bear’s 50 most extreme moments.

What it felt like however was a promo reel for Man Vs Wild.

Sure, it was interesting, if some what gross (as expected), and it did do it’s job wonderfully: it made me wish I’d gone with a full season of Man Vs Wild.

Bear is charismatic and very likable, in a you’re-freaking-insane kind of way. His exploits were astounding and at the same time really, really stupid. But what Extreme Moments couldn’t do, is show these moments in their context, and after seeing about 20 of these moments, all I wanted to was see the full episodes from which they were taken.  Read the rest of this entry »