By Jennie Devine

The film ‘Bullet in the Head’ is a one of a kind film directed by legendary director John Woo. In most films there are happy endings, but not bullet in the head. The start of the film was when the characters are at there happiest. The excellent characters of the film were the 3 best friends which were known as ‘brothers’ were acted by Tony Leung who played Ben, Jacky Cheung who played Frank and Waise Lee who played Paul. The story of the film is set in back 1967 when the Vietnam War was taking place, and the 3 best friends flee Hong Kong to Vietnam because of the police chasing them for murder, and when they arrive in Vietnam they put the strength of there friendship to the test because of what situations they are in. The film focuses on love, war, friendship, betrayal and one of the main focuses is wealth especially gold which puts a huge strain on the friendships. This film is defiantly worth watching if you like intense and dramatic films, and the film is one of John Woo’s best performances he has ever made.

by simon compton

Film review ‘Breathless’ (À bout de souffle)


‘Breathless’ (1960) is a ground breaking piece of cinema, which along with other French new wave films, completely changed the path of cinema and helped shape the way most modern films are directed today. This is because director Jean-Luc Godard broke from the conventions of film and in particular Hollywood and created his own style of narrative, camera angles, and editing. Even though the film looks slightly dated now and in many ways old fashioned we must remember it was the first of its kind and I feel it is still very watchable compared to a lot of black and white films made before it which tend to have longs pieces of dialect and standard shots almost as if you are watching a play.

This film oozes ‘coolness,’ not in the sense that we may use the word today but the real meaning of the word. From the sharp suits and fashionable dresses, the old American convertibles, the streets of downtown Paris, and the continuous smoking of cigarettes, this film has not lost any of its attitudes from when it first hit cinema screens. The story line however seems a simple one; it is crime thriller and romance story revolving around two main characters Michel and Patricia. Michel is a small time crook who steals a car and shoots a police officer dead, now on the run he goes to Paris to get some money he is owed and to meet up with a old girl friend who he is madly in love with (Patricia), however things aren’t as simple for Michel as he thought as he cannot get hold of his friend who owes him the money and Patricia is not sure if she loves him as much as he loves her. The film is very fast paced except for a couple of scenes, however Godard still manages to hold your attention as the dialogue flows beautifully as if your where reading a crime novel and almost every line feels as if meaning and thought has gone in to it, much like a Coen brothers film. There is also some amazing cinematography in the film from noir like shots as the characters walk in silhouette down dark Parisian alleyways, to perfectly executed rule of third shots. However as I have already talked about this movie broke the conventions of cinema at the time and this is also apparent with beautiful and very interesting shots, as well as Godard’s famous use of Jump cuts which at first or too an untrained eye may look like lousy editing but which are infact a clever way that Godard keeps the film flowing as he is only keeping in the parts which are important.

My overall opinion of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is a positive one and I feel it is a ground breaking piece of cinema and defiantly one to see as a film fanatic or a student, not only because it is such a important piece of cinema which set up much of the modern film techniques we see today, but also because it is a beautifully spun tale which will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

Amelia Dickens AS Film Studies project

For my AS Film Studies project, my group and I decided to produce our segment of filming in the genre of a Horror/Psychological Thriller. We choose this style because it has a wide capacity for Sound Design, Cinematography, Set Design and Editing. This enabled everyone in our group to make numerous contributions. Our extract of film is set at the first climax of the film: where a new wife discovers the hanging body of her husband.
I chose the role of Sound Designer and was therefore in charge of the climactic music we used, and the digetic sounds whilst filming. I used the program Garage Band to devise a musical accompaniment to the film. We then imported this into certain moments where the music would enhance the tension. Before producing the sound I had to learn how to use Garage Band, and then the method of transferring files from one source to another on the computers. My group and I watched clips from films of a similar genre to which we were trying to achieve. This helped me with the not only the construction of the music but also where to play it, where to leave silent, and where to exacerbate the digetic sounds.
One main thing I was aiming to do was extend the narrative through my micro responsibility. From watching over Psychological Thriller films I decided to start the clip quiet, so as to juxtapose this with a loud ringing sound, indicating unexpected trouble. As the power cut out, I started the music to set the mood of horror and fear. The music continued until just before the climax where silence cut in, representing the protagonist’s speechlessness.
I spent some time looking at sound effects and first thought of using easily attainable objects to create the necessary noise. However, none of these were needed in the end, although it was interesting to see the surprising things used top make sounds in real films. Some sound effects I used including a loud telephone ring, a door slamming etc. For the door slamming there were a variety of sounds to choose from. It was a wooden door, in reality, that that our character passed through. However, after investigation into the construction of sound in films I knew that this didn’t mean we had to stick to reality. When producing the sound for a film, often unrelated sounds are used. I employed a mild version by incorporating a metal vault door slam.
After submitting our draft film the class watched it and gave comments and constructive criticism. This was extremely useful and encouraged me to extend the music and increase the volume of certain sound effects.
The impression we wanted our film to make on our audience was, for the most part a shock associated with our genre. The movie, if we had filmed it at length would be more about psychological and exstisentential issues. However, the climax that we filmed would be the most energetic, surprising scene, and for this reason we chose to film this part.
Overall, I am pleased with how our filming went and the finished product. I feel we are all more confident with our different areas of filming and have a better understanding of the annals of the professional movie industry.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Review

“Sex, Murder, Mystery. Welcome to the party”
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005) is really all you want to see in a movie. The Movie title originated from a poster in Italy, these four words are perhaps the most basic elements that attract up to a movie; are love for them. Its a shame more movies aren’t made like this. Fast, furious and politically incorrect Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, holds you and never lets go.

Based in part on a novel by Brett Halliday, the film begins with Harry Lockhardt (Robert Downey Jr) who has just arrived at a Hollywood party and feels a little out of place. In flashback we see that Harry was a petty thief in New York City and one night whilst escaping from the cops he runs into a room where actors are auditioning. The film also encorperates pulp fiction elements, conveyed via the theme of Jonny Grossman novels: “two seemingly different storylines which eventually come together at the end”, the film works on this basis and doesn’t disappoint. The story line which becomes increasing more tangled as the film progressives eventually clears and settles towards the end of the film.

The film is pure fusion, a mash up of film genre, rounded by the conventions of film Noir; pumping up of moral ambiguity and sexual motivation mixed with Hollywood Crime drama, a perfect scene to emphasize this would be the torture scene featuring Harry “the magnificent” Loackhart (Robert Downey Jr), and Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), while Harry is having a delicate part of his anatomy meeting some electricity, Perry tries to convince the guy holding the two captive he’s gay, in a fast paced scene featuring hilarious dialogue and acting it showcases the style of the film.
The movie is narrated by Harry, in a very similar fashion to Sunset Boluevard (Billy Wilder 1950) that is: it allows the main character to express his feelings and also being American it allows for a recap of what’s happening in the film, and also allows for Shane Black to squeeze in some extra comedy. It is also similar to Sunset Blvd, in the opening of the film, featuring the man character (however not dead this time), featured in a shot looking up from the bottom of a pool.

In conclusion Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a damn fine film.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a film that is based on coincidences, fate and the consequences of being in places at certain times. It follows the story of Harry, who at the beginning of the film is at a Hollywood party and questions how did I get here? Then the explanation begins. He starts off as a robber in New York, as he is getting away from the police he stumbles into an audition and because of his sheer emotion at his fellow robber being killed he gets flown out to LA for the part that he accidentally auditioned for. He gets caught up in his own lies, murder and his incredible attraction for his childhood sweetheart Harmony. The story is funny and fresh, and as Harry narrates the story himself he manages to have a pop at Hollywood in his own light-hearted jokey way. The script is incredibly clever and very well-written. Sometimes the film becomes so absurd but in a way that it is brilliant as it has been written so well.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is not unlike Sunset Boulevard in many ways, both films are narrated by the stranger to Hollywood and both male characters happen to be where they are by pure coincidence (Joe drawing up in the drive of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and Harry stumbling into the audition accidentally in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). In both films the ending is at the beginning and the story is told from that and both of the main male characters are from small insignificant towns in middle America.

Overall it's an excellent film that you can't help but get sucked into. It's chatty, funny and the whole vibe of the film makes you feel as though you are there and that you are a part of it which makes the whole viewing experience even more enjoyable.

Written and directed by Shane Black of Lethal Weapon fame, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) is rather hard to define in terms of genre. K.K.B.B mixes some nicely put together action sequences, romance, a little gunplay and some Tarantino style black humour to create a surprisingly enjoyable, darkly funny murder mystery, which amongst all the sequels and remakes Hollywood has been joylessly churning out lately, feels oddly refreshing.

The film sees Robert Downey Jr. as a small time crook by the name of Harry Lockhart, Harry is mistaken for an actor after her evades the police by running straight into an audition. The story basically gets more sinister and confusing from here onwards. Harry is then brought to Hollywood where he meets "Gay" Perry, a private eye who is rather unsurprisingly, a homosexual. As well as Perry, Harry also bumps into old childhood friend Harmony, Harmony and Harry's love hate relationship serves well as fuel for the comedy fire and gives the film a feeling of innocence.

The film also features elements of Hollywood satire, most notably in party scenes but also subtly conveyed through characters and their attitudes. One particular thing I liked was the creation of fictitious brands such as Protocop and Genaros Beer (the beer Harmony appears in an advert for) as they mirror the tacky commercialism of Hollywood perfectly.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is similar to Sunset Boulevard in parts, but major elements like the story are poles apart. Still, there are some recognisable references and similarities between the two films. The opening shot not only references Sunset Boulevard but almost mirrors it, with the only major difference between the two shots being that one features a dead man and the other doesn't. From this shared shot both films work backwards with the purpose of answering how the protagonists got to where they are now.



Despite the film's awkward plot, it's undeniable enjoyable simply due to it's fresh style and humour which can easily be enjoyed without paying too much attention to the story. Although you don't need to pay too much attention the story to enjoy the film, I would recommend that you do, as it's clever and rather rewarding once you've worked it all out. Overall, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is pretty damn good and the fact that I've had such a hard job putting it into words is a testament to it's originality and style.

Kiss Kiss bang bang was a film directed By Shane Black in 2005, The film includes stars such as Robert Downey JR, Val Kilmer and Michelle monaghan.
Robert Downey plays a theif who is mistaken for a Actor, he agrees to play along with the role but by doing this hes taken to Hollywood and becomes involved with some of the biggest parties around full of other movie stars and "Wannabe Actors".
This party is where Robert Downey juniors character Harry Lockhart meets Val Kilmers character Gay perry, From this moment on both the characters get into a twisting mystery/crime plot.
Michelle Monaghan plays Robert downey Jr's old school crush who is trying to make it into the world of acting. This is how the two characters find each other becuase Michelles character attends the Hollywood party.
The plott is incredibly confusing however if you try to focus too much on the plott you will miss the amazing performances from the characters within the film.

This film has similar ideas to that of the older film "Sunset Boulavard" directed by Wilder 1950.
This film is also about actors and "Has been actors" who are now out of the picture of Hollywood, Who are trying to make it back into the world of acting.
Both these films contain plotts in which the main characters get shot at, and in some cases for Sunset Boulavard the main character dies.
Another element that both the films have in common is that they are both narrated and told by the main characters point of view.

In the early 90s, Pedro Almodóvar subverted popular culture, flamboyant aesthetic and dark humour to create dramatic, stylish cult Spanish films. However, All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre) is arguably where Almodóvar really comes into his own.

Not to say that he loses any of those qualities which keep his films unique and strong, yet he hones in on the Hollywood melodrama of Douglas Sirk and the theatrical power of Tenneasee Williams (a point heavily reference through the Streetcar Named Desire subplot throughout the film). Here, he focuses on mother Manuela, who loses her son in a fatal car accident. In her greiving and despair, she travels to Barcelona to find the father of her dead son, to tell him all that has happened. What ensues is a series of encounters with transvestite hookers, lesbian actresses and pregnant nuns.

What is evident about the film is its clear unique touch, unmistakable Almodóvar. The emotion poured into the film is that of a strong, confrontational nature, yet he dodges sickly sweet gushing through way of Agrado, the transvestite hooker who provides much of the film's comic relief. However, there is a definite meaning behind the film, one of a slight existential nature, capped off by Agrado who states, in front of a few hundred theatre-goers, that "The more you become like what you have dreamed for yourself, the more authentic you are"

Not to say that All About My Mother does not have its flaws. Towards the end, with the long-overdue introduction of Lola, Manuela's ex-husband, it begins to seem as if Almodóvar isn't making narrative choices as a writer, leaving the viewer feeling as if there was something missing. Still, this only gives incentive for repeated viewings. A strong emotional drama.

Christopher Nolan's memento has blown critics away, been nominated for Oscars and left all audiences scratching their heads and ready to watch it again. what makes Memento so unique and different is its backward plot structure. starting form the end of the film and switching in and out out of sequence it gives the the audience of being in the main character's point of view.
The basic plot to this very complicated and confusing story is based upon Leonard Shelby, and insurance investor who looses his short-time memory due to a brain trauma He is unable to create new memories, and only relies on the memories he had before the accident. His wife was killed by a robber, and despite his state he wants to track down the murderer and kill him. He uses photographs and tattoos on his body to make himself remember the important facts.
now imagine that plot, but all in the wrong order, surprises thrown in, character's made to confuse the storyline and Guy Pearce topless 89% of the film. And you have Memento.
It's repeated editing help you understand and keep up with the storyline and the characters. It's one of those films you can defiantly watch again and again, and like Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko, you will end up with a different conclusion every time. If you are fond of films like Brick or Donnie Darko than memento is definitely for you. An outstanding, entertaining and gripping thriller, A must see.

*****

From director Christopher Nolan, a unique and intriguing thriller that begins with the ultimate act of revenge and back tracks through time to reveal the shocking and provocative reason behind it.

Very good film but very complex. It's a film that you have to watch more than once to understand it all. I recommend it to people that like watching films that don't reveal too much, you have to figure it out for yourself.

Ryan Johnson's film Brick is as contemporary low-budget Neo Noir film that shows a group of high school students got mixed up in drugs. The high school scene is rare in a Neo Noir film which is set in LA, USA. because Neo Noir tends to be focused on the adult life.
This film captivates you from the start. The film starts with a flashback of a girl laying in a sewer tunnel, and then cuts to normal day life, with out an explanation. This film is similar to The Big Sleep, because both main characters act as the detectives. One by occupation, one by choice. Both the films easily confuses the audience, but yet we seem to understand them in a way that we are not meant to. These films differ with their endings because in The Big Sleep we still don't know who killed the Chauffeur, and in Brick we know the whole story. and Dan Case is a homosexual.

'The Brick' (Johnson 2006) is a contemporary neo noir film set in an American high school. Many aspects of the film, mirror film noir characteristics; such as the periods of dark lighting to emphasise the main features of importance to the scene, for example when the pin is talking only a small proportion of his face is lit up. Another example is the presumption needed from the audience, to interpret the events of the film; illustrated when Dode is shot when we only see his sillouete.
Throughout the film the audience is left unaware as to where events are leading, and are left guessing to what will unfold. We particularly liked the fast pace of the film and the way the film noir aspect of witty, poetic dilalogue is used, however we feel the plot was rather confusing and never fully explained.

when comparing the two films, The Big Sleep and Brick, you will see similarities between the main characters. Marlow (The Big Sleep) an older, private detective is very similar to Brandon (Brick), a young high school student. both come across as witty, clever and straight talking, they each take on their case in a completely independent way. When they are talking, their dialogue is perfect and they always know what they are going to say next. They also both decide to continue investigating the crimes, even though they are no longer their problem.

Furthermore, both female figures in each film try to gain the main characters trust to throw them off the scent.

Cigarettes are used majorly in each film, but for very different reasons. In Brick, it is the small arrow at the butt, which helps Brandon discover the real truth

Brick (Johnson 2006). This american film does not conform to the stereotypical high school movie, it uses all the typical settings and language but the genre could be associated with film noir due to the very dramatic storyline which is hard to follow as it has some unanswered plot lines.
The lighting is very stylistic

the big sleep is a film noir about a detective attempting to solve a black mailing case. Brick is a neo noir with a student attempting to find out what has happened to an ex-girlfriend of his. Both of the films are similar in many aspects but they are also different in many ways

The Big Sleep and Brick both of the main characters attempt to hide bodies from the police so that they can investigate by themselves with out being hindered by the police. Both of the films contain witty dialogue and people that are very quick thinking and good at getting out of a hard situation.

Even though there are so many similarities there are also a few differences, the main difference is the fact that brick is in colour unlike the big sleep. Also the fact that the big sleep left you at the end wondering many parts of the film and left you still guessing at the end as to what had happened at parts whereas brick tied up all of the loose ends so you would walk away knowing what had happened to all of the different characters.

'The Big Sleep' (Hawks 1946) comparing with 'Brick' (Johnson 2006)

Both of these films are a murder mystery's and have complicated plot lines that can be hard to follow at times, with detailed dialogue that can cause a problem for knowing what is going on in the films. In The Big Sleep there are a lot of contrasts of light and dark, but also in Brick when there is a dark scene they have only added in a small amount of light which gives a Noir feel to the film.

In Brick the main character has a few flash backs that show us where the dead female character was, like in The Big Sleep people that have been killed are known by the main characters, but unlike The big sleep in Brick you find out who had killed the young girl, and you never find out in The Big Sleep who killed the chauffeur.

In The Big Sleep the detective has his happy ending with ending up with the main women in the film, where as in Brick the main character doesn't end up with anyone and so there isn't a happy ending. Both of the films are quite abstract in the way that they have been filmed and how people have been located in the shot, there are many different angles that are shown in Brick.

Hello, this is Ram & Rachel writing our review comparing and contrasting "The Big Sleep" & "Brick."
Personally we both loved Brick, and The Big Sleep was pretty good too.

Both films were very similar, as they had similar storylines but were portrayed in different ways.

Sound: The music was very alike in both movies, as it was dramatic and melodic. It also often rose to a crescendo to create tension in certain parts of the film.

Camerawork: In Brick the camerawork is very disorientating and confusing. Such as the scene where Brandon is in the dark room after passing out, the camera shot is a low angle and switches from a point of view shot to a normal one. The Big Sleep wasn't very experimental with their shots, as its a lot older and filmmakers then would play it safe.

Editing: In Brick the editing was a lot more sophisticated as its more modern than The Big Sleep. Often in Brick, the sense of the protagonist passing out was portrayed well, by the screen turning completely black.

Characters: Both protagonists in each film are very similar, as they're sarcastic, quick witted and dedicated to finding out the truth. In the Big Sleep Marlow's job role is a detective, which means he has to do it to live, whereas Brandon is doing it for his ex girlfriend, and for himself so he can move on and know who killed her.

A Review Comparing & Contrasting The Big Sleep (Hawks 1946) + Brick (Johnson 2006)

Both films compared together show they have similar features about their story lines for example both main characters from both films are trying to discover the killers who killed the victim.
This results in uncovering the rest of the story in both films but we can tell that both main characters Brandon (Brick) and Marlow (The Big Sleep) are both smart and witty, straight talking fearless heroes.
Both protagonists are motivated by the source of knowledge and trying to understand what happened

In both films contain the femme fatal character, a sexy girl who cannot be trusted.
Laura (Brick) and Vivian (The Big Sleep), both these characters are dangerous and try to manipulated our heroes.
A feature that definitely makes Brick a film noir is the complicated narrative and sometimes impenetrable dialog.

