Film Guide

This has to be one of this year’s most highly anticipated cinematic releases. Even before the majority of media got to see it, there has been a lot of controversy on the web. From some intense and rather scathing reviews through to the threat from several key European cinema chains to boycott the release of Alice due to the short window planned by Disney between cinematic and DVD release dates. So it was somewhat hard to go into this film with little or no expectations. (Now I should point out that I watched this film in 3D on the Imax screen.)  Read the rest of this entry »

Firstly let me say that I have not been a fan of Robert Pattinson in the slightest, but then again I am not a cougar or a 16 year old girl. However I want to start off this review by saying oh my gosh, Robert Pattinson can actually act. I had kind of written him off as mr cardboard cutout. Now back to Remember Me. The general premise of this film is that stock standard flow of boy faces hard times and loss, meets a girl through a bet with a friend, falls for the girl, girl falls for the boy, both boy and girl face family issues that could break them apart or draw them together.  Read the rest of this entry »

So here’s the basic premise, James Reece (Meyers) is a young dude working in the American embassy as a personal aide to U.S. Ambassador in France but longs to be more. Even though it’s a good job and he has a got girlfriend he also wants to be a spy. He has already started the process with small time errands for the CIA, but then a real chance to ‘prove himself’ comes along when he asked to assist the legendary Charlie Wax (Travolta). As diplomacy gives way to direct action, the surrounding body count rises somewhat exponentially as the cocky Wax demonstrates to his younger protégé how things really get done.  Read the rest of this entry »

9 is a post-apocalyptic fairy-tale that pulls from many of the other great films in this sci-fi genre. Drawing its ideas and inspiration from other such classic cinematic outings as The Matrix, Twelve Monkeys, War of the Worlds and more. The animation is wonderfully dark and expressively moody, as it brings the simplistic elements to life. Right down to the stitching on these sackcloth rag dolls that have been infused with life in order to find hope in a shattered world and maybe even a brand new start.  Read the rest of this entry »

Set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) is investigating the disappearance of a murderess that has escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island. As he questions the hospitals psychologists (Von Sydow and Kingsley) his fears of a major conspiracy take flight. As he continues on, the more his investigation uncovers, the more he realizes that everything is not as it would seem.

Now this is one of those films where subtle plot twists and visual hints give way to larger twists that will change the whole direction and feel of a movie. So it goes without saying that I really do not want to give anything major away in the general plot and direction of the film. Instead let’s look at some of the components that pulled this film together. As we have come to expect there are stunning performances from such great actors as Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow and Jackie Earle Haley. However the thing that pleased me was that the very up and down Leonardo puts in a brilliant lead performance that keeps you guessing all the way just how on the level he really is and exactly who it is that might be out to get him.  Read the rest of this entry »

“It’s the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters have walked out of the pages of high school student Percy Jackson’s Greek mythology texts and into his life. And they’re not happy: Zeus’ lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Even more troubling is the sudden disappearance of Percy’s mother. As Percy finds himself caught between angry and battling gods, he and his friends embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true lightning thief, save Percy’s mother, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.” – 20th Century Fox

So how does it stack up over all? There are elements that I like in this film and several parts that get in the way of truly losing yourself in the two hour screen time of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Read the rest of this entry »

Here we have a remake of the classic 1041 horror made by Lon Chaney. The story follows the returning of the long estranged son Lawrence Talbot (Del Toro) upon his learning that his brother has gone missing. As he arrives home he find that things are not as they would seem and in many ways not as he remembers them to be. Firstly his brother’s body has now been found ripped to shreds and left in a ditch and it appears that there is some form of unearthly beast terrorizing the village. Vowing to uncover the mystery of what is going on things take a turn for the worst when Lawrence is bitten by the very beast he is hunting.  Read the rest of this entry »

Nine is the cinematic adaptation of the musical adaptation of Federico Fellini’s 1963 film “8 1/2”. Directed by Rob Marshall Nine features the same lush production values of his previous musical cinematic outing “Chicago” and is jammed to the brim with famous faces with most of them being women of immense beauty.

The story follows infamous Italian film director Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) in his struggle to make his ninth movie. As he battles his inner demons which have blocked his creativity, all Guido has for his film is a title (Italia) and a basic set. Through use of creative explanation he dodges the media, the producers and even the cast and crew as he finds himself slipping deeper and deeper into writers block thanks to his uncompromising addiction to beautiful women and his inability to really connect on a truly emotional level with just one. Whether it is his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard), his mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz), his mamma (Sophia Loren), his actress muse Claudia (Nicole Kidman) or any of the other women who have slowly integrated themselves into his subconscious, Contini is obsessed and unable to move forward until he faces down his demons.  Read the rest of this entry »

A moving, truly gritty, post-apocalyptic drama, ‘The Road’ follows a father and son as they negotiate their way through the harsh nightmare of a suburban wasteland in the not too distant future. We are never told what catastrophe has brought about the decline of human civilisation, but we do know on thing; life as we know it, does not exist any more.

Father and Son move through this landscape literally fighting to survive every day; danger comes from all sides; the freezing cold (we never see sun in the entire movie- the sky is always grey); sickness, earthquakes, lack of clean water, it is as if the whole earth is falling apart; dry dead trees in the forest are likely to crash down randomly because they have no roots and no water to sustain them. And of course, the biggest threat of all: other human beings. Read the rest of this entry »

Precious tells the story of Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones (Sidibe), who is an obese and poor African American teenager who from a very young age has been systematically abused emotionally and physically by her mother and repeatedly raped by her father. Pregnant by him for a second time, she is expelled from school, and recommended to attend an alternative education centre. It is here where she meets an inspiring teacher whose encouragement gives her the hope for a better life.

As you can tell by that small description, this movie deals with some very dark moments in one girl’s struggle as those around her who should be loving and protecting her, are instead violently hurting her.  Read the rest of this entry »