Differences between the two films are the fact that Brick is obviously in colour and the main character doesn't wear a trench coat or sweet hat. However The Pin does wear a cape reminiscent to villains in the original film noir period of the 40's

Similarities are the implied sexual encounters. Both films used the subtle nuances of the smoking of a cigarette symbolising the main character is getting some poontang.

the edukators is a film that follows the lives of a close group of friends with strong political beliefs against the wealthy of the country and crusade for the underprivildged. breaking into peoples houses with an exess of money and the two main characters yan peter move the funiture around and leave a message hoping to unsettle the the wealthy people giving them a sense of broken security within there house hold.the key themes where to punish people who had a bearing on society and would not get involved and help,or put there riches to good use suchas the wealthy german hardenberg who crassed into jules car claiming compensation off her when she had no way of paying

Edukators (2004) is a german film about two people trying to start a popular socialist revolution by intimadating the rich and scaring them to change their ways. But soon they take things too far and are forced to kidnap a wealthy man to stop him telling the police and also protect the girl who seemed to lead the two men astray....

This film has a strong political theme and as a result tackles key issues in modern Germany today for example, The divide of the poor and the rich and how there is a clear conflict between them. It has a slow pace but has a stronger narrative structure than the french new wave cinema it seems to take insperation from. It has a clear and even a relatable theme. However the message is obviously put across and does not change or even gradualy progress into a deeper felling.

The director (Weingarten) seemed to tap into an anger surrounding class and politics in todays media and using techniques that were trademarks for older films seems to enchance this... the cast all deliver convincing performances.

The Edukators, (Weingartner 2004) was made to show the political injustice that lies within the world today. The fact that people can afford to spend their 'change' on £100,000 cars while others struggle to feed themselves, and to find shelter for a place to live. This in-balance is apparent in every country all over the world, with rich and poor areas. The Edukators focuses on one particular German city in which three youths live. These youths recognise the wrong doing and do their part to alter the way wealthy people live their lives.

There is no doubt that it shares similarities with French New Wave films. The use of handheld cameras and jump cuts is a reflection of the New Wave techniques.

The cinematography represents the confliction and heights the action of the film. The use of handheld cameras makes the audience feel more involved with the film. being able to understand what the Educators were trying to achieve. It created a good effect on the style helping the narrative progress with brilliant frame shots. I believe that the surveillance interference (the opening shots) could represent the disturbance caused to the upper class by the Edukators.

The music represented the youth of today. However wise these three kids appear to be, they are still portrayed as youths. This specifically relates to the young audience making them feel connected and similar to the Edukators. With the outside message that anyone can make a difference no matter how young.

Overall i think that the message is placed across wit the re-occurring feeling of 'Your days of plenty are numbered' effectively. After watching this film i believe it has expanded my cinema experience with world cinema understanding. I can use the knowledge i have learned and place it on other film the i watch in future.

Weingorter creates a cool and refreshing insight into the political views and lives of the youth today. weingorter successfully produces an alternative film with his use of distinctive cinematic tecniques. The use of handheld camera's throughout the film help to distinguish an alternative documentary style to the film, this allows the audience to be immersed within the film. The Edukators raise many worldwide issues focusing mainly on the issue of money and power, and questioning whether or not is it right elevate material goods over human relationships.
Personally i found the opening scene very relevant to its political context. The CCTV camera shots of a large house with grounds, initially are showing off the wealth of the family. however i feel that the opening shots are reflecting the films issue of societies need for constant surveillance. The Edukators is fused with stylistic elements from the French New Wave such as, Jump cuts in the opening scene, which help discontinue in technique, but not in solid. although i really enjoyed the film, i did find certain aspects of it difficult to relate to, for example the strength of the political views.

A good film at best. Although the sound is good and the plot is plausible and understandable, I would give this film a 67% rating because of the length of some shots. It is good because it reflects the conflict between capitalism and other forms of the financial systems, shown by how Jan, Jule and Peter take Hardenberg hostage in Jule's uncle's remote cabin, making this a very powerful political film. The fact that the Edukators leave anonymous notes behind shows traits that they have in common in terrorists, but we feel more sympathetic with the Edukators as they have a reason for leaving notes and moving things in houses, where as terrorists just want to spread terror and implant fear in people's minds. The fact that Berlin is the setting and that it would have been deep in East Germany during the Cold War, is strengthening the audience's support the communist goals of the Edukators.

The Edukators (2004) Hans Weingartner

The Edukators is a story of a 3 people tied together by friendship and political views. The 3 of them form an extremist socialist group called "The Edukators", seemly untouchable with their own beliefs and rigid rules they break into rich peoples homes and rearrange the furniture. All their security and rules inevitably get broken As Jan and Jule fall in love with each other creating a rift between the close three.

Although their friendship is scarred their political ideals remain strong throughout the film.

Obviously influenced by French New Wave The Edukators is a strong film that keeps its own throughout. The hand held camera may frustrate a few as it is overly chaotic in unnecessary places. Ultimately a stylistic choice it will either annoy you or not bother you.

It is also laced with jump cuts which aren't particularly noticeable but seem to follow in the trend of New Wave.

The Edukators is designed to question your own lifestyle and your own political views. Although the message the Edukators conveys is an interesting one, the way Weingartner conveys it relentlessly is tiresome. The Edukators lacks subtlety. The message is drilled into you, nearly every scene.

Well made. But ultimately tiresome with the same message droning on throughout.

The film is based around politics and crime, with the 3 main characters (The Edukators) participating in extreme socialist views. The political aspect takes a very central intake into the story line itself, with the 'Edukators' attempting to use 'scare tactics' to intimidate and spread fear among the successful capitalist bourgeoisie.

The film follows the 'Edukators' through their acts of terror, their friendships and affairs with one another. The story unfolds when an 'Education' goes wrong, with the newly and accidently appointed Edukator leaving her mobile phone behind at the break in. Hardenberg, the house owner, returns unexpectedly to find the house not only with a disrupted interior, but with some unexpected visitors.

The film successfully gives hard twists throughout, with unpredictable and duel-interpreting endings that wrench the works of the audiences understanding of the characters, especially that of Hardenberg; does he have a heart, or is he just the ruthless businessman the film attempts to stereotype?

Weingartner has captured the political views that majority of the youth of today follow, with the ever growing need for equality and the dismissal of social class. These views being processed within the film, ensures younger audiences can relate, and thus enjoy the film with the content in which is deserves. Even those with little political interest can enjoy the film also, with each character's personality being unwoven slowly throughout the film, followed by the expected love affair, this film can accompany audiences of any genre preference because of the uptakes upon love, thrill and anticipation throughout.

The film seemed to have two distinct halves. One half was The Edukators (Jan Jule & Peter)Edukating the bourgeoisie of Berlin, Germany by successfully rearranging there furniture in an attempt to show that there possessions were meaningless. A clear swipe at consumerism and capitalism.

There is also a love triangle within the edukators, at first Jule and Peter are together. However when Peter goes to Barcelona Jan and Jule end up getting close and falling for each other.

The second half focused around a business man who Jule owed a debt of 1,000euros. In an attempt to get back at him Jule goes to edukate him Jan being slightly more cautious. This edukation goes tits up and they end up kidnapping Hardenburg (the business man) in an attempt to remain out of jail.

Overall I found this film is enjoyable. However it does help if you believe and understand there political views, it would kinda be hell if you had to sit through this film and you were an affluent business man who reads the daily mail and supports UKIP. The love triangle works as a kinda relief from the relentless political message which seems to be driven constantly throughout the film, this is certainly needed as if you had no political knowledge or interest the film would seem a bit dull and boring.

Director Hans Weingartner launches a stinging attack on Germany's bourgeois in his 2004 film, The Edukators. The story focuses on the lives of three young people struggling with life in Berlin. Jan and Perter are two best friends and flatmates who are frequently accompanied by the latter's debt-ridden girlfriend, Jule. All three share a large amount of contempt for the affluent middle classes whom they feel are taking money away from the people who need it most, i.e. themselves. Intent on starting a revolution, Jan and Peter set about making a difference.

Their plan is to break into a wealthy families house while they are away on holiday and rearrange the entire house. This includes piling chairs right up to the ceiling and forcing expensive, decorative pieces down the toilet.
However, when Jule begs Jan to settle a personal score while Peter is in Barcelona, things go not according to plan. A risky hostage plot ensues as well as a test of their own friendship when faced with dangerous circumstances.

The Edukators is a very tense and exciting film which particularly appeals to the younger, rebellious generation. The contrasts between the hectic, city life of berlin and the picturesque German countryside are particularly fascinating.

A story of a young German trio trying to make a difference in Capitalist Germany. They cleverly raid affluent businessman's houses, re-arrange their furniture and leave messages to show that they are not safe in their huge mansions. Alongside the socialist theme to the film, their is a complicated love triangle between the three, very much like you would see in a 1950s french new wave film.

It also borrows certain stylistic elements of the french movement such as jump cuts and use of available light. At first these techniques seem challenging and a general nuisance, but upon viewing it a second time you can see how Hans Weingartner uses these to give the scenes a deeper meaning.

Overall, this fantastic European film perfectly captures the personalities of the lower class perfectly and is an all round thrill to watch.

I think this film directed by weingartner in 2004 was an interesting film on 3 german youths who moved furniture around in well off peoples homes, an opposite world from where they come from. i havn't seen a film with a stortyline like the idea behind this and so this makes it individual in my eyes. i liked the way that when they captured the man instead of torturing him in the way you might expect they just took him away with them which i much preferred. This may have been because they had a woman as part of there 'team' and so this may have allowed for less violence as it was something the 2 male characters, Jan and peter, didn't want the female character,jule, to see.

we learn from the two male characters that they both have feelings for jule. she begins the film dating peter but then cheats on him with jan. This also adds a kind of a love triangle to the film, which peter doesn't even notice until the man the have captured points it out. This lov triangle adds another twist to the plot.

In a way i much preferred this to the french new wave films i have been studyingas i think it has a more interesting and faster paced storyline. I think the fact that it is slightly more moderen and in colour also helps

I have seen the english and the german versions of the two different endings of the film. I prefer the german ending of the film as i like the fact that they sail off on a boat and your sort of left wondering what they are going to do next.

The Edukators is a a story following a group of three young political revolutionists (The Edukators) who educate the rich capitalists in society by leaving messages and rearranging items in their large houses. The exciting plot follows a kidnapping, betrayal and the typical young love story. It is these central themes that the film is based around, with the idea of socialism over capitalism. Although the rich citizens they punish are not responsible for the society they live in, such as Hardenberg, the three youths seem to make little influence on society to what is right and wrong, following the ending where the business tells the police about his kidnap are promising not to.
Best friends Peter and Jan fight over the love of Jule, showing fights within the group as well as with the rich. Their naivety youth is showed through their love of rock music and changing opinions of people. However, their political view is a strong one which almost convinces the capitalist Hardenburg. Therefore, the film is very much propaganda towards socialist globalization and away from the typical capitalist society.
The cinematography consists of many tracking shots, jumps cuts and use of hand held camera.
As a whole, the film is exciting with plenty of in depth storyline to get involved with.

The Phantom of Liberty Review

“The Phantom of Liberty”, also known as “Le Fantome de la Liberte” in it's native France, was released in 1974 and was directed by Luis Bunuel, a well known surrealist film maker. The Phantom of Liberty was one of Bunuel's favourite films of his career and was the penultimate film he made before his death of cancer of the liver in 1983. Like Bunuel's other well known film, “Un Chien Andalou” (made in 1928 and co-written with Salvador Dali), it is a surrealist film which attacks many institutions and bourgeoisie values.

Bunuel himself says that “The Phantom of Liberty” explores several themes, these being:
 “The search for truth and the need to abandon the truth as soon as you have found it”
 “The implacable nature of social rituals”
“The importance of coincidence and personal morality”
 “The essential mystery of all things”
The film is split up into 12 vignettes and are linked by chance encounters with other characters that appear throughout the film in the vignettes. The film attacks the church, the police, the army and discusses transgressive themes such as necrophilia, paedophilia and sado-masochism. Some of these attacks on institution are sometimes subtle, (the closing scene of the film in the zoo is a good example of this as it shows animals in a zoo while sounds of the Napoleonic war from the beginning of the film can be heard, which also acts as a sort of bookend to the film), while at other times can be very explicit such as the police classroom scene and fox-hunting in tanks are blatantly obvious in what they are implying and to what sect of society.

The characters themselves are all middle class and act as a form of blank canvas in order to represent a certain part of society such as doctors, teachers or the police. By doing this, Bunuel can easily mock and attack the “offending” institution he feels he needs to. One such instance being the Roman catholic church. During the scene at the hotel, a group of monks are seen drinking and smoking as well as gambling. The monks also use various holy items such as rosaries to place bets on their game. The film's characters do not question it and carry on their lives as if this happens on a day-to-day basis. The blank canvases allow comments, like the afore mentioned one, to be made easily and somewhat quickly. The blank canvas of characters subsequently have no personality seeing as they are used in order to convey a message, if they had personalities then it would be very difficult to do this.

An exploration of transgressive themes also make the film for uncomfortable viewing. One such scene I found slightly uncomfortable to watch was that of the incestuous nephew and his aunt. I was not prepared for the scene that eventually unfolded in which the aunt is seen fully nude and the implication that they both sex. Seeing as we live in a day and age in which incest is seen as wrong and disgusting, watching it made me feel uncomfortable but Bunuel should be praised for tackling the subject to a certain degree as it is very taboo subject. Another transgressive theme, paedophilia, is also discussed. This is done by building the audiences expectations of an abduction or that the photo's are indecent. However, the audiences expectations are knocked down when no abduction takes place and that the photo's are of buildings. This is very clever and completely unexpected, but works and displays surrealism at work.

The film itself is surrealism at it's maximum potential, much like “Un Chien Andalou”. Scene's such as the little girl's supposed disappearance and the toilet dinner party sequence, this film is surrealism without any limits. The fact that none of the vignettes are linked in any sort of way other than by showing a background character who turns into a lead character, there is no real clear sense of structure of narrative. I feel that the film benefits from this as it makes the film much more surreal and disjointed. Due to no clear structure, the film could be seen as more of a collection of short “drama stories”. However, it could be argued that the film does follow some form of narrative being that it is a stream of consciousness and that the film progresses through chance occurrences.

It is worth noting that some of the scenes in the film were taken from Bunuel's own personal experience such as when the doctor avoids telling his patient that he has cancer of the liver, which was based on Bunuel learning he had a cyst on his liver. With this in mind, the film could be seen as semi-autobiographical but nonetheless is still a surrealist film.

I personally found the film intriguing simply due to the fact that it is such a strange film. As I am not used to watching surrealist films, I was not quite sure what to expect from it (at one point I was expecting rampaging elephants to be fired from the sniper's rifle but I was very wrong, thankfully). Instead, it was a surprisingly entertaining film, even if boring in a few places due to a lack of music and uneventful sequences like the police commissioner and his sister, but it would not be my first choice of film to watch for fun but it did vary wildly to my first expectations of the film. The mix of black comedy and irony with a serious message works surprisingly well seeing as it is a surrealist film. I feel that if I were to watch it again, I might enjoy it more seeing as I would know what would happen and not expect such strange things from the film as I would have already have seen it. On second viewing, I would probably gain more from it, possibly understand more of it's deeper meaning and explorations of the themes it presents to the audience.

Jackie or ‘Jackie big tits’, is Aches girlfriend and has moved to Spain with her boyfriend and friends, Gal and Dee. Jackie plays an important role in the film as she fuels Dons rage when he visits, because they slept together a few years back. Jackie is in a few very important scenes, one for example is the scene where Dee Kills Don Logan. At the end of the scene Jackie kicks Don. The camera in the scene is set at a low angle, this gives us a point of view shot from Dons perspective, In turn this makes Jackie look bigger that Don, Representing that she has finally got rid of the past that haunts her. Mise en Scene plays a relatively big part in this sequence. For example, Jackie is wearing smart/casual evening wear, ready to go out. Jackie is a typical type of character in a British crime film because she is the stereotypical gangster wife, being an ex porn star. Also she can be classed as beautiful, whereas her husband is not good looking. This is quite common in British Gangster Films. Jackie is also more attracted to power rather than looks.

Dallow, henchman
Dallow is the character the undergoes the biggest change in the film, his morality wins over his criminal instincts
The main way Dallow furthers the narrative is to turn from Pinky’s gang to save Rose.
The scene on the pier is the one in which Dallow plays the most important role, he wears a checkered jacket. In the scene he displays a huge change in character. This is important to the story of the film because it comes to the climax and prevents the tragic ending the audience expected and results in the dead of Pinky. The light compliments the mood of the scene well and creates an atmosphere of tension. As well as soundtrack, the lightning is an example of pathetic fallacy by mimicking the frightening mood.
He’s typical to the classic gangster films. He is the false villain.

An unfortunate journalist that finds himself caught up with Pinkie Brown due to a story he published that went against Pinkie's cronies.

Because of his story, Fred instigates the narrative by publishing the story, however carried by Pinkies psychotic person it ultimately ends in his death. The scene in which Fred is being chased by Pinkie and his mob around Brighton is a crucial scene (and Fred's last) as they chase him onto an amusement attraction, where he ends up being pushed into the sea by Pinkie. The camera throughout the scene stays close to Fred, the chase ending in the ghost ride, features several moving close ups of scary faces, the camera jumps into different angles creating an air of panic and anxiety. The sound throughout the scene features ghost noises, and screams (especially when Fred is pushed from his seat to his death). Fred's character is typical of the well-meaning good guy in a Crime film, as he means no harm but ends up caught up with bad people. His character is similar to Jeff in the Long Good Friday, in the sense that he without wanting to, ends up in trouble because of a mistake he had made. Notably, both die.

Ida Arnold is a very inquisitive person; she works as a clown and has a loud voice/laugh. Her role in the film is to play detective to find out what happened to her friend. An important scene in the film is where Ida goes to the pub where Pinky and Rose are, to save Rose. The camera shots are close ups to see the characters faces especially Pinky’s when he sees Ida come through the door. Her character is typical in british crime films as the person who goes around trying to find out the truth.

Don logan is a character with many different sides to him for example he seems a force full character then the next minute hes talking to himself in the minute which raises questions about his insanity.
Dons character within the film sexy beast brings a dramatic yet comical side to the narrative.
Towards the end of the film, don creates hassle by reappearing at Gail's spanish villa which causes a violent scene between the main characters such as Gail, Don and Dee.
This is shown by a violent fight which ends with Dee shooting Don and Gail has been severely by a blow to the head from Don.

Teddy is a determined ruthless and cold hearted criminal who will thinks that anything worth stealing can be stolen.

Teddy places the biggest part of the story line in this film, as he starts the idea of stealing from the 'unbeatable safe' and he requests the team to make this criminal act.

When Teddy and gal go to Harry's house Teddy shows how ruthless he can be by killing Harry in front of gale after they have just stolen from his safe. The fact that they show up late at night after the hit wearing smart uniforms at Harry's door show just how confident Teddy's character is on him not being caught. There are several close ups on there expressions as the evens in the house happen as Teddy seems to go into the house and help himself to Harry's drinks. This shows how Teddy is intimidating Gal knowing what gal had done to try and scare it out of him.

This character is very typical in British crime films as there is always the higher ups in he crime industry who think of a task to complete and think of the people who are good for the job. In Brighton Rock the person who is most like Teddy is Pinky as Pinky seems to control his Group and plan what will happen next.

Aitch is a retired gangster who is in an extended holiday in the Costa Del Sol with his fellow ex mobster Gal. He is an instigator of Don Logan's rage because Jackie is with Aitch and not him.

Spicer is an ageing smalltime gangster, henchman to Pinkys gang.

Spicers function in the plot is experience to the gang he plays a vital part in the outcome of the movie. He is involved in the major turning point in the film. He is seen as the weak link in the gang which isn't worthy of being there. This leads to his death at the hands of Pinky.

The scene in which the character plays a key part is when Pinky pushes him through the banister because this shows Spicers fear of Pinky and this is when he realises in his eyes Pinky has control over him. When Pinky is talking to Spicer just before he pushes him you can sense worry in his voice indicating he is no longer cut out for the role of gangster.

Razors is a character that is loyal to Harold Shand and is an asset to Shand's business. He is one of Harold Shand's henchmen and his function in the narrative is basically to back Shand up and to help uncover and sort out the chaos and the confusion that goes on in the narrative. One scene where Razors is important is where he is driving Harold in the car and Harold starts to question who would do such a thing to his business. In this scene he is wearing a suit so he is smartly dressed and he is in a nice car that is kept clean and tidy. The camera is shot at an angle so that you can see the whole of Razors face and watch him drive the car, so you can see his facial expressions and therefore assume the opinion he is holding of the whole situation. There is a lot of light in this scene as it is meant to be set during the day and because it's important that you see everything clearly in the scene. There is no sound in this scene apart from the dialogue which is the most important aspect of the scene. I think that Razors is quite a typical character to a British crime film as usually the main gangster has a 'best friend' or a partner, that is not as equal with him but someone that he trusts greatly. He is slightly like Aitch in Sexy Beast, who is someone that is very close to Gal Dove and you can tell that they care for each other in a professional and a friendly way.

'Jeff', played by Derek Thompson, plays sidekick to prosperous English gangster 'Harold Shand', played by a young Bob Hoskins in the 1980s British Crime film 'The Long Good Friday'. Within the film, Jeff helps his boss Harold Shand attempt to become a legitimate businessman, planning on redeveloping the London Docks, with financial support from the American Mafia. This is a typical character in British crime films, as all 'evil masterminds' need sidekick to help with their plans of 'domination' or victory, and is effective in creating a parallel narrative within a film.

Don Logan is a mentally disturbed gangster from London. Don's function in the narrative is an important one. He destroys the normality of Gal's paradise home in Spain, by pressuring him into doing a job he doesn't want to do. Without Don, the film would simply be about Gal's life on the Costa Del Sol.
One scene in which Don is most important is when he returns to the villa after being thrown off the plane. Everything in the scene is focused on his presence. The camera is constantly on him, even when he's not directly in the shot, you can see him in a reflection. The music changes from happy pop when he wasn't there, to a dark silence when he comes back to the villa. There is not much editing in this scene - there are only a few cuts in the action, which increases the tension that Don is causing. Finally, there is a low lighting element to the Mise en Scene that creates a feeling of tension.
This character is rather typical in the British Crime Film genre. He is typical in the sense of his authority, which is shown in his costume and his dialogue towards the beginning of the film. However, it is not often that you see a character with such mental issues as his. Although this is rare, when Harold in The Long Good Friday loses his temper and kills Jeff, the two characters are very similar.

Dead mans shoes is a British thriller about an ex S.A.S soldier that returns to his hometown to find out his brother is dead. He gets revenge on the people that were responsible, with twists in the plot. In my opinion this film is extremely powerful and makes you think about what really goes on. I like the way that the twist in the plot plays with your mind and makes you think about what was actually reality in the film. I think that most people will agree with me that the film was amazing and it touches on very serious situations and a way that the audience will enjoy and understand. The main actors performances were equally amazing. You could compare this film to the other British thriller Get Carter. This film could be compared because it is also has plot twists and is all about revenge. Another one is James bond

Shane Meadows hinted at a darker side with his second feature A Room For Romeo Brass, but he gives full vent to the potentially violent impulses that lurk within all of us with this latest effort, a supremely efficient, brutal, stripped-down work of vigilante cinema.

Paddy Considine (who co-wrote the screenplay with Meadows) plays Richard, a taciturn army veteran newly returned to his hometown and on a mission to make a group of low-level criminals pay for abusing his mildly retarded younger brother, Anthony (Kebbel). To these miscreants Richard's name alone elicits a palpable sense of dread, so when he shows up on their doorsteps wearing a gas mask and carrying an axe they go into full-on panic mode.

Dead Man's Shoes has little in the way of Meadows' trademark provincial humour, yet the film carries his unmistakable signature. This is not an Americanised version of Britain, full of hard-nut gangsters pretending to be Goodfellas. The hustlers here are benefit-scammers and dole moles who live in semi-detached houses, flick through mucky mags, dress badly and flog poor quality gear. They could be the cheeky reprobates from Twentyfourseven grown up, gone bad and forced to pay for being callow human beings unwilling to take responsibility for their actions.

Much of the zing comes from Considine who is restrained yet ferocious, dead-eyed yet soulful, but the film itself is technically audacious. A scene in which Considine terrorises his drugged-up prey is a masterclass in bleary visuals and subjective sound edits. Meadows has sharpened up his narrative skills too, delivering an incredible sucker-punch in the third act that will more than likely leave you reeling.

This is a 2004 movie directed by Shane Meadows and stars Paddy Considine and Gary Stretch this film is about a disaffected soldier (Considine) returns to his hometown to get even with the thugs who brutalized his mentally-challenged brother years ago.

This film is a thriller movie and with an 18 rated Certificate, is not really suitable for some people. Shane Meadows covers several important themes in this movie such as mental instability, drugs and vengeance. This film could be compared to 'Get Carter' (1971) where Jack Carter is seeking vengeance for his family and the death of his brother. these two film both deal with the loss of a loved one but the way that the revenge is played out on the screen is slightly different Dead Man's Shoes is hyped up at the action and Get Carter is slower and more naturalistic. I would say this is because of the main characters in each film, Richard (Dead Man's) is this Psychotic quiet man.

dead mans shoes was a brilliant film and a good example of Shane Meadows work. The film is a film about revenge and justice when Richard comes back from the army to humiliate and murder the gang who tortured his disabled brother Anthony who then after killed himself. The character Richard who is an ex SAS show the dark side of the lower class when his hot pursuit of carnage was in motion.
It is confusing for the audience to know whether they should like Richards character or not, As we feel sympathy for him because of the loss of his brother, yet don't approve of the acts of violence he is doing as they are so shocking. At the end he shows mercy towards Mark who was also involved in the torturing of Anthony but then forces Mark to use the knife on Richard, so although showing mercy, mark has to live with what happened.

Set in the northern suburbs of England. Dead Man Shoes stars the ex-soldier, Richard (Paddy Considine) who returns to his hometown in order to seek out a gang of men who tormented his brother Anthony.

The narrative basically follows Richard on a path to get revenge on his brother and put the culprits at ease. The first impression I get is a weird experience. The characters for a start were all just stock as a representation for drug dealers who enjoy nothing more but a friendly gossip. The interesting part during these conversation's was that it was so heavily improvised. It didn't feel like a feature film because there were no constructed sequences of cuts, just hand held.

This began to give me the feeling that this was just a home made film. I started to think that Shane Meadow's intention was to let the actors act freely from the use of scripts and direction. In relation to "Get Carter", starring Michael Caine. The plot has a very similar direction. However, one of the big significances I found were the representation of women following in each film. The women in "Get Carter" seem to be highly fashionable and tend to stand out with their flashy vibrant costumes. But in "Dead Man Shoes", the similarities are almost non existent.

As far as I can comprehend, Shane Meadow's interpretation on women is kept to minimum. He doesn't seem to care that much of their purpose but prefers to isolate them with the quantitative attention on men. Likewise, women in this film are dressed up like any other normal person you'd come across the street. This level headed device makes all of the characters in Dead Man Shoes seem fair and equal. You will never think so differently towards each character.

On the contrary, the soundtrack used in this film seem very ironic. During the murder of each gang member, Richard will liberally play around and torture them as if their just some soft toy. This sadistic behavior can somewhat play with your emotions but at the end of each massacre, a soft melody with occur. Although I'm not genuinely a big fan of black comedies. This kind of British style motto works very well in a uncanny manner.

All in all, Dead Man Shoe's is a film to reckoned with. It may seem low-budget at first but it has one amazing plot with a brilliant cast that doesn't disappoint. But do take caution, this isn't your everyday film that deals with up front urban culture.

'Dead mans shoes' plays with the audiences emotion , From : sad , anger , comedy . Keeping the audiences attention throughout the film. The films main genres would be crime and horror but having a twist by liking the films murderer and feeling for him. This is typical British black humor film with a " sixth sense " type twist. We found this twist emotional and very effective in this film showing and explaining the murderers actions in this movie.

The film is based on two brothers and how theirs lives have been affected by crime and torture from criminals and drug dealers in England. The brothers (richard and antony)are shown together throughout the film. Antony in this film suffer mental health issues which are shown as some form of autism or aspegers symdrome. He plays this role amazingly throughout the film and creates and completely believable performance to the point where you question yourself " is he acting or is this real"?

The way this movie is filmed is clever , involving : flashbacks , which were filmed in black and white grain with a handheld camera showing it was the past. The handheld camera creates a home movie affect making this piece of filming seem more realistic and could be happening rather than acting.

This film could be compared to various films such as "Rain man" Which is also about two brothers and one brother suffers from autism . The difference was you knew for fact that Dustin Hoffmens performance was an act as he was a famous actor. Although a brilliant performance . Whereas The actor who played antony was relativly new in acting for films and hadn't been seen before by many people so did create a certain question weather he was just acting or was put in this film because he had a disability.

Secondly this film could also be compared to "Get carter" as Michael Cain was set out to avenge his brother who had been murdered by English criminals and drug dealers. The way he kills people is simalar as he will go from one person to the next and be subtle about it. He makes his killings almost comical as does Richard in dead mans shoes. Both have unexpected by needed endings that satisfy and audience.

Overall The film was a great success and is a film that needs to be seen although a dark and disturbing plot will make you think and feel and Know things you didn't know before. You will feel sorry for the murderer and his past and understand him. And also understand crime in England and unfair treatment of people who aren't exactly like yourself.

Death Race
Directed by Paul W.S Anderson
2008

Death Race (a remake of the 1975 cult classic Death Race 2000) sees Jason Statham taking part in a violent prison motorsport tournament in an attempt to win his freedom.

That's pretty much the whole screenplay in a nutshell. Death Race is very clearly not dependant on it's story but is instead all about action which is fine because action is just about the only thing the film does correctly.

This 2006 movie is based on the amazing novel by Christopher Paolini, it is about a boy of 15 called Eragon who finds a blue stone whilst hunting in an eerie area of forest called "the Spine", startled, he takes the stone back and it turns out to be a dragon egg, this automatically places him amongst the old legends of the Dragon Riders who, each had the strength of 10 men and could use magic, amongst a number of other things, he then gets talked into leaving with the villiage storyteller Brom, together they seek the things who killed Eragons Uncle, his only living relative. This movie is a good film on it's own but as it was based on one of my favourite books I didn't like it because they changed the plot slightly, but the CGI is amazing and the cast list is good (including Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Sienna Guillory.)
The film is rated PG and is suitable for every one, I would reccomend it to people who like fantasy films.

This is based around 4 Children (Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny)who get in to an R rated movie from Canada, this movie has very strong language and (in the words of Cartman) "warps their fragile little minds" inevitably they see the movie again and Cartman makes a $100 bet that Kenny can't light a fart inevitably killing him, their parents form a group called MAC (Mothers Against Canada) who believe Canada is to blame for the kids uses of foul language, resulting in a war between USA and Canada, and the execution of Terrence and Phillip (the people who made the movie)
During this Kenny is in hell and discoves the gay relationship between Satan and Saddam Hussain, and learns that if Terrence and Phillip are killed then Satan will rule the world.
This is also the first time you see Kenny without his hood, it won an MTV award for the song Uncle F***a in the year 2000 and in 199 won "best animated film", my favourite scene is 30 minutes in when Cartman sings the song "Kyle's Moms a B***h" and turns round to find her behind him
This film is very funny and has a rating of 15 due to language and sexual references, it is very funny and is really worth a watch.

This is a 2008 movie starring Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst, it is based on the Novel of the same name, it is about a British Writer (Pegg) who strugles to fit in to an American magazine publishing company, even though it is quite predictable, it is still very funny, one of these scees is with the dog, Peggs character is one of the people who things always go wrong, he tries to befriend a celebrities dog, but it goes wrong and he accidentaly throws the dog's ball out of the window, so he races the dog to the window and manages to close it but killing it accidentaly in the process.
This film is rated 15 and may not be suitable for some people, due to language and sexual references but is still a great laugh

I watched this movie after being hassled by a friend because apparently it would make me cry. And i like a movie that can bring on the water works!

It stars 'Uma Therman' but throughout the movie there are 2 time periods being shown. Uma plays the older version on Diana, and the younger by 'Evan Rachel Wood' and her performance was phenomenal!

PLOT:

Imaginative, impetuous and wild Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) can’t wait for her adult life to begin. Whiling away the final days of high school in the lush springtime, Diana tests her limits with sex and drugs as her more conservative friend Maureen (Eva Amurri) watches with concern. Then the two teens are involved in a Columbine-like shooting incident at their school and are forced to make an impossible choice. Only one of them can live...

15 years later Diana (Uma Thurman) is married and has a daughter. A memorial service at her high school brings back old memories and as past and present start to intertwine her husband and daughter become increasingly absent and Diana finds her life slipping away.

The central theme of both the novel and the film is the loss of lives in these shooting incidents. Laura Mischance and Vladimir Perelman took an interesting approach to drive that point home that slowly leads up to a shocking realisation about Diana.

I haven't read the book so i can make no comment on that aspect. but i thought the movie was really well made, from hearing the plot-line you can see that it's quite demanding, but i think it was done very well.

'The Life Before Her Eyes' received generally negative reviews from critics. As of April 23, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 29% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 35 reviews — with the consensus being the film is "a confusing, painfully overwrought melodrama." But i really liked the fact that it made you think, i was ready for that going into it so i wasn't disappointed by it!

Film Review: Fargo


Info:
Length: 98 mins
Rating: 18
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

This being my first Coen brothers films, I wasn’t sure what to expect, it didn’t disappoint:
“A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere”
Every shot in Fargo is executed like a piece of art, there is absolutely nothing wasted in this film, as what would seem dull, unimaginative, establishing scenes are turned into mini masterpieces of cineotopic gold. Fargo is as black as black comedy can get, it washes over you in a wave, your head just bobbing above the water level, your lapping up the fluid and the truth is you love it.
What makes a film like this, done a hundred different times, in a hundred different ways, so good? Joel and Ethan Coen’s script is the crux, a wickedly funny and quirky screenplay, even more enforced by the continual innocence of the snow that imbues the film. The Coen brothers have also impregnated the film with a rich and regional flair; authentic from the weather to the clothes to (especially good) the accents. It was so real I was actually hungry for back bacon, after watching it.

I felt the beginning of the film started of well straight into the action and getting an insight into liams family life.And instantly put into the frame of mind that Liam has everyday of his life.To begin with it was difficult to pick up on the characters, like Liams mums boyfriend was shown as his dad and it wasnt mentioned for while why Liams mum was in prison.Violence played a big part in the film as well as along side drugs this was part of the continously flow of the film and influenced the audience to keep watching as everytime drugs were involved it was usually shortly followed by crime. The film became clear at the end that all that Liam had done with buying the caravan, drug dealing and dealing with violence it was revealed this was all to make sure he mother was happy.

A subtle and bold mixture of views are expressed in this semi-autobiographical story written and directed by Bruce Robinson, told through the first person point of view of Marwood, Withnail's friend and fellow out-of-work actor.

Having found no paying roles to keep them going in their Camden house, Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) attempt to drink and smoke away their problems. After reaching breaking point, Marwood convinces Withnail to get his uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) to lend them his country farm cottage for a week, in an attempt to escape from their chaotic London lifestyles. But when they find sparse supplies of food and firewood, they head off back to London much closer and with a lot more respect for one another.

This story tells of the lower class of society, and how desperate certain aspects of living in London in the sixties was.

The humour displayed by the two main characters is more times than not a subtle hint as to how poor their lifestyles were, and how dependent on alcohol they were. Alcohol does indeed feature a lot in this film.

An excellent film from Robinson, it will have the audience stuck in their seats, captivated by a marvelous performance from both Grant and McGann.

Not a film to watch just to fill time. This offers so much more.

Cloverfield is the latest film from acclaimed director Matt Reeves and much-admired producers J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. Initially, film was so shrouded in mystery that only the release date was known. With flashes of footage and the title kept a secret, Cloverfield managed to exceeded expectations at the box office with just the vague promise of a movie.
Perhaps the lack of actual film content in the trailer was yet another wise advertising technique. Certainly if I had understood more of what the 90 minutes spent watching this film would be like, I would have opted for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, David Yates and all.
Cloverfield opens with the planning and execution of a surprise party for protagonist Rob and we are introduced to the film’s main players whom we are evidently supposed to relate to as they indulge in their normality. Instead, the characters are not even likable and resemble a collection of GAP models as they saunter around the room and look objectionable. Despite this the film is visually impressive and has effects uncommon for a film where the budget is not high.

All in all Cloverfield is an example of how a film with all the right ingredients can end up lacking in substance and plot. It’s the sort of movie that, if you were to leave the cinema at any point of the duration (a potentially alluring prospect), there would be few lagging ‘ What happened? How’s Beth?’ type questions. However, Cloverfield is a brave stab at a revolutionary monster movie, but preceded itself with an aura of mystery, enigma and hype that just wasn’t achieved during the actual screen time.

Gangs of New York is artistic. It has one of my favourite actors, Daniel Day-Lewis against a least favourite, Leonardo DiCaprio. The writers, director and Day-Lewis himself forged a villain so stunningly compelling that the nuisance of the sulky DiCaprio was all the more tedious because it spoiled what could have been a great movie.

Set in the 1800's, Gangs of New York is a revenge movie: during a gang battle a little kid witnesses his Irish immigrant father getting slaughtered by Bill The Butcher (Day-Lewis), the gangster who runs the crime-infested Lower Manhattan district of Five Points. The boy returns as an adult and anonymously (and unconvincingly) infiltrates Bill's gang.. Not the most original of plot lines.

One brilliant aspect of this film has to be the sets and the cinematography: often this film looks like a painting. One advantage of setting a movie during the 1800's setting is you can deliver endless scenes in atmospheric candlelight, scenes half murky in mysterious shadows and emblazoned with magnificent highlights. Quality poured from each frame, and there are many frames indeed, nearly three hours worth.

There are many excellent scenes in Gangs Of New York. Jim Broadbent's innocent pleasure of sending his fire brigade into battle against a rival gang, neglecting the burning building, was perfect comedy. The scene of the woman dropping an ear into a jar full of them was surreal

The ending of Gangs Of New York was lacking climax. The mob scenes were horrific but not as compelling as the previous two hours. The draft riots had the effect of diluting the movie's great asset, Bill The Butcher, and were wrecked by a screeching commentary.It would have been so refreshing if Bill had defeated DiCaprio. The bad guy deserved to win. If only movie makers dared to break the rules.

Munich tells the story of the black september and the munich games in 1972. A group of palestians takes a group of israeli athletes hostage and murders them. The israeli leader gives a group of 5 men to track down all the members of black september and kill them.

The film opens with quite an interesting sequence with the group of palestines breaking into the olympic compound and kidnapping the athletes. this is quite action packed and is very interesting to watch. but after this it all goes downhill. the film begins to jump from location to location and character to character and it is very unclear as to what is actually going on. the only character you get actually feel involved with is the main character, and this is only because his character has a sub-plot, in which his wife is having a child.

The camera work is very interesting, as it is directed by Steven Spielberg and the shots are very interesting. i wish i could tell you more but i lost all interest in it and ended up falling asleep before the film actually managed to get anywhere really interesting.

i think this film would be considered very good by someone who had previous interest in this incident but i myself found it very dull and cant understand how it produced so much buzz

Staring Heath ledger and Orlando Bloom doing Irish accents. Enough said girls.

On a serious note, the film was disappointing with a weak script and bad direction. The story was repetative, confusing and the characters were difficult to keep up with. The ending was boring with no good final conclusion.

The basic storyline is Ned Kelly is wrongly accused of attempted murder and becomes a notorious outlaw with the worlds largest reward on his head.

Overall, a disappointing film, the only good thing would be the well pulled off Irish accents and good acting from Ledger and Bloom.

Fargo's brilliance lies not only with its way of thrilling its audience but also adding a slight comical effect to quite a serious number of events. 'Jerry' (main character) has more to him than what first meets the eye, when we first meet him he seems an innocent but in the first dialogue sequence this is reversed and consequently plays out the main objective of the film. Jerry money problems are affecting him and he comes up with cunning plan to get the money. He pays two corrupt gangsters to kidnap his wife in which he hopes to get part of the ransom for her with his father rich in law paying for her daughter to be released. This subsequently doesn't go to plan and blood is shed.

I believed Fargo's dark aspects and comical effects to be very enjoyable and a worth while watch. Its integrity to entertain and thrill is somewhat mystifying and shows really what the Coens are capable of.

Mean Streets is one Scorsese's earlier films and is traditional to the/ typical gangster style. Throughout the film parts are hard to follow h99owever it is a very good film and is very entertaining. There are a wide variety of different shots and the fight scenes are both entertaining and well done. All in all i would recommend the film to anybody who enjoys the typical gangster film.

The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to Batman Begins, is set out as a comic book movie. Containing everything you could ever want a film like this to include, and more. But Nolan doesn’t stop there as there's something new and amazing at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil are expected to fight to the death but instead decide to shock viewers with this little twist. "I don't want to kill you," psycho Joker tells Batman. "You complete me."
The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, has realised he can’t be Gothams white knight and have the public see him as a vigilante. He'll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes, the lady love who is Batman's only hope for a normal life.
The Dark Knight has put Gotham in a new light with this idea of civilians trying to take on the role of batman and bad guys that enjoy crime starting more than ever. Take the Joker, who treats an amazingly well thought out bank robbery like a strategy game with henchmen in Joker masks and some deaths that you’ll never see coming.
The one thing that I found annoying while watching dark knight was that some parts are quite predictable. But that doesn’t stop The Dark Knight being one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, mostly because of Heath Ledgers amazing performance as the joker. He was absolutely insane and even got the facial expressions down which made his overall level of insanity rise.
Over all I would absolutely recommend going to see The Dark Knight. Its an experience that most people can enjoy time and time again.

The film opens with an idyll on a Pacific island where two soldiers have gone AWOL and live with tribal people who exist in a pre-lapsarian state, eating the fruit and the fish, and smiling contentedly at the bounty of Eden. The movie implies that this is a society that reflects man's best nature. But reality interrupts when the two soldiers are captured and returned to their Army Company for the assault. I personally think that this start was really long winded; I believe that it could have been shortened so that the action would come sooner

Even through the movie takes ages to actually get going that battles themselves are really well done and i enjoyed them. During the battle scenes, there are flashbacks to the island idyll and other flashbacks as a soldier remembers his love for his wife, which is ironic because it’s her love that keeps him alive when really she wants a divorce. The plot of the second act of the film involves the taking of a well-defended hill, and the colonel prefers that it be attacked in a frontal assault; a captain resists this plan as suicidal, and is right from strategic point of view, but wrong when viewed through the colonel's bloodlust: "You are not gonna take your men around in the jungle to avoid a goddamn fight." The soldiers are not well developed as individual characters. Covered in grime and blood, they look much alike which causes some confusion. Sometimes during an action we are not sure who we are watching, and have to piece it together afterward.

In creating a sense of the geography of a particular hill, the way it is defended by Japanese bunkers, the ways in which the American soldiers attempt to take it. The camera crouches low in the grass, and as Malick focuses on locusts or blades of grass, we are reminded that a battle like this must have taken place with the soldiers' eyes inches from the ground which gives the movie and battle a more realistic feel to it.

Personally I think this film was good but you have to be willing to go through loads of time before it actually gets going so I wouldn’t really recommend it if you’re an action fan because you’d probably stop watching before the action starts

Sweet sixteen is a Scottish film showing life for young people in Glasgow. Its main character, a 15 year old boy is growing up on a council estate and trying to get out of the estate buy selling drugs to buy a caravan for him and his mum when she gets out of prison, the film is about him getting in with gangsters to make money so that he can look after himself and his mum but at the end he ends up stabbing his dad, beating up his sister, killing his best friend and finding out that his mum had been laughing at him for trying to help her the whole time and so ends on the morning of his sixteenth birthday, with the police after him and walking towards the sea, covered in blood and realising he had nothing now and i presume that he is going to commit suicide. its a heavy film and I recommend it big timmmmmmmee.

A failing TV network in America notices how it gains more ratings after a mentally unstable news reporter has a nervous breakdown on live television.
This results in the News reader being re situated with his own talk show were he can express his own insane opinions on live television, captivating a mass audience and making the network wealthy.

Although the content of the movie was very eccentric,it was portrayed with a very intense tone of seriousness within the movie, creating a very subtle, dry form of humor which can only be fully appreciated through the watching of the movie.

Expect a fairly heavy going viewing of this movie as it contains a lot of dialog as well as a wide selection of characters each one constructed with there own opinion and role within the movie.

The movie also contains a lot of interesting political opinions that were in main issue at the time. It also questioning the authenticity of our viewing and the decency of those working behind it.

The Blade 2 film obviously being a sequel to the first Blade film is not the type of film were you have to see the first to understand the second. Its a bit confusing at first what happened to Blade to make him so powerful towards vampires but you find that out in this film when he talks about it.
Basically he is part vampire but doesn't have the weird effect that the vampires do.Blades task is to kill all or as many vampires in the city as he can. He is teamed up with a group of hunters who also are setting out to help with the extermination. Most of the vampires are killed due to different ways,which include being slashed with a sword,shot,beaten and death by grenade.many of the team are killed along the way.It turns out that the team were actually against Blade and he is captured by the remainder of the team they try to kill him but being Blade there is no way he is going to die.
An action packed film, lots of blood and explosions. A great action/horror film, and I recommend it to all of you who love a violent film.

The film Desperado is based on an old style western except it has been mixed around a little and developed into a 21st century western. It features Antonio Banderas as a sadistic guitar playing killer called El Mariachi who is out to get revenge on the people who killed his Girlfriend. He is helped by the young sweet and innocent librarian, Carolina played by Salma Hayek. Without giving the ending away of the film, The film involves a drug gang, a brother and a bookstore.
If you love huge action packed sequences and random over the top explosions, amazing guitar playing and cheesy dialouge then this film is something i would recomend, for it is the perfect shoot em up film.

My summer of love is a British film about a two girls friendship which becomes intense. As their friendship grows, they begin to stay over at each others houses and their friendship goes even further. One of the girls brother has become really religious so she refuses to go home and stays with her new lover. So overall, nothing really happens in this film.

It is just about a summer where two girls fall for each other and forget about everything around them. There is nothing to keep you hooked in the movie and it is easy to focus your attention on something else.

Deathproof, after Quentin Tarantino had mass effect with his modern kung fu flick of Kill Bill he turned back his sights to 70's car chasing thrill ride with a memorable performance from Kurt Russell. With fast paced Death race of lap dancing girls with a mean vengeance.

Deathproof is based around a smaller town based on Stuntman Mikes desire for women and his death proof fast car mustang muscle car, the plot starts as Mike becomes obsessed with the local girls, but after picking the wrong group of girls to play games with Mike soon wishes he hadn't crossed with the psychotic lap dances

with thrill rides of a 15 minute car chase and has its thrilling parts and gory moments with a slow pace but makes you carry on watching, while it has its casual quotes from pulp fiction as well as a strong performance from Tarantino himself

6.5/10

Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug-lord Rodney Little, who, when not playing with model trains or drinking Moo milkshakes for his ulcer, just likes to chill with his brothers near the benches outside the project houses. When a night man at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike's older brother turns himself in as the killer. Det. Rocco Klein doesn't buy the story, however, and sets out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.

Clockers is a surreal look at the drug buisness, friendship, descision making, and death in the city. This movie has a flawless cast, the clockers, the detectives, and Rodney and Harold the dealers are perfect. The script is great too, as it has suprises, good dialogue, action, and setting. The direction is almost perfect, especially the last scene with the train, Spike Lee is one of the most underrated directors ever. This movie is made to please, action lovers will find it interesting, and film buffs should find it fascinating! Keep an open mind from beginning to end and analyze ever scene with its content

Strange days

This action-thriller movie keeps you in suspense throughout most of the movie although it has a fairly long run time, even though the ending is predictable you still want to carry on watching all the way to the end. The main plot is evolves around an X-cop who sells other peoples memories and experiences with a device that sits on your head and wirellesly records everything that you see and hear, so that you or anybody else can put the device on and it will play back the memory and everything that you feel. It was originally designed to replace the wire for undercover cop but it got out in to the black market and now recording are being made of all kinds of things so that people can experience what it is like to (for example) rob a bank or sleep with someone else without cheating on your partner. At first this is confusing because it is set in the past but has more modern technology than we have got now, but you can easily ignore that and just enjoy the movie. If you enjoy movies like Equilibrium or The Departed then you will defiantly enjoy this

Winner of the Cannes Festival for Best Director, Babel is a powerful, intense and brilliantly made film. Full of life and culture it really digs deep in the understanding and miss-communication of general human actions and emotions.

When a tragic accidents in Morocco occurs, it sets of a chain of events that links 4 groups of people who are divided by culture differences and vast distances, discover a shared destiny that ultimately connects them.

If you are one for the films such as Crash, then Babel is right up your alley. If you have a queezy stomach violence or blood and have a short attention span than put Babel down and pick up A cinderlla Story.

overall a simple and easy to watch film from Gonzalez, and a definte must see and one for your DVD collection!

*****

Battleship Potemkin was made in 1925 by director Sergei Eisenstein, documenting the events on the titular vessel that happened during the 1905 uprising in the Soviet Union. It is filmed in black and white and is silent, although the soundtrack more than makes up for the lack of dialogue. The music swells and dies down with the action, and all in all makes the film what it ultimately is: enjoyable.

As one probably expected when picking up a film from this era, the acting is anything but great. The actors over-react with such zeal that it is almost funny. But all in all it makes the film even more enjoyable.

The infamous Odessa steps sequence is one to look out for as well. It's close ups of the bloody massacre are surprisingly believable and the camerawork is top-notch.

At 78 minutes long, occasionally when the action dies down things do get a bit boring. But all in all time flew when I watched this film, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the History of cinema, or of Russia itself.

The Truman Show was a really good film and i would recommend it to any one wanting to see a good feel good film and something that is easy watching.
This film is about a man who's life has been filmed since the day he was born on a live reality show. He doesn't no that his whole life has been filmed but as his life goes on he is told the truth but everyone around him makes him believe that it was just a big lie and he just carry's on with his life. Then the truth is starting to become apparent to him as time goes on and his is set on a mission to prove that something is not right with the way he is living and he is determined to be reunited with his high school love. Through out this film has its funny moments but it sucks you in very well to the story and makes you feel involved. A all round good film and i would 100% recommend this film to watch.

Children of men is set in the year 2027 and there hasn't been a baby born in 18 years. The human race is going mad and there is constant fighting between the government and public. Nobody knows why there hasn't been a baby born in so long and nobody understands why women can no longer get pregnant but one this is certain if theirs no new life then the human race will die.
Children of men is definitely a film worth seeing it its quite complicated at the start but if you stick with it you wont be disappointed
Alfonso Cuarón has also Directed many other great films such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Great Expectations and Y tu mamá también

An assassin inadvertently nearly blinds a young lounge singer during one of his assignments. Overwhelmed by pity, he decides to take care of her and soon they fall in love. Unfortunately, her eyesight is deteriorating quickly and she needs to have an operation before she loses her eyesight completely. The assassin decides to do one final job to get the money she needs, but after the job is completed, his hires refuse to pay him. Not only this, but they are feeling the heat from a determined police officer (Lee, City on Fire) trying to take them down, and fearing the assassin will rat them out, they decide to kill the killer.

The Killer is a great action picture, one of the best of the 1980s. Stylish to the extreme, with Peckinpah-esque slow motion ballet-like action scenes and some religious undertones make for thought-provokingly effective entertainment. Beautifully shot and skillfully directed by John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, Face/Off), it's probably the best Hong Kong action film I've ever seen, and by far the best film in Woo's interesting career. The entire ensemble is perfectly cast, with Chow Yun-Fat giving a subtle but powerful performance as the assassin. It's funny, audacious, outrageous, and tragic all at the same time. An absolute must-see for Hong Kong film fans and anyone is tired of clichéd Hollywood action thrillers.

“Jaws” is a 1975 classic film directed by Steven Spielberg. It has become one of the most off-putting films of all time. The film is based around a massive terrorizing Great White shark that becomes a threat to the waters in a seaside town called Amity.
Three guys, played by Roy Sheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, attempt to stop the menace. The main character is played by Roy Sheider. He plays a local sheriff who battle with the residents of the town to try and prevent them from visiting the beach. However they are against the idea because it will affect the amount of money they will earn in their shops.
The most enhancing scene in the whole film is that of the Great White attacking the wrecked boat in which the three men belong to. The reason this was the most enhancing scene was because it was one of the few scenes that gave screen time to the ferocious shark. I thought the film didn’t include enough images of the shark to terrify, and considering I am easily scared I found this movie very timid. The storyline was very fluent; however I found that it was very repetitive. An example of this is when the three men try to catch the shark and fail and try again and fail and try again and fail.
The soundtrack made this film, without it the tension would not have been built. The contrast of the peaceful scenery and evil terror of the waters continues to surprise the viewer.
I have watched a similar film called “Open Water” and compared to “Jaws” it holds onto the audience’s attention a lot more. I wouldn’t recommend this film necessarily for its action or suspense but because it is a classic and then at least you will be able to say you have seen it.

“The Beach” Originaly a best-selling novel by Alex Garland, is taken on and adapted by the film making threesome of director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald and writer John Hedge. After their previous attempt of creating a sucsessful film was slightly wofull, they decided to drop Iwan Mcgregor for the lead role in their second film, giving Leonardo Dicaprio his first role in 2 years, following the hit film “Titanic” while also making him a cool £12.4m.


An American backpacker Richard,(Dicaprio) finds himself in possession of a map, said to lead to a luxurious untouched paradise, of which himself and a french couple, played by Vurginie Ledoyen, and Guillaume Canet set out for.


After a long swim, the trio eventually reach their destination where they begin to unwind and forget about the stresses of the modern world.


However, not for long, their perfect lives in paradise are not left untouched for long. Leaving poor Richard and the rest of the travellers with no option other to go back to civilisation.


This film shows many aspects of a good film, and is certainly watchable, but be prepared for a poor ending.

Raging Bull (1980) is an unrelenting, searing biopic and dramatic tragedy - based on the real-life story of an unlovable, stubborn middle-weight boxing champion as he struggles to be champion. His life passes through successive stages of punishment, compromise, and self-disintegration, due to numerous inner demons. The tale of Jake La Motta's downfall is a reversal of the sentimental, much-loved boxer/hero story in Rocky (1976).

Director Martin Scorsese was convinced by actor Robert De Niro, with whom he had made Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), and New York, New York (1977), that the film had to be made, after he was given La Motta's biography by De Niro in 1974. The actor's own performance was the most overwhelming of his career - he completely immersed himself in the role by altering his physical appearance in an ultimate Method-acting performance. As a lean boxer, he rigorously trained with La Motta for the boxing sequence.

In the film's brutal, no-holds-barred look at the gladiatorial sport of boxing in documentary-style, La Motta unsparingly engages other boxers in the ring in some of the most realistic, bloody, and brutal yet stylized boxing scenes ever filmed - with sweat and blood spraying out of the ring, devastating blows, and flashing - actually exploding - camera bulbs. The sounds of squashing melons and tomatoes were used for landed punches. The size and shape of the ring was also modified and changed from small, to long and narrow, for varying effects.

Michael Chapman's stunning, crisp black-and-white cinematography (throughout the entire film except for the home video segments) and subjective camera used innovative techniques including slow-motion (varying camera speeds), 360 degree pans, and titled camera angles for various fight scenes. The lighting was deliberately made harsh and stark, to provide an expressionistic look and feel of the brutality inside the ring.

Overall I strongly recommend watching this film, As its one of the best work by both Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro

Will Smith & Son Jaden Smith, star in a emotional tail, which is inspired by a true story of a salesman who's struggling to bring money to the table. When his long term gilfriend finally has enough and walks out, Chris ( Will Smith ) is left to raise his 5 year old son alone. With some determination Chris lands himself a unpaid internship in a seriously competitive stockbroker training program. Due to Chris having no money to pay for rent, they are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the streets, homeless shelters and in one scene Chris even locks him and his son behind the metro station toilets. With his son beside him everystep of the way, Chris rises above his obstacles to become successful again!

American Beauty (1999)

Black comedy of the deepest and richest darkness overlaid by constant intercutting of dreams that are forgotten in the action and become a normality; this dark, stylised films contains some genuine laughs, only to be overshadowed by winsing. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is having a mid-life crisis. He's about to be fired from his job as the company takes employee cuts; his teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) holds him in a fierce grasp that only teenagers can acheive. Wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) has morphed into the quintistial housewife 90's style, work driven, OCD obsessed housewife with her perfectly moulded figure hides a volitile character. The Burnhams' friends and neighbors include Lesters rival Buddy King (Peter Gallagher), new kid next door Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), who deals drugs and films everything; Ricky's dad, a marine hardman (Chris Cooper); and the guppie Jims (Scott Bakula, Sam Robards). And, of course, Jane's young cheerleader friend Angela (Mena Suvari), representing Lesters want to get back to the days of careless partying, leading him to radically change his life to have her dote on him.

Sonatine (1993) Film Review

Japanese director Takeshi Kitano does it again in this amazingly scripted and filmed mafia movie. Kitano is well known in Japan for his violent crime dramas and is apparently perceived to be Japans very own John Woo. Mr Kitano did not only direct "Sonatine", he also wrote the script and even and played the lead role as a Yakuza leader (Murakawa) sent to stop a turf war in Okinawa. Very early on after arriving in Okinawa things go wrong and bullets start flying. Kitano a man of his word and honour wishes to leave the mafia lead lifestyle behind but he knows that certain circumstances make that impossible. After the flying bullets come to a halt Kitano leaves the carnage with a few of his men hiding in a seaside villa. While there they enjoy their last days on a beach.



Kitano unlike many other action genre directors focuses on the reaction to violence;
He uses a static camera in nearly every scene while using the landscape backdrop for the violent deaths of his goons. These deaths are seen to be very abstract as the victims barely flinch in reaction to their own deaths. The near ending of the film is an extraordinary; it is presented in the real Takashi style. Kitano is seen entering a hotel where his bosses are having a meeting with an M-16 assault rifle. The camera remains on the street looking up at the top floor of the building, later flashes of gunfire is seen through the windows.

By Aris Sahin

This film is a gangster film based on the true story of Henry Hill, who is part of the mob and his life over 30 years. He starts to be more important to the 'family'. The storyline follows several different events over three decades. Not all of the events that are talked about and alluded to are shown, but the narrating voice of Henry helps you catch up with the story.

The use of violence and swearing in the film may offend some people, but it is in context and it works with the themes and ideas of the film. I would recommend it to people who enjoyed other Mafia based films, and any fans of Martin Scorsese's other big movies.

Sonatine (1993) Film Review

Japanese director Takeshi Kitano does it again in this amazingly scripted and filmed mafia movie. Kitano is well known in Japan for his violent crime dramas and is apparently perceived to be Japans very own John Woo. Mr Kitano did not only direct "Sonatine", he also wrote the script and even and played the lead role as a Yakuza leader (Murakawa) sent to stop a turf war in Okinawa. Very early on after arriving in Okinawa things go wrong and bullets start flying. Kitano a man of his word and honour wishes to leave the mafia lead lifestyle behind but he knows that certain circumstances make that impossible. After the flying bullets come to a halt Kitano leaves the carnage with a few of his men hiding in a seaside villa. While there they enjoy their last days on a beach.
Kitano unlike many other action genre directors focuses on the reaction to violence; He uses a static camera in nearly every scene while using the landscape backdrop for the violent deaths of his goons. These deaths are seen to be very abstract as the victims barely flinch in reaction to their own deaths. The near ending of the film is an extraordinary; it is presented in the real Takashi style. Kitano is seen entering a hotel where his bosses are having a meeting with an M-16 assault rifle. The camera remains on the street looking up at the top floor of the building, later flashes of gunfire is seen through the windows.

Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George depicts the catastrophic events that occured during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, caused by the conflict between two tribes; the Tsootsies and the Hutus.
The film is told through the eyes of a hotel manager (Don Cheadle) a courages character who strives to protect his family and everyday people around him, endangering his own life throughout. The superb performances from Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo only better the film and it's realism during the more moving scenes.
I really enjoyed the film and would highly recommend it, especially to anyone who enjoys films that portray actual events that have occured (for example 'Last King of Scotland.' Although the film wasn't action based, it was still fast paced and enjoyable to watch; althought at points barely endurable because of the sheer atrociousness of the content.

This film isn't the best comedy I have seen and there are no outstanding performances from the cast,yet they all have their entertaining moments.
The film is bursting into song Bollywood style, which is the only thing i really enjoyed.
Watch this film if you don't mind being disappointed.

South Park is regarded as a highly entertaining film, the film contains violence, racism and abusive language.
It is a musical type film which gives the film meaning. The whole point of the film is about mothers against some Canadian actors and their abusive film with a few twist offs which make the film more entertaining.
The main character is Kyle with his friends who have to stand up to their mothers, the victims are the Canadian actors Terrence And Phillip, Kenny who once again dies finds out the shocking truth of the Devil and Haddam Usain wanting to take over the world and gives information to Cartmen.
Whilst all this is happening there is other story lines about Stanley trying to get with Wendy.
Also the Devil and Haddam Usian want to go and rule earth but they have a shocking truth they have.
Overall a great film i think overall its worth watching.

This film was personally recommended to me, and with big names such as Josh Hartnett and Kirstin Dunst staring in it, I had high hopes for it being an enjoyable watch. Sadly, I was disappointed as straight from the off the film made no sense and did not appear to have an understandable storyline. Many strange events took place, such as one of the girls killing themselves at their birthday party, which was not explained and therefore confused the already hard to follow plot.
The film was presented as a rememberance of five sisters who all committed suicide, and looked at their lives and the events leading up to their deaths, however the people who were narrating the film had hardly any relationship to the girls at all, so it was unclear why they were recalling the story. Further more, from the start of the film it was made clear the sisters were all going to die, therefore I was expecting an exciting build up to this event, but the majority of the film was very random and skipped between ideas (not to mention it was very boring), and in the end there seemed to be no apparent reason why the girls killed themselves at all.
After being very disappointed with this film I would not recommend it to anyone. However, maybe you should watch it just to see if you can make anymore sense out of it than me!

Gangster No. 1 follows the wildly gruesome and disturbing life of a London gangster, played in two parts by Paul Bettany and Malcolm McDowell. The un-named young gangster is recruited into the ruthless gang of Freddie Mays - a well known London crime lord.

As more and more jobs come in, the young gangster becomes deranged and psychotic, and develops a lust for blood. This isn't enough though; the gangster wants Freddie's place as leader and eventually he gets the chance to turn a blind eye on his employer's planned murder. "The King is dead! Long live the king!"

The new school takes charge and from then on, the money comes rolling in. Hundreds of dirty dealings puts the young gangster on top of the world, but was it really worth it?

Gangster No. 1 is an incredibly violent in depth view of a psychotic young mind that experiences the serious side of a gangster's life. I would give this film ***** for the incredible concept of the film and Paul Bettany's performance which stood out and took the film to another level.

By Rupert Andrews.

I think this film is a very interesting watch, but its definately not for everyone. I would recommend this film to an audience who appriciate the different approach that world cinema has, like the different pace, which provides a nicechange to what most of us are used to. For me, being a fan of Pedro Alomdovar's previous/other films such as 'Volver' and 'talk to her' this film didn't quite live up to my expectations, these are possibly just my specific strange expectations though.
Two male fellow cathelic school students who experiance a 'Bad Education' meet up later on in life and attempt to create a film of their challenged childhood.
The film displays beautiful cinematography and a wonderful distructive storyline.
With Gael Garcia Bernal playing what turns out to be a misleading, part in the story the film takes on many twists.

Pulp Fiction


Pulp fiction is a story set in Los Angles and opens with two small time robbers sticking up a diner and sees “honey bunny” turn from sweet and simple girl into a violent and loud robber in a matter of seconds when she yells” Any of you fucking pricks move, and I’ll execute every last mother fucking one of you!” the next scene involves two hit men retrieving a brief case from a gang and the reading of a line of the bible to them then killing them. The next story is of a war hero hiding a watch up his arse for 7 years then giving it to his son. His son then becomes a boxer and gets paid by a mafia boss to lose a fight. One of the hit men (called Vince) is asked to take the Boss’s wife out to keep her entertained while he’s away. While taking her out she takes some oh his heroine thinking it’s cocaine and proceeds to over dose and starts to have a fit until Vince administers a shot of adrenaline to her heart they then swear never to talk about it. It then skips back to just after the two hit men when they have a near death experience and Jules decides to leaves the business and become a wander or as Vince outs it, a “bum”. The boxer decides not to do as he’s told and go down and end up killing the other boxer then running town and only by a chance encounter does he survive

In my opinion the best part of the film is the dialogue and the way all the characters lives blend together in a apparently unrelated way. The way the story plunges you so mercilessly into the characters life and only explains certain things through other characters stories. One of my favourite bits of the film is when butch is looking for a weapon to go and attack people holding Marsellus Wallace. The way he ranges from a relatively reasonable weapon such as a hammer all the way up to a unreasonable weapon like the samurai sword. It’s a incredibly funny part of the film to see the look in his eye when he spots it.

The way the film both ends and begins with the same scene also helps to demonstrate the way the film flows incredibly well. And how with out certain meaningless elements for one story are extremely important for other parts of the film.

Alex Tomkins.

Braindead is a horror directed by Peter Jackson. Its about a young spanish girl called Paquita who is looking for romance and believes that the young man who comes into the shop she works in everyday is the one, until one day her grandmother gets her tarith cards out and reads her future. She tells her that her destiny will be found by a star. Later that day a young boy called Lionel comes in and picks a pencil out of the pot. The pot tips over and a star is made from the pencils. Therefore she believes he is the one. Going straight at him he is nervous and doesn't no what to say. So they talk about her dog. They end up talking about the zoo and she says yes please to wanting to go. However while at the zoo Lionel's mother follows them however she slips on rubbish and gets bitten by a rat monkey. She then turns into a monster. This monster then goes killing other and creating more monsters. You will have to watch the film to find out the rest.

I found that the typical blonde brown haired girl thing happened. I enjoyed the begining however i felt that the end went on to much and got boring. I felt alot of the effects were good for when it was made. However if you watch it now it would seem quiet old. This film is rated a 18 however i felt that 18 was to high as it wasnt a scary film. It was quiet gory but not scary. I also found that some parts were unintentionaly funny.

This review was written by
Abbie Young

This film explores the lives of two men who grow a gay relationship whilst working together on the Brokeback mountains. You see their struggle to contain how they feel for each other along with their family back home. In the end however you see that living a lie is not as easy as they thought, as their relationships break down and tragedy strikes.

This is a well acted portrayal from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. I would recommend this film for anyone who wants to watch a heartfelt movie, and doesn't mind possibly crying at the end. Although it begins slowly I stuck with it and enjoyed it.

This film is very good. No other film has made me question the very fibre of being. I recommend this film to everyone. The best bit is when Neo and Trinity has the Uzis and just kill everyone everyone in the room. yeah, see this film.

A film that's purposly made to confuse the audience, although by using this tactic its strangely captivating. With outstanding performances by Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, the story follows our protagonists messed up lives, getting even worse, somehow finding their own lives intertwined. A film i'd definetly reccomend, although initially, very confusing. Unable to stop yourself feeling sympathetic for these misunderstood characters.

Directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and guest director Quentin Tarateno

This film is quite good with the use of black and white footage and bold blocks of colour being shown, which enhances and gives the film a very unique feel to it. The acting with in the film is very exaggerated, with an over voice going through the film telling you what the characters are thinking and what they could do next. There is a lot of Tarateno styled blood and killing action that is quite hard to understand why they are killing people in this way. There is 3 main story lines in the film and all of them are centered around love stories that turn out horribly wrong but get sorted by lots of killing and brutal beatings. The first watch is hard to get into the film and you don't really understand some of the things that are going on through the film, but it you saw it a second time it may seem much more understandable and the story lines ill make more sense.

Nicola Taylor

Whilst watching this, you can really see that The Devil's Backbone is like a rough sketch for Del Toro's later, more successful film, Pan's Labyrinth. From the very beginning, with the narrator questioning us what a ghost is, there is an eerie, uneasy atmosphere, and within five minutes of the film you're already asking questions.
The film revolves around the mystery of Santi, the ghost of a schoolboy who mysteriously died not long before Carlos, the main character, joins the poorly-run orphanage in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. The Devil's Backbone also dips into thrilling sub-plots involving money, deceit and sexual relationships.
Although it is mainly based on the ghost of Santi and the horrors that surround him, the film gives you a good insight into what being a child during the time of the Civil War was like.
With a storyline that is gripping from beginning to end, twists that you really do not expect and even some pretty horrific gore, this film is a definite must-see, especially for fans of psychological thrillers such as "The Others", "The Orphanage" and "The City of Lost Children".

'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' directed by Ken Loach, is about Ireland in the 1920s fighting for independence. The main character Damien, played by Cillian Murphy, is a doctor who leaves his profession to fight for his country he deeply loves. Winning 5 out of 18 Oscar nominations 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' gives a deep insight into the thoughts of the people caught up in the fight for independence, and their reactions to the treaties Britain presents them. A pivotal scene in the film which links its self with another is when Damien talks about giving the letters of a dead man to his relatives, and the relatives saying they don't want to see him again. Tied in with Damien's death and his letters, his brother gives Damien's letters to his relatives. The lack of background music shows how realistically based the story is, only using the music for the most intense scenes of the film. 'The wind that shakes the Barley' is a good historical film very close to the real story of Ireland's fight for independence.

'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' directed by Ken Loach, is about Ireland in the 1920s fighting for independence. The main character Damien, played by Cillian Murphy, is a doctor who leaves his profession to fight for his country he deeply loves. Winning 5 out of 18 Oscar nominations 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' gives a deep insight into the thoughts of the people caught up in the fight for independence, and their reactions to the treaties Britain presents them. A pivotal scene in the film which links its self with another is when Damien talks about giving the letters of a dead man to his relatives, and the relatives saying they don't want to see him again. Tied in with Damien's death and his letters, his brother gives Damien's letters to his relatives. The lack of background music shows how realistically based the story is, only using the music for the most intense scenes of the film. 'The wind that shakes the Barley' is a good historical film very close to the real story of Ireland's fight for independence.

Election? Doesn’t that mean democracy? Set in a typical American high school. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is a go-getter, ambitious candidate who will do anything in her power to win the next spot as the student council president. Her teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) ends up having to face the consequences of dealing with this over-achiever as one of his colleagues’ had his life ruined after McAllister found out that his friend and Tracy were both having an affair. In vengeance, McAllister decides to encourage Paul Metzler (Klein) a sidelined sportsman who is left with a broken leg to go up against Tracy and her solely mastermind plans.

While its very unusual to see elections bought in a mature but juvenile community. The political satire plot stands just as strong with the incredible performances played from the protagonists. The multi narration involving the views of each character is so mesmerizing that it literally tips the scale of the film. The script is somewhat mixed with intelligent and ethical issues that revolves around the individuals as the story progresses. You can just tell that there is a sense of justice in what their minds say. I admit it; it was well delivered and written.

The funny thing about Election is that it’s considered to be at the fullest extent, a black comedy. In some respect it’s true, the music that is constantly used in the film will range from a hazy light-hearted up-beat tone to a bizarrely contrived reggae style composition. Most importantly is the development of how the plot turns out. With McAllister committing what is formally called, adultery, (which ultimately contradicts his feelings at the beginning) and Tracy having a tantrum and stupefying to the highest degree of vandalism. It all turns out to be the red herring. Still, we mustn’t forget that this is a black comedy.

A dark horse candidate known as Tammy (a lesbian) has the particular intentions in reigning anarchism across the school. This was a very interesting take and twist for the film. The only unfortunate thing is that her part isn’t fully developed as the rest. Her snooty and gibberish behaviour had some likeability in contrast to her initial confidence at speech. The fact was that she was only a mere foil that could possibly disrupt the flow of the story.

As a whole, Election is like no other film that you will have encountered for a long time. It’s charismatic story and characters show a decency of remorse in the decisions we make and the sort of caricature people that we will meet in our very lifetime. If your looking for a fun heart-warming black comedy. Give Election its first vote!

Annie Hall, directed in 1977 by Woody Allen is about the up and down Romance between Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). The film is set mainly in New York with references to Alvy’s childhood in Brooklyn and Annie’s future in Los Angeles.

Although the film is quite slow moving compared to more recent films, I actually prefer this as it means the contents of the scenes are shown in more detail.
For example for a lot of the scenes long flashbacks are used to show the memories of the main characters. This gives the audience a better insight into the characters’ past.
I would say however that at some points of the film this made the order of the scenes slightly confusing but this could have been deliberate to represent the slightly random order of when Annie and Alvy were and weren’t together.

Woody Allen used quite a lot of unusual techniques in this film such as showing Alvy talking directly to the camera as if he were addressing the audience. For example in one scene he talks to the camera about a man behind him in a queue who is annoying him. The man then joins him in talking to the camera and they have an argument about their views on Marshal Mcluhen. The scene becomes even more surreal when Marshal Mchluhen joins them in their conversation.
This is a reference to earlier on in the film when Alvy mentions having a problem between fantasy and reality.
Similarly in a lot of the flashbacks Alvy and Annie enter the scenes and watch themselves as if they are reminiscing. This is quite a clever use of stylisation which I haven’t ever seen before in other films.

Overall I found Annie Hall enjoyable and funny with a witty edge and clever use of filming techniques, which probably reflect the character of Woody Allen.
The romance between Alvy and Annie is shown as comic but moving and often up and down. It reminded me of the beginning of the film when Alvy describes living under a rollercoaster as a child having an effect on the way he is when he’s older. I think this might have been a comparison to the relationship between Annie and Alvy.
The last scene of the film is my favourite, in which Alvy is reminded of a joke he knows about a man whose brother thinks he’s a chicken. He uses the joke to sum up relationships as ‘totally irrational and crazy and absurd but I guess we keep going through it because we need the eggs’.

When choosing or talking about films by the Coen brothers, The Hudsucker Proxy would not be an obvious choice to make. However, this film is a witty, satire take on corporate American businesses and American films made in the 1950s.

The story takes on a typical image, another college graduate from another town in the middle of America, who moves to New York City to become successful and to gain everything he dreams of. This man goes by the name of Norville Barnes, from Muncie, Indiana. He lands himself a job as a simple mailroom clerk at 'Hudsucker Industries', however, when the owner jumps out of the window and kills himself things start to change dramatically. The company needs a new president, so Norville Barnes is appointed, taking on the duty of the imbecile that owns the company, so the other board representatives can wait till stocks go to an all-time low and they can therefore be richer than ever before.

But then there's the newspaper reporter, who sees through this plan and through luck and her simple womanly attributes she is able to sneak her way into the company and get an inside view on things, at the same time publishing her findings in the newspaper she works for, witnessing a rocky road to success for Norville Barnes and Hudsucker Industries.

There isn't anything too complex in this Coen brothers film, the camerawork is pretty simple and the emphasis is on the characters and the acting themselves. The story is a witty one, and you can tell that the Coen brothers are simply mocking 1950s America, such as the fast talking and rapid hand movements- a necessity to 1950s acting. The whole film represents life at this time, the costumes and the settings are very accurate, especially the characters and the views they portray.

The characters have been established very clearly, you feel sympathetic for Norville Barnes and his idiotic mind and the character of Sidney Mussburger is just simply cold throughout and you realise that there is nothing nice about the man.

Overall I really enjoyed 'The Hudsucker Proxy', for it's witty take on 1950s American business and acting and of course the talented skills of John and Ethan Coen to be able to make a farce that isn't totally ridiculous.

If…
Directed by Lindsay Anderson
1968

British and ultraviolent, a lot like It's A Knockout.

If, or to give its proper name If.... is widely regarded to be a classic (if somewhat revolutionary) piece of British cinema. The film explores life in a 60's British public school as well as the groups that inhabit it and the hierarchy they are part of. Despite the film being a satirisation of public school life the characters feel very real and can be related to on numerous levels.

Even though If…. is now 40 years old it doesn’t feel nearly as dated as it should. This is probably due to the fact that the film’s themes are still relevant today, non-conformity and adolescent rebellion will always exist and as long as there are people willing to fight against social constraints and oppression this film will have it’s place. Ironically the films violent ending is similar to the current events of today rather than the time the film was made, with events such as the Virginia Tech massacre and the Columbine school shooting becoming more frequent occurrences in modern society.

This film is difficult to define in terms of genre, there are elements of drama, black comedy and surreal humour all coming together in a quirky yet very dark film, a cinematic sweet and sour, if you will.

I enjoyed If…. and found it to be an interesting film to say the least, at first I thought that the film would be more humour based and surreal than it was, in retrospect the film worked very well just as it was and given the choice I would not change it. I would recommend this film to fans of British cinema and anyone who likes their films with a little depth, but if all you want is to be entertained with something nice and simple this film probably isn’t for you.

Chris Ramsden.

One of The Coen Brothers latest film came to our screens the Coen's have adapted the crime novel by Cormac McCarthy for the big screen with breathtaking look into the Crime Thriller novel. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. The ostensible hero is Llewellyn Moss (Brolin), a Vietnam vet who stumbles across the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong while hunting antelope in Texas. He takes a suitcase stuffed with $2 million in cash, Moss goes on the run. He realize that the suitcase is fitted with a tracking device. Following its signal is hitman Anton Chigurh (Bardem) armed with a cattle stun gun (which fires compressed air which he uses to kill his victims), Bardem's character has a menacingly calm demeanour which is portrayed very well in his scenes especially duing the scene with the gas station owner.

The birds was an amazing horror film if not slightly random. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock And starring Tippi Hedren as the lead actress. The film starts with main character Melanie (Tippi Hedren) pursuing a love interest ( Mitch) when all the birds of every kind start to attack people. When I read this on the blurb It sounded almost comical but was anything but. The scene that gripped me the most was when Melanie was outside waiting for a child (Mitch's younger sister) to come out of school . She was sitting on a bench with a cigarette and the children's singing in the background. When we start to see shots of behind her and on the children's play equipment is a crow, and then we see her and one by one, more crows appear behind her on the children's play equipment until the whole background school play area is full. She looks behinds her and slowly walks into the school to warn the children. The children come out of the slowly and are told be careful until she says run. As soon as the school, teacher says run , the birds attack the children violently.
This film was totally original and making something that seems so harmless completely terrifying. This movie builds suspense throughout and leaves the film on a cliffhanger . I thought it brilliant there was no sequel so we are left guessing.
The film is almost more scary when you can't see any birds because it builds that tension and silence.
I thought this a brilliant film and a complete original horror.

Donnie darko is the strange and surreal story of a brilliant and troubled teenager working through the strange goings on around his life.
Starring Jake Gyllenhall (The day after tommorow) and Jena Malone, this 1988 film is stunningly wierd and will get into your mind.
The effects used in this film are amazingly well done, from showing the life paths of the people in the film in a strange and unique way to the effect of ripples in an invisible wall. Not only do these effects help show how surreal the film is but the use of camera shots also helps show this. In one scene the camera rotates around showing how confused Donnie Darko's life is, and as the camera follows people all around the school you see the odd and yet at the same time normal lives of all these other students.

The plot of Donnie Darko will keep you watching till the end just to understand how all the events come together, The constant plot twists can become confusing but only add to the intensity of the film. Because of this you may need to watch it twice in order to understand the film completely.
At the begining Donnie seems like your typical troubled teen, but as the film continues you see him become darker and you are constantly wondering is what he sees is real or not, even by the end the audience still isn't completely sure if everything they saw was real or not.

The final song in the film is 'Mad world' is a beautiful song, and when you see it with the second to last scene it will send shivers up your spine.
The music in general is a good aspect to the film, with piano pieces playing everynow and again which give a creepy air to the film.

Donnie Darko is a beautiful and deeply physcological film, it will give you chills and is worth putting down as a film to see before you die.

"There's 8 million islands out here, why should they find this one?"Lord of the flies was an interesting film that was shot on a deserted tropical island. After a horrific plane crash this group of young innocent schoolboys were left stranded there, having to fend for themselves. In the beginning of this powerful story the boys elected Ralph to be their leader, but some of the other boys had a different idea. When Jack decided to start an alliance of savages that he called "hunters" who where covered in war paint and went out killing wild pigs and anything else they could eat that's when the group was divided. In this film the music played a big part because as the film progressed the music followed. In the end when the "hunters" burned down the jungle and were in pursuit of Ralph, the music sped up and the camera shots changed quickly which showed a lot of tension which was well directed. In this powerful fight for survival acting as children and not fully understanding the consequences of their actions, they started killing eachother with no hesitaion which in my mind brought the story to an emotional end. I think after the "hunters" killed Simon people joined the possessed savages out of fear not choice they thought that if they didn't join they would be killed along with Simon and Piggy who were only trying to help. This was an emotional film that was filled with violence, treachery, loyalty and death. This film was showed lots of imagination and I enjoyed watching it.

I walked into the cinema with high hopes for an intreguing fast paced action movie from a crytically acclaimed director (arguably one of the greatest visual directors of the last decade). I walked out of cinema thinking wow... I actually payed for that crap...

The plot of the sequal follows much the same outline as that of the original Hellboy, with the main character (Hellboy) facing some form of supernatural challenge, stuggling to overcome it and finally beating it. New characters are also introduced, and the plot helps to expand and deepen the 'Hellboy' universe, exploring new and colourful characters.

Hellboy 2 has been subject to mixed opinion, reviews ranging from 1 star to 9, but I can say with certainty that this is one of the worst films I've seen in a while. It has been claimed that this film is deliberatley over the top, that it is almost a parody of its own genre. Its not guys, give it up.

The thing that really made this film dissapointing... no... a complete waste of money was a combined effort by the writers and the actors. The dialogue was the worst I've seen in a film, as listening to conversation between characters (don't be fooled, there was little or no characterisation) became a chore. The dialogue simply didn't flow, and the acting was incredibly poor... comical even.

Guillame del toro's directing abilities, possibly the only reason I decided to see that film, cannot make up for such a poor story line, and with the exception of character design, I could not see much evidence of his influence at all.

The plot made no sense.... the ending of the film left me stunned, as all the characters quit there 'secret goverment orginisation' to, I quote, 'find a house in the country...' or some stupid thing... He's a GIANT RED DEVIL. His credentials include having a big fist and being red. Where the hell is he gonna get the money????

Knocked Up (2007)

Seth Rogen delivers another Hilarious hit comedy! They say that opposites attract ... Well for Super-Slacker Ben (Seth Rogen) and Career-Girl Alison (Katherine Heigl), that's certainly the case - at least for one intoxicated evening.

Two months and several pregnancy tests later, Ben and Alison go through a hysterically funny, anxious and heart-warming journey that leads to huge laughs in one of the most outrageous comedy's of the year!!

I found the film very appealing not because i am a fat stonner with a pregnant girlfriend from a one noght stand. But because Seth has Written the screen play for many other recent comedy hit movies. This cavalade includes: 'Super Bad', 'The 40 Year Old Virgin', 'Anchorman' and 'Pineapple Express'.

I really recommed giving this film a watch, because although the negative conotations that are attatched to it for being a 'teen stonner' style movie, it really does provide some mature humour. I am a big fan of Seth Rogan so i went into it knowing what to expect. Seth is not the only star of the movie though. Katherine Heigl who Co-Stars along side him prefoms the role of a pregnant women fantastically! She has really blossomed in the recent years, and has a wide variety of acting skills.

As the picture suggests, I bought the DVD which includes 3 hours of bonus features.

don't let my high aclaimation of the film be enough. I reccomend you go out of your way to see this film. I love the humour in the film and the ending. Without spoiling too much, there is a nice ending.

Josh,

well, there is not a lot to say about this, apart from it is insane people doing insanely funny things to each other/themselves, it was nomintted for several awards ad actually won one for "Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie" rated 18 this film will either make you laugh or heave.

Jackass is not a typical film, it has no plot whatsoever, unless you include Bam's promise to make his mum swear by the end of the film, there is pain, vomiting and blood all mixed with comedy.

The scenes range from alligators in the house, to toy cars being put up someones rear end..., to firework rocket skates, this film is not for the squeamish, it is very entertaining and is certainly watchable if you want a good laugh

When Kidulthood was released in 2006, it caused a minor stir for its dark depiction of teenagers in contemporary Britain. Beginning with the suicide of a girl bullied at school, it showed a society where violence, drug-taking and casual sex were rife amongst the young. As the title suggests, Adulthod has grown up a little bit. The violence, drug-taking and casual sex are still rife - but now the film comes with a conscience.

Like Kidulthood, the action is set across one eventful day. Sam is now seeking to make amends for his actions. After visiting the grave of the boy he killed, he meets his old girlfriend Claire, only to find out she's now seeing another guy. He hooks up with Lexi, cousin to Becky, who has gone crazy since the events of the first film. Meanwhile Jay is desperate to avenge the death of his friend, Trife, while Moony just wants to get on with his life as a student and forget the events of the past.

While none of the urgency of the original has been lost, what does emerge from the film is a sense of regret, as though some - if not all - the characters have begun to realise their actions have consequences. Note the touching scene where Sam returns home to find the lock changed. "You make me feel so ashamed," his mother tells him, after he busts down the door in frustration. Meanwhile, new characters like Lexi, whose only friend is her cocaine habit, also show the dire results of hanging with the wrong crowd.

Despite the downbeat tone, Adulthood is still humorous in places, such as the scene when Lexi asks Sam if he'd like a drink. "What have you got?" he replies. "Water," she says. "Might have some Um Bongo in the cupboard." Or the sequence where dope dealer Jay robs his own customer: edgy but it still raises a smile. With Jaime Winstone's character absent from the film - a great pity, as she was the most memorable thing about Kidulthood - it's moments like this that keep Adulthood alive.

This was an intense and exciting film, when one man is on a brutal persute to find his daughter, who is kidnapped in france. As a retired CIA opretive agent he is equipped with certain skills which he finds extremely usefull in this brillint action film of the year. This film in my opinion has beaten james bond and the Bourne trillogy because it was very fast pace and it was quite emotional the fact that it showed you how much he cared about his daughter.

"The Eye" is a very enjoyable movie. Sydney does see dead people. As well as fragmented memories, she has also inherited her psychic donor‘s gift/curse of being able to see people‘s deaths just before they happen. This leads to several hair–raising moments and a couple of heartbeat–skipping ones as French directors, David Moreau and Xavier Palud, put all the classic horror tricks to good use, for example the camera sticking closely to a wall before turning a corner to find… Boo! Alba is very easy on the eye (pun intended) and needs to be for the technique of repeatedly having big close–ups of her face to obscure the thing in the background to work. However, her performance here is noteworthy too, creating an interesting dynamic between Sydney and the audience in that Sydney, having just regained her sense of sight, is afraid of what she can see, whereas the audience, while sympathising with Sydney‘s situation, is afraid of what they can‘t."The Eye" is a remake of the low budget 2002 Hong Kong film of the same name and the latest in an increasingly long line of Hollywood remakes of Asian horror movies. Normally the phrase "Hollywood remake" is far more horrifying for a movie fan than anything the film may contain, but "The Eye" is the exception that proves the rule. What the so–called "Extreme" Asian movies do best is put horror into familiar modern settings, in the case of "The Eye" – an apartment building. The 2008 version replicates this success then and uses its bigger budget to build on it through tried and tested Hollywood techniques. Prime L.A. real estate will never look the same again.

Dark, grim, haunting and visionary, "The Dark Knight" is nothing short of brilliant, the best and scariest comic hero adaptation you are likely to see this summer season, and perhaps during the whole year. At least two notches above "Batman Begins," this follow-up represents Christopher Nolan's most accomplished and mature work, and mind you, he is one of the few Hollywood directors who have never made a bad picture. Celebrating his first decade as a filmmaker, from the short, small-budget and modest noir" Following," through the clever and witty post-modernist noir "Memento," through the well-acted and skillfully shot "Insomnia," through the visual extravaganza of "The Prestige," Nolan has continued to sharpen his skills and now works at the top of his form. He is a unique director for whom bigger scale, larger budget, and more polished state-of-the-art special effects translate into all-around better picture; for most directors, it's usually the other way round.
This is not just a good comic book adaptation film, its a good action film.

If it’s not a giant gorilla or lizard, it’s a huge monster, that has smaller monsters falling off it! ‘Cloverfield’ is the third film that has introduced another 100ft sightseeing monster into Manhattan, destroying everything in its path! And that’s basically the plot. However this film had a bit more of a twist, in comparison to other monster- eating -everything movies.
The unique and original concept behind ‘Cloverfield’ had the potential to take the typical Hollywood film in a new direction. Filmed in the eyes of one man, using a hand- held video camera; the film produces an interesting array of shots. Intriguing shots, where you get small glimpses of the monster, from behind a building, as the camera whizzes past it. This combined with the special effects, gave the movie an aspect that hasn’t been seen before on such a huge level. Also the film’s great lighting gave it a real sense of panic and chaos, by often showing things creeping out of shadows and darkness. This brilliant forward thinking aspect of the film, clearly set itself aside from the usual ‘Godzillary’ type film. Sadly the rest of the film didn’t follow in this unique trend.
The step- aside this film took away from the usual Hollywood stereotype movie, wasn’t far enough, and heavily clashed with the typical convention of an American action film. The film was poisoned with a sickening love interest that leaned the film into a disappointing plot. Now rather than simply watching people flee the city in chaos, you find yourself lulled into a story of man rescuing the girl he loves, against all odds. This aspect of ‘Cloverfield’ along with the typical boring comments, made by the characters, that are far too calmly spoken, taking into account there’s a monster chasing them up the street, set the film down the same road most American films take. Very quickly the brilliance of ‘Cloverfield’ wears off, and you soon find yourself rooting for the monster, hoping it will sooner than later eat the script and characters, who’s only response to everything seems to be, “Dude…What is that?”

For an American action movie, visually it has stepped out of the stereotypical box, that most monster action movies stew in. This idea of a film, shot almost like a documentary, giving the feel of a realistic approach, could have made the film brilliant. But the disappointing storyline, revolving around a love interest, along with the unnatural lines, made this film not quite the original triumph as it possibly could have been.

Director: Matt Reeves
(contains spoilers)

After the tauntingly teasing trailers that Lost producer J.J Abbrams drip-fed us for months, was Cloverfield worth the hype? For some, the reaction, “Finally! An original monster movie!” To others, this was just The Blair Witch Project meets Godzilla, with more epileptic fits. To me, it was a surprisingly engaging movie, and though not a totally original concept, one that was well executed. I always welcome a challenge to genre rules and this film had a refreshing twist. Admittedly, the characters may have been less than lovable – you have a serious problem when your movie rotates around saving the life of a girl that the audience finds boring, not to mention a bit of a bitch. In fact, the only interesting characters to me were Marlena and Hud (Lizzy Caplan and T.J. Miller), one of whom was almost always behind the camera. Beth (Odette Yustman), on the other hand – was she worth two people dieing for? Was she in fact worth everyone dieing for? Most importantly – was she worth the hot girl dieing for? My answer….a big fat No. But, that’s just me.

However, technically I thought the movie was brilliant. It’s a tough thing, creating a giant CGI monster that won’t ruin your illusion of realism, but somehow these guys did it. The special effects of this film were almost always excellent, and the monster had so much character and life…more so than some of our heroes. I’d like to know more about the monster, the poor thing. And doesn’t Abbrams just know it? If Lost is anything to go by, the rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding this movie and it’s possible sequel are just the beginning (Damn it, Abbrams, you must be a really annoying, secretive person to be friends with. “Hey, J, where’s the keys?”…yeah, have fun un-riddling that answer). Anyway, I digress.

The camera-work and lighting were also excellent. There’s a fine line between realistic but unwatchable and squeaky-clean cinema, and they trod this line very well. Another highly dangerous line was the 911 line; reminding an audience of that event is a gutsy move, but was in this case effective. Background sounds were also very well used. After having no backing score, the sudden presence of music in the apartment-block lobby creeped me out no end, and it took me a moment to even realise why. But most of all, I think the un-sung hero of this film was the editor. With a picture that consists of so many continuous shots, it’s a skilful thing to know where to cut, and the flashback snippets to Rob and Beth’s old film was a beautiful touch. It kept us focused on the task at hand, made sure that their painful yet uninteresting relationship ran throughout the heart of the film and upset us with the fact that, like their lives, the footage was steadily being destroyed by this crisis. The ending clip was shamefully cheesy, but damn it, it creeped me out anyway, and fitted with the charmingly ironic tone that was our young couple (Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman) dieing at the hands of the Americans, after everything. Geez! They should never have gotten in that helicopter – haven’t they watched I Am Legend?

All in all, a very good effort and 85 minutes of my life well spent, but I pray to God there aren’t many sequels. Pirates of the Caribbean 4? More than one High School Musical? Even ONE High School Musical?! It makes me weep, it truly does.

Recently I watched the film Cloverfield. A film about a monster attack on the city of New York. Not the most original of cities since many other films have used the ''monster attacking New York'' story line, but it seems to work pretty well anyway. One of the things that made it work is the fact that the film was shot differently than most films. It was shot from the angle of a character stuck in the situation of the plot. I liked this idea and it seemed to give the film great originality but only since not many other films shoot it like that, if many films had before it then nothing would really make this film standout and it would just be another monster flick.
The acting for this film wasn't incredible but there wasn't many floors in it either. The characters did display a lot of terror toward the situation they are in, but sometimes they seem to be calmer even with New York falling down around them. Whether this was the actors not portraying enough fear or it was written in the script that at some points they were meant to forget about the monster, I was unsure. All I know is that if there's a giant monster destroying the city, I wouldn't stop and be as calm as these so called 'normal people' were.
The city of New York was being destroyed by a huge monster. For this to be achieved on screen there was a lot of CGI used for buildings to fall down and there to be explosions. The use of CGI in this film was very well done. I found that none of it looked very bad at all through the film and the CGI did help to create the feeling that the city really was being destroyed, and in the cinema it was an even greater effect.
Overall this film was quite enjoyable if you just wanted a good destruction film, the plot is nothing special. The same old ''man trying to save woman before the monster kills her plot''. But if you wanted to know what it would feel like to be in a monster attacked city Cloverfield is quite a good one to go to. Worth a watch I believe.

Synopsis: (spoilers)

Filmed entirely in the first person, the story begins with Rob introducing day break to New York, and his friend Beth to the audience. The camera is passed onto Rob's friend Hud, who is set the task of filming Rob's leaving party.
During the party there is a power cut, and roars accompanied by explosions are heard. Having seen the mayhem from the roof top, Rob and his companions set out to find an escape route from the island.
When their escape route is destroyed by the monster, Rob and his friends attempt to cross town to reach Beth, who had parted from Rob's party in a sour mood. After reaching her apartment, they rescue Beth and escape via two separate helicopters, but are attacked once more by the monster mid-flight and Hud is killed having crash landed.
Rob and Beth, the last two survivors, hide under a park bridge, make their final testimonials, and after a couple of military bombs are dropped near by, the camera starts to malfunction, and like before in the film, it starts showing a sub-plot, with Beth's face freezing on the camera screen, as it fades to black.

Review:

Matt Reeve's 2008 experimental, mysterious horror plays with the New York Monster cliché that films such as Godzilla had previously founded, but with more to it than just any ordinary monster movie.
With the time of day this film is set, all the lighting is naturally dark, naturally eerie, with what little light there is coming from buildings in the scenes. This aids the films genre, as a dark horror story.
The monster never has it's origins introduced or explained, which helps mystify and darken the story, and with the constant first-person point of view filming, this truly is a new sort of horror, albeit based upon a worn out and classic theme.

Film Review: Mean Streets

Info:
Film Title: Mean Streets
Length: 112 mins
Director: Martin Scorsese’s
Producer: Universal

“You don’t make up your sins in church. You do it on the streets, you do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.”
The Godfather, Scarface made the mob a vicious, cut, brutal dog with a diamond necklace. Mean Streets removes the necklace. Scorsese’s grimy 1973 classic shows us crimal life lower down the food chain, were you risk getting slapped about and killed just to make a buck. Charlie Cappa (Harvey Keitel) is our anti hero, completely loyal to Jonny boy (Robert De Niro), but his insane ways keeps getting him dragged back in and Cappa follows…
Mean Streets is aggressive, raw and authentic and this is portrayed through everything, the lighting, characters, script and music: watching Keitel walk down the street to the sound of the Ronettes, or De Niro dancing solo in the street to ‘Mickey’s Monkey’, pure class.
Scorsese places these characters in a perfectly realized world of boredom and small joys, fights, death, and the certainty of mediocrity. His story emerges from the daily lives of these characters. They hang out. They go to movies. They eat, they drink, they fight, they fallout, they have women issues, it is them that make this film, all Scorsese’s does is add a big chunk of icing to a ruined cake in the form of a video camera. However I might add it contains a massively unconvincing bar fight.

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?", a spin on Homer's tale of the Odyssey, is full of humour and wit. The film, made by the Coen brothers ('No Country for Old Men' ), gives a great reinterpretation of Homer's Odyssey, setting it in the Southern States of North America during the Mississippi State Elections during the depression. George Clooney gives a great performance as the central character Everett McGill (Odysseus in the Odyssey), one of three weird and eccentric characters that escape from a chain gang and set off home... Clooney plays up the character but does not overdo it. Released in 2000, the film has amazing music and cinematic shots, and lots of humour, which hold the viewer's attention for the whole film. Nominated for two Oscars, it is a thoroughly satisfying but subtle film for all the family.

Michael Bay's most recent Blockbuster 'Transformers' was one of 2007's must see films. The film; which is nominated for three Oscars, also executively produced by Stephen Spielberg was the Sci-fi Action/Adventure epic about a war between Autobots and Deceptacons which finds its way to earth, when an unsuspected teenager (Shia LaBeouf) unknowingly holds the key to their destructive feud.

The film was based on the 1980's cartoon series which was a huge hit and generated large interest among viewers, sparking a series of toys and accessories which became readily available in shops. The thing that I find brilliant is how the two legendary directors made a kids cartoon show seem so appealing to all ages, not just the initial children's audience. I think this is because of the way they made the film a bit more sinister and visually realistic. Despite of this there are a few catchy one liners and comedy aspects of the film which satisfy the younger audience.

Although mainly being a fast paced action thriller, the film does have the love interest, as like most films do. This was played by Megan Fox (Mikaela Banes) a popular girl in their school who ends up falling for Sam. After playing different characters in smaller films and the American sitcom 'Hope and Faith', Megan finally got her chance to have a role in this big time Blockbuster.

The action scenes in the film are brilliantly directed by Michael Bay; who has also directed such memorable films such as 'Pearl Harbour' and the thriller 'The Island'. Also the wide variety of settings in the film like the Hoover Dam and New York make the film very visually entertaining to watch, no wonder it cost nearly 150 million dollars to make.

For me the film was very entertaining with stunning CGI visual effects, making the viewing experience more satisfying and making this a very worth while watch for people of any age.

By Phil Blackwell

Iron man is the next comic book movie that manages to blow its audience away with incredible elements such as soundtrack, performances, special effect and outstanding results from the director Jon Favreaus.
When a famous millionaire is kidnapped by terrorists, Tony Stark (Robert Downey) is forced to build a missile for a terrorist attack. Stark finds himself living off an electro magnet that is wedged into his chest keeping him a blink from death, as it’s preventing a shrapnel wound from killing him.
During this kidnapping Tony Stark and his other fellow kidnapped Prisoner (Yinsen) build a protective suit that can be used as a weapon and escape from the terrorists.
From there on the film becomes its usual "Shoot the bad guys and save the world" storyline.
It includes amazing graphics and a variety of pyrotechnics along with phenomenal CGI used to create the armour.
Iron Man has said to take the comic book genre to the highest level.
Without a doubt it is one of the top ten movies of 2008. A must see for all comic book movie fans.

From manga to anime, along with the last transition to live-action film. The Death Note Duology finally make’s its toll into the blockbuster network. This film was released back in 2006. Its main purpose was to bring our favourable manga characters to life and show the true meaning of the Japanese comic’s immersed plot.

Without a doubt, it did not disappoint. Death Note chronicles the life of Light Yagami, portrayed by Tatsuyama Fujiwara. As a bored prodigy teenager, he encounters the phenomenal note-book that grants him the power to kill anyone of a heart attack of whom he knows the name of and by visualizing the person’s face. The very idea of this psychological thriller has never made such a connection with its audience. A simple notebook that can eliminate any person at the user’s free will from the flick of a pen is almost too much to bear.

As the storyline roles on, another foil emerges. This time, its yet another virtuoso who has the exact intentions in confronting Light. With everyone mingling away in terror. The World’s greatest detective known as L is one of the most loveable and yet mysterious characters ever to be shown on screen. As you follow along, you will eventually begin to see the sheer ingenious plans that both L and Light have up their sleeves. The acting invoked in both characters is just as the fans would imagine from the manga. Light as a liberal constrained yet smart student and L with his cold, apathetic and meticulously obsessed demeanour.

With these two lead characters up in the stage, there was no telling how the story was going to turn out. It was practically unpredictable. The CGI produced in this film isn’t as bad as everyone would of expected. It was quite understandable due to the short schedule they had to produce both films. But in the end, they were able to lucidly create mere visualizations of the shinigami. As for the soundtracks, a lot of them were similarly composed of low-pitch suspense tones that really drew the tension out from the film. It really suited the scenes very well and it kept my interest flowing. This is what led me to the conclusion that the camera work was relatively simple and straightforward. Most of the time, the shots were focused at lengthy durations and it would always seem to pan with the characters. It also never seemed to cut too often or follow the 180 Degree rule that much. So as far as viewers are concerned, this sort of style isn’t unusual for a typical Japanese film.

In a nutshell, Death Note is a must see for those who prefer experiencing the likes of sub-genre thriller’s along with likeable characters and a solid plot. It ultimately brings the whole of Japan down to its knee’s while prodigy versus prodigy play away at their intellectual mind game. At the end of Part I, it’s the icing on the cake…

The story is based on a boy from a poor family, who comes across a beautiful young girl at a funfair, he then see's her around the small town that she is visiting to see her family.As the pair start spending a vast amount of time together, they begin to fall in love,with the pair coming from completely different backgrounds it is a shock to the audience when the pair find lots of things they share in common and soon begin to become crazy about one another.
Their strong bond progresses over the summer, whilst Allie ( Rachel McAdams ) is staying at her summer house with the family, Allie's parents however strongly disapprove of the crazy romance she shares with Noah and soon sends Allie of to school out of Noahs ( Ryan Gosling ) reach. Still Noah carries on trying to get in contact with Allie until finally, seven long years later, he gives up hope.Soon after he decided to give up, Allie then returns to Seabrook and must choose between her rich, handsome fiancee (James Marsden) and her first love, the equally handsome but not-so-wealthy, Noah.

I personally feel " The Notebook " is a fantastic film, i thoroughly enjoyed it as i personally love a tear jerker and it had a very unpredictable ending and i love the way their romance developed and their different social backgrounds forced their part, it's a romantic tale that has a fantastic twist! The notebook appeals to all age groups, as the film is set in the Second World War. The notebook presents growing up, loosing chances and the pain and problems that come with falling in love and also the happiness and the perfect fairytale ending that everyone wishes for. It's the ultimate " chic flic" or tear jerker!

The film is directed by Nick Cassavetes.

Before Cloverfield was officially released in the cinemas it had a lot of hype and it had therefore a lot to live up to.

The plot of the story is pretty simple. A twenty-something New Yorker (Rob) is leaving for Japan and his friends decide to throw a surprise leaving party for him. One of the people at this party is his friend Beth, whom he is also in love with. After a confrontation about her bringing another man to the party she leaves.

Suddenly there's a power cut, all of the party members rush outside onto the roof to see what is happening and it's there they see the head of the Statue of Liberty in the street. Inevitably there is talks of terrorist attacks and the usual screaming of panic.

The rest of the film is pretty predictable and a tiny bit boring. Rob, his brother and his girlfriend, Rob's best friend Hud (who is filming the action) and another random friend try to get away, but at the same time try and save Beth as she is in trouble. The story and events are all rather unbelievable, especially as they all stick together when they had the chance to save themselves. The rest of the film carries on with more cliches and events that have to be in a Hollywood blockbuster, raring to make millions.

The film is supposedly shot from a hand-held camera and with the constant flashbacks to a personal tape between Rob and Beth, it tugs at the heart strings and makes it a bit more personal. However, the fact that the film has emotion in it doesn't make it any better, it's still a slow film with predictable happenings and there isn't anything to it that makes it stand out, apart from the special effects which probably make the whole film and make it shocking and exciting.

Bridget Jones' Diary is a famous British 2001 film, based on the hilarious novel written by Helen Fielding. It stars Renee Zellweger alongside Colin Firth and the hunky Hugh Grant. Renee plays an overweight 30-something year old singleton, who flaunts herself at every opportunity. The title of this film gives the basic outline away. It is based around Bridget’s (Renee) single life diary that starts to alter when she begins to fall in love with her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). Her love life seems to be going smoothly. She is invited on a mini-break with Daniel and feels she has found true love at last. However her happiness with Cleaver is ruined when she finds a young skinny American sharing his bathroom. Meanwhile, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, well known for playing Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice) forms an attraction with Bridget and tried to protect her from her ex. Subsequently, Cleaver and Darcy battle over Bridget. Bridget is then faced with a predicament. Who should she choose? The ‘bona fide sex god’ Daniel or the ‘aloof looking but sensitive man’ Mark?
Considering Renee is a typical American girl she employs a passable English accent, which is very commendable. Her amazing skills as an actor and a comedienne make this film. She adapts to the role admirably and convinces the audience of her English authenticity.
Colin Firth is so use to his roles in love films that we almost believe him to act this way in true life. He portrays an honest middle-class gentleman with a snooty upper class persona.
Hugh Grant plays the duplicitous Daniel Cleaver and suits this role extremely well. His interaction with Renee is very believable. He acts in a sultry, cunning way in order to mesmerize the viewer.
I was desperate to watch this film as soon as it was released and I do not regret seeing it. I have seen this film countless times.
I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves sexy romantic comedies and a sing-a-long soundtrack.

American history x Made a big impact to anyone who has watched it. As Edward Norton plays neo-nazi skinhead hating the world and ends up in prison being hated by white people and befriended by people of other races. The tag line of the film was "His father taught him to hate. His friends taught him rage. His enemies gave him hope."
The story is narrated by Edward Norton's younger brother played by Edward Furlong.
The film shows the extent racism can reach and the way it can change people to the extent they will murder anyone who is different from them.

Edward Norton in this film ends up murdering a black man who attempts to steal his car in the middle of the night. Norton humiliates him and pushes him to the floor and makes him bite the pavement and stamps on his mouth and crushes his skull. Also during the film he raided a local supermarket in the night with a gang of white skin head and torturing anyone of another race and choking them on different foods and hitting them , even the women. This shows the extent of his hate and makes it a very powerful and shocking scene on the film and played amazingly. The actions he has performed and they way he has been brought up leads him to believe anyone of a different rave from white is scum. These thoughts carry onto his younger brother , who tells the story of this brother through is school report.

One of the most powerful scenes was when Edward Norton was in prison having a shower and was raped by white men. And It was a black man who ended up helping him and supporting him through it. Edward Norton played this scene amazingly and showed real remorse and wanted to be forgiven by this black school teacher, You felt his pain and guilt in his performance. This is where his character changed. He came home and attempted to change his family , Him and his younger brother rips down all the posters of Hitler and Nazi's.

Edward furlongs performance throughout the film was outstanding and believable. Although he was telling a story about someone else. He was the star of the film , showing every emotion .

The brothers are brought closer together when Edward Norton returns from jail. And teaches his brother what he was taught in prison. To find out It was to late ending him in Edward furlongs death in his school toilets from a shooting.

The directer Tony Kaye was very brave to make this movie but put such passion and art into it by making all flashbacks black and white. It became powerful , moving and a film that would make even the strongest minded person to have a tear in there eye. Also this film is capable to making the audience think about reality and does this really happen in other places? does it happen when our backs are turned for a second? can we be so cruel as to judge someone for color and not mind?

I believe Atonement, directed in 2007 by Joe Wright lived up to the expectations built up around it. I thought it was a dramatic and deeply moving film with a clever choice of actors and actresses and high-quality scenery.
It is the story of a romance between Cecelia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy) which is destroyed by Cecelia’s sister who accuses Robbie of a crime he did not commit.

The chemistry between Keira Knightley and James McAvoy works very well in this film and Keira Knightley’s acting which I personally thought came across as quite wooden in Wright’s previous film ‘Pride and Prejudice’, worked very well in this film and fitted the character of Cecelia perfectly. James McAvoy was also very convincing as his character and was the main focus in a lot of the most moving scenes.
The three different actors playing Briony (the younger sister) were also impressive as they managed to keep the character of Briony consistent despite the big age gaps.

The other aspects of the film I enjoyed were the music, which incorporated the sound of the type writer which is significant for a lot of the events that happen in the film. The camera work and lighting also created the right atmosphere for the film, and I thought the order of the scenes worked well as the backtracking meant the audience of the film could see different scenes from the point of view of other characters.

Overall I feel Atonement captures the essence of the 1930’s and Second World War while using contemporary filming techniques to give the film a more modern edge.
In conclusion, an enjoyable and captivating film.

The story starts by introducing the character Charlie Simms (O'Donnell) is a student at boarding School, but unlike his friends, he has very little money, and has to work through the thanksgiving holidays. He gets a job "babysitting" a retired Army Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Pacino).At first this guy seems to be amazingly arrogant, but it's a defense mechanism. He is fed up with life after an accident with a grenade that lost him his sight.

Before seeing this film, I knew it would be a very interesting film, as I enjoyed most of Al Pacino's work . After sitting through it though, I can fully understand why he won the 1992 Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards for this film. If I hadn't have known that he could see, I wouldn't have been able to tell that he was acting! That is just how good a portrayal he makes of the bitter, twisted Army Officer.

This film is absolutely unmissable. the film gets very serious, but it is perfectly balanced, with a solid plot, and an outstanding script. Which is perfectly demonstrated near the end when Pacino gives his speech which I found very interesting and also true.

The Butterfly Effect

I saw this film a few years back and decided it was one of my favourite films. I have recently re-watched it which reconfirmed its place as one of my favourites. It is a very complex film and it is not at all easy going but it is definitely interesting and I think that the story line is amazing. I think that, what partly helped this great film, were the actors amazing performances. I especially loved Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smarts performance.
The storyline was incredible and extremely moving, after watching this film I felt emotional and a little depressed probably because of the story line which was so traumatic. Nonetheless this makes me enjoy the film even more and want to watch it over and over so that I can begin to try and understand the characters.
The basic outline of the movie is about a young man (Ashton Kutcher) that blocks out harmful memories of significant and awful events of his life. As he gets older, he finds a way to recall these horrific lost memories as he learns this, he also learns a supernatural way of changing what happened, subsequently changing the lives of him and every one around him.
The film did not follow a predictable story line and was not linear as it kept skipping back and forth in time. I think that this was a very effective way to portrait this horrifically wonderful plot. The film has alternative endings, which is very strange, one of them ruins the film but the main one, which was shown in cinemas, was the best. I don’t think that they should have made so many endings to such a good film because it confuses people.
This film is immaculately shot and directed. The lighting is perfect all the way through; it’s never too dark or light. It really creates the right mood for the film.
The film has a great sound track which really suits it because of the lyrics and feel of the track. It plays in the last scene and brilliantly ended an amazing film.

By Sheridan Goff

Terminator 2 is the second part of James Cameron's Terminator quadrilogy (as of 2009 with the release of Terminator salvation), this was released in 1991 and is also the best in the series so far, this is because for the early 1990's the CGI was extremely good, the story was original and it is just portrayed so well by Mr Cameron.
I am not a big fan of sequals, but this film completely changed my feelings towards them. There is outstanding choreography in the fighting, amazing wit throughout and just sheer excitement from start to finish.
Settings and locations were brilliant, ranging from mexico to Cyberdyne Syestems HQ (a military company designing the Terminators.)
The choice of cast is brilliant, especially Edward Furlong who plays John Connor (the film's protagonist) and Arnie himself who even cracks a few jokes in this one.

This film is a must see for all sci-fi lovers, but make sure you watch the less entertaining 1st one before hand because otherwise the plot can be difficult to grasp, this is the only flaw of the film.

I relly enjoyed this film and could watch it indefinately because it is so brilliant.

The 1996 Hunchback of notre dame is certainly one of Disneys darker films. Featuring the voices of Tom Hulce (Amadeus), Demi moore, Tony Jay and Kevin Kleine, it is the fantastic tale of Quasimodo, the deformed bellringer.
Although not as dark as Victor Hugos orginal Notre dame de paris, the film still touches on the themes of lust, Jealosy and religious fanaticism. This means that the film is enjoyable for children and adults.
The animation in the film is exceptional and portrays the cathedral of Notre dame in stunning beauty, not only the cathedral but the city of 15th century paris. During the scene where the character of Esmeralda (Demi moore/heidi mellenhauser) is singing 'God help the outcasts' She moves around the cathedral and the audience can see almost every aspect of it, by the end of the song she is standing underneath the huge window and the light shining through shows a beautiful pattern on the floor.

While on the subject of songs, the music in this film is also another great aspect. The composer Alan menken has worked on the musical score for many disney films, and the music in this film is as good as any of his others. However, some of the songs do seem to drag on a bit and perhaps take up too much of the film. None the less the use of latin style hymns in some songs gives a really religious tone to the film.

More than ten years old, This film is as amazing today as it ever has been and is something definatly worth seeing again and again.

Clerks 2
Directed by Kevin Smith
2006

Clerks 2 rejoins Dante Hicks and Randal Graves several years after the events of the original Clerks. Due to the fact that this is the sequel to Smith's film debut and the first film of the ViewAskewniverse franchise, Smith's cult fan-base were expecting something special, something that would stay true to the appeal of his other films (me included). The fans of the ViewAskewniverse were not disappionted, Clerks 2 maintains the odd and somewhat disgusting charm created by the films that preceded it. Dante and Randal are still as amusing and enjoyable as they were in 1994, as well as the two protagonists the film also features the ever popular Jay and Silent Bob played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith. As well as the classic characters from the original, Clerks 2 introduces Becky, a co-worker of Dante and Randal at Mooby’s as well as Elias, another co-worker who’s innocence and religion is the source of much mirth for Randal.

Despite the facts that the film is set in a different environment to the original and the storyline is more structured, the off colour humour and general tone of the film makes it have a very distinct, similar feel to the original. I would brand this film a must see for fans of Smith’s films, of course this isn’t only for ViewAskew fans, it can be highly enjoyed by comedy fans of all kinds.

The Third Man was directed by Carol Reed in 1949, it is rightly considered a classic within the film industry and has won numerous awards since its release, including an academy award in 1951 for best cinematography. The masterpiece benefits from a colourful cast, intriguing story (Based on Graham Greene's novel) both psychologically and historically and a stimulating music score.
The story is based in post war Vienna, the city is divided into zones (English, French, Russian.)
An American pulp fiction writer by the name of Holly Martins is visiting his friend Harry Lime, on his arrival Holly discovers that His friend has been killed in an accident; choosing to follow up the mystery behind his death Holly learns things about Lime and morality he never deemed believable.
The film's symbolism, ethics, messages and values are represented in the imbeccable cast, zither soundtrack, unbeatable imagery and Greene's original storyline and ideology for the stunning success.
The Film has undoubtedly aged well and still plays a huge part in modern film making, directing, acting and story writting, let alone the morality which we live by.

"The Third Man" was directed by Carole Redd and released 4 years after the second world war in 1949. The film is a priceless classic being critically acclaimed winning numerous awards such as the britsh academy award, cannes film festival (1949) and was also selected the top british film of the 20th century.

The story sets off with american western writer Holly Martins ariving in war torn vienna, looking for his friends harry lime who has offered him employment. However, soon after his arrival, he gets plunged into an adventure of mystery, action and romance. The "bombed about" streets create the perfect envoiroment for setting this noir masterpeice. Throughout the dark allyways and funnel neck streets give you a feeling on unease and suspense as throughout you never know what will be around the corner.

The films mise-en-scene is also very creative and builds upon my last point. Throughout there are canted camera angles, shots obscured by stair banisters and lighting perfecting the gloomy shadows of the characters and also the feel of the aftermath of the true horrors of the second world war.

This film is an overall classic, great directing, great cast and a great set. I definatly recommend this film to any lover of noir style films, students of art or anyone into a good mystery film now and then.

jam x

The Third Man is set in post war Vienna. The war stricken city acts as a backdrop for the black market deeds that were rife in cities across Europe in the 1940's. The Third Man focuses on one of the perhaps more sinister events of this era.

The story is thick with themes of morality, survival and judgement. These were all topics that would have been on the minds of citizens everywhere in wars aftermath. when everybody was trying to get by. The political stanze of the film is played down alot but the structure for a debate on super powers is definately evident within the film. The city is split into 5 sectors russian/british/american/french and the international sector in the middle of it all.

It is evident that the actors and actresses that were chosen to play the lead characters were well thought out (this can also been seen in the extras in the dvd) For example the high and mighty Orson Welles playing the imoral blackmarket fiend. His personality shining through, his ego entwined with the character's.

i thouroughly enjoyed this film and suggest anybody who enjoys a 'not your average noir' to go and buy it.

'The Third Man' (Reed, 1949) set in post war Vienna and highlights the crumbling morality of the time. This political noir is established as being under rule of WW2 allies (Britain, France, America and Russia) following the geo-political history well though the political context is used mainly as an atmospheric backdrop; it does shade the film’s characterisations, and to my understanding is a fairly accurate depiction of post war Vienna.
An American writer of pulp western novels, Holly Martins, arrives in Vienna on a work offer from an old school friend Harry Lime. Once there he learns that Lime was killed in a car accident. Unconvinced by official accounts, he remains in Vienna to explore the strange circumstances behind Lime’s death. Once their he meets Harry's ex-girlfriend Anna Schmidt who is living in Vienna using illegal papers Harry supplied her with. Continuing on with the film Holly learns the truth about Harry's life. At first sceptical, he slowly comes to accept the harsh truth of Harry Lime as a ruthless black marketer involved in the underground trafficking of stolen, diluted penicillin (that caused the death of many sick children). The film concludes with a mercy killing from Holly to Harry, after Harry realised their was no escaping.
'The Third Man' is a fine example of British film noir. Reed uses gothic visual touches such as subtly canted low/high camera angles, ominous shadows, and dank, fog-filled streets to depict Vienna as a sinister maze.

The Third Man is considered to be a classic of british cinema, not to mention in the entire history of film-making. It came from a golden age of post-war british cinema, between the years of 1944-1950, where inventive, sharp and technically proficient films appeared abundantly. What makes The Third Man special amidst other films is the true character of the film. Taking stylistic elements from film noir and italian neo-realism, a slightly subversive comedic factor and sharp, crisp dialogue, it creates something which feels above and beyond the simple sum of its parts. The performance are the real standout here, with a perfect cast including Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton and Trevor Howard, who are able to express the roles to much deeper and more pensive meaning. Carol Reed and Graham Greene appear to work flawlessly together in creating a narratively unique vision and the film as a whole represents some of the strongest filmmaking ever produced

The Third Man, directed by Carol Reed, is a british film noir that plays on the key elements that make a movie a film noir and as a result create stylish camera work mixed with a gripping plot.

The story begins when bumbling american Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) enters a recently bombed out Vienna to see an old friend (orson Wells) about a job offer, only to find out he was killed, and the facts dont add up. So with the help of his friends wifes and a british soldier, Holly attempts to work out the riddle surronding 'the third man.'

With te sterotypical plot lines of corruption and murder and the stereotypical key characters like the 'femme fatale' This film seems like another run of the mill film noir, however on second glance this film is nothing short of a work of art. All the shots are planned out so perfectly so even the slightest tilt of the camera can deliver a feel for the sate of mind or senario the film and its actors are portraying. The Cast are all superb and convincing, with some very memorable adlibbed parts on orson wells' behalf. And the bouncy zither musc makes every scene stand out

great film.. shame about the advert.

This film, on its release' was heavily hyped, not just because it's loony tunes, but also every other film which brings back classic cartoon characters like 'who framed roger rabbit', 'the adventures of rocky and Bullwinkle' and of course 'space jam' have all huge family successes and had flawless scripts and memorable parts, however this film..well...

The film has a very cliche plot of daffy duck being sick of playing second fiddle to bugs bunny and has him quit his job as a cartoon character and move in with failed stuntman Drake (Brendan Fraser) who then both set out on a mission to find some ancient artifact in order to save the world, with bugs bunny in hot pursuit wanting daffy back.


Now this film is no space jam, but it does have some funny bits in it which kept me and my five year old brother happy for a few minutes. however the winning formular of daffy duck and bugs bunny has been tampered with and as a result you get serious emotional scene after serious emotinal scene about daffy ducks jealousy, and no one wants to see a cartoon duck with a lisp moan for ages about hows he'll never be as great as a lanky rabbit.

Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, pushes the brains boundaries in wha can be classed as vigorious and complicated storylines.

Nameless Edward Norton is a man in remorse, disappointed with everything. He turns to support groups, all of them, to fuel his need for "rebirth" as he feels heightened for sharing his pain with others, but lying about it. Ultimately, he creates Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who is everything he wants to be. He'a a rebel, a vagabond without a cause. Norton sees him as his new best friend, when really he is viewing his own Tyler-style life who nobodys eyes. He creates Fight Club, where men are free to fight each other for no reason, and where all are equal. When he comes to terms with this, he fights back against himself, finally shooting himself before his destruction of major bank and credit card companies.

What is a complicated storyline is shown well with interesting cinematography, directing and acting skills, as everything is timed to a tee, especially the scene in the house when Tyler and Maria (Helena Bonham Carter) never be in the same room,but both are talking to Edward.

Its not always easy on the eyes, but Fight Club is one of Finchers bets films. Deosnt beat Se7en though.

Film Review

Superbad (Greg Mottola, 2007)

This sweetly absurd high school comedy “Superbad”, Is a funny tale of three horny, geeks in high school trying to stay together in their last year of high school and last year of a ludicrously dependant friendship before moving off to separate colleges therefore having to contemplate life apart. Evan is an adorable boy, and smart but seems to be terrified of the opposite sex, whereas his best mate Seth seems to be foul-mouthed, impulsive, and is only obsessive over girls. Also tagging along is their awkward third wheel, a bespectacled wanksta named Fogell a.k.a. “McLovin.” Attempts to try to defeat the fact that they are all still virgins ends in a misguided attempt to advance on their objects of affection in just a panic-driven night.
Actor Seth Rogan that also co-writed and starred in this film, obviously put input from his other comedies that he has starred in, for instance “knocked up”, He keeps the same type of humour used the film and introduces it into this but using his own geeky twists. This comedy of a invigorating nature, about the various indignities that “coolness” demands, be it drunkenly smacking your head into the only interested girl’s face or even befriending a load of cokeheads in a basement that insist you sing to them some soul music. When Superbad nudges fun at that pointlessness, its appealing. Beyond the central arguing trio, there are gauzy areas, such as the pair of dumbass cops (one of them being Seth Rogan) and the usual lust objects.

As part of your work on audiences and producers (FS2) you should watch at least one film a week. You should try and link your viewing be it by director, actor or genre.

You should then write a reflective review for the film, the types of things you should include are:

• The name of the film?
• Who directed the film?
• Who starred in the film? What impact did these actors have on the film?
• Where did you watch the film? e.g. at home, in the cinema etc...
• Who did you watch the film with?
• What format was the film in? e.g. DVD, download, screened on TV etc...

This modern remake of a British classic film has American corporate sponsorships written all over it. Firstly, there is only the beginning sequence of the film shown in Italy, and its not even Turin. its Venice!!! Thats half a country away!

Secondly, the film has no pinache, cajones, etc. (obvious Italian stereotypes there). Its not the kind of film you would see time and time again. Admittedly, I liked the performances played by Mos Def (in the upcoming Be Kind Rewind film) and Seth Green (comedian, Family Guy and other cartoon voices) who are more often seen as the kind of actors playing the 50s "Gee-Jolly-Gazoodles Mr Man!" version of a sidekick. But certain aspects, such as the inclusion of a commonly seen nemesis on Charlies part, and the getaway in what are now underpowered vehicles compared to what may have been more suitable in my eyes (Humvee, gunship, tank maybe?.)

The stunts, although incredibly unlikely as they are, do look somewhat impressive. The second team SFX guys really pulled it off with a helicopter in a parking lot, and blowing the road from udnerneath a gold-laden truck.

I do not detest this film. I am regularily a fan of Edward Norton, Mark Wahlberg and Seth Green. But these were definitely not there greatest films to date.

Film: Big Trouble In Little China
Director: John Carpenter
Actors: Kurt Russell, Kim Catrall, Victor Wong
Format: Downloaded from internet but burnt to DVD
LINK TO Tremors: Both feature Victor Wong

Once again, this is another film film had already seen. However, the version I watched was an extended version that re included deleted footage from the DVD and the Betamax version of the film. I thought that by watching this I would enjoy the film much more, and as a result I did. The deleted added more depth to the story and made the film make more sense. However, the betamax footage was basically what the audience was thinking but expressed through characters E.G After Kurt Russell's character beats up a bunch of men, Kim Catrall's character says "well done". Some of the footage was a bit pointless but this is the only way I was going to see the film in its original state. Since I downloaded it from the internet, I was a bit sceptical about the quality of footage. The main film was ripped form DVD so it was in it's best form, but deleted footage varied and it was obvious which footage was from Betamax.

The film itself is a pure action flick with all the standard one liners and fights you expect from an action movie. The film has an original plot, with some of it acutally based on Chinese mysticism so it isn't all what it seems.

Rating: 9/10

I love action movies and I have to admit, this one is one of my favourites. The deleted footage made the film more enjoyable and is only chance I will get to see the film in a finished state...

At the weekend i was veggin (quiet night in) and felt like watching a couple of dvds, sifting through my collection i came across Kill Bill volume 2 which was definatly the film hit i needed and is also my prefered of the 2 volumes.

Directed by Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill vol.2 (2004) is the sequal to Vol.1 where we see "the bride" (Uma Therman) seek out more revenge on the foes that almost killed her at her wedding ceromony and putting her in a coma for six monhs. Throughout the film we see her journey through her eyes killing as she goes. Despite getting buried alive, beaten up and shot, her bloody rampage brings her success as she manages to cross of the 2 remaining assassins, including Bill himself at the climax.

The acting is startingly good and Thurman does another great job as the rampaging Bride and continues to build up her amazing track record. Any fan of her other films and acting should definatly put this film as a priority.


When i watch a film i also like a good soundtrack. Films such as donnie darko, go and garden state for example. This film definatly meets my standard of having a great soundtrack, just like its prior.

Overall i advise anyone to see this who hasnt as its just simple amazing and ywet another masterpiece created by QT

By Jam

I watched No Country For Old Men by the Coens, also they have done The Ladykillers,

I thought that No Country was quite a good film which had a simple plot.
The Coens developed the characters, and their feeling very well as well as doing some good sets and set pieces.
Everything rolled into one so perfectly, with a cat-and-mouse of Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chirgurh, which became the story's centre. With other of sub-plots which roll into the themes of the films. Although good, i felt the ending was a bit abrupt.
There were no expensive actors except Tommy Lee, no exspesive sets and yet everything felt authentic.
I would recommend this to any person with a feel for films.

ChazD.

This classic British crime thriller shows what was capable back in the late 60's, when special effects like green-screening and CGI was barely a concept. Michael Caine leads a small team of theives and drivers to steal $4 million of gold bullion from under the noses of the Turin Police.

Scenes like the Mini chase scene and having the bus teatering on the edge of the cliff really sets the Italian Job apart from other movies at the release time. With no CGI, the film looks like a believable story, compared the the Star Wars trilogy, which was just a figment of Lucas imagination.

Directed by Peter Collinson, the whole movie (save the first half hour) was filmed on location, and adds a new meaning to British pride, involving Enlish gang leaders, Mafia, and three small hatchbacks racing across he roof of Italy, this film adds comedy to one of the best robbery films of last century. It literally leaves you on a cliffhanger.

The usual suspects is a film about drug dealing, the group of people that the film is based around are hired to do 'jobs' for people who are mostly in the drug business.it starts with a police line-up which appears completly random. When all five of these people are suddenly aproached by a 'lawyer' respresenting a mysterious man, who has a made a name for being very dangerous and very powerful, yet no one knows if this man really exists.
These five people are hired by the mysterious man to go aboard a boat carrying drugs and stop it, steal the money and run, the job is worth $91 million.
Something goes wrong though, there is no drugs, and suddenly this mysterious man who hired these people appears and starts killing.

This film is very cleverly put together and directed (by Bryan Singer), the film is a bit confusing and makes you think. This film is one of my favorites, the way that most of the film is a police interview, and the end that is considered one of the best twist plots in film history make this film one of the best.

Kevin Spacey is the main character bringing his acting into the film, and giving it that certain quality that makes it good. The directors clever slotting of everything together to make it make sense in the end giving the film the characteristics of a cleverly made in depth film.
Eoin O'Kelly.

Both The Big Lebowski and Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson) star Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore. What's interesting about the film is that it exhibits their ability to completely antithesis the previous role. In Lewbowski, Hoffman plays a sycophantic assistant to the rich Lebowski character. Here he plays a loser struggling as a care worker, who is kind and sympathetic. Moore, in Lebowski plays a free-wheeling, eccentric artist, plays an uptight irate wife a of a millionaire.

The film itself is complete genius. It consists of heavily interweving storylines set in the San Fernando Valley, which range from paranoia, to cancer, to insecure celebrities and young geniuses. What I feel Anderson is really trying to talk about here is chance and coincidence, which are heavy themes in the film. My initial reaction was that of unease, as the idea of a three hour film with several plots sounded messy and too full-on, but after watching, I found that these plot lines weave together into a dazzling and amazing piece of cinema.

I feel like Anderson as completely shrunk other writer-directors by seemlessly interlinking complex stories in such a film. Nevertheless, this film is absolutely incredible and I would recommend it to any body who loves true drama.

Knocked up- Judd Apatow(2007)

Ben Stone a fun loving stoner and party animal, never expected his night with the hot aspiring TV presenter Alison to result in a sozzeled cock-up which finishes with an unwanted pregnancy and one of the year’s best comedy.Similar to Judd Apatow’s other directorial debut “40-year old virgin”, Knocked up subjects us to a sneaking peak at the gynaecologist’s, sex during pregnancy and crowning, but also gives us a insight to a moving relationship between imperfect characters. The film shows an insight into each other’s lives with the contrast of being an adult to still growing up, since Ben still lives with his roommates that don’t really work except on effectively a porn website.a well established ensemble give great gags but also a moving sense of affection.

Ghost – Jerry Zucker (1990)

A super natural love story staring Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Ghost is a genre bending blockbuster of a supernatural romantic drama. The difference between this film and a cheesy chick flick is that the young couple is allowed a brief yet memorable moment of on screen passion; and the thing that comes between them is death. This creates a real and emotional connection between the audience and characters. A serious tear jerking film where Patrick Swayze, who often has a corpse like acting ability is ideal for the role of the murdered boyfriend who learns to use his ghostly powers. Demi Moore is the grieving girlfriend who displays the emotional range of a teaspoon. However Whoopi Goldberg is there to add some glamour and is brilliant with abetting the young but separated lovers with her newly discovered psychic ability. Real credit must go to Bruce Joel Rubin for an excellent script of a minor mystic romance.

Link: Maggie Gyllenhaal stars in both Sherry baby and Donnie Darko.

Donnie Darko, directed by Richard Kelly.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) a talented but troublesome adolescent, is posessed with terrifying visions that only he alone knows the true meanings of. One of the more disturbing visions consists of Donnie witnessing the end of the world. With help from various characters including his soulmate Gretchen (Jena Malone) and a 6 foot bunny rabbit called Frank, Donnie sets out on the a mysterious journey to unravel the strange occurrences affecting all he knows before it's too late.

The film has an impressive cast including: Drew Barrymore, Katherine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Mary McDonnell and Naoh Wyle. Not forgetting brother and sister act Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The cast definatly helps make the film more appealing, i know this because that is what originally attracted me to the film.

Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Donnie Darko highlights his amazing acting abilitly. His performancec here led him to be nominated for an Indepedant Spirit award for best actor and also led him to win countless excellent reviews. Another actor that i feel contributes a great performance to the film is Drew Barrymore. Barrymore plays the role of Donnie's teacher Karen Pomeroy, who's teaching methods are taken negatively by her collegues and parents of students. Barrymore's performance is really gripping and quiet uncomfortably strange at times. Both her and Gyllenhaa's performancesl make the film highly watchable and enjoyable.

I watched the film at home on DVD with my friend. I found the film more enjoyable watchinng it with my friend as there were parts of the film that i didnt understand preivously and that he explained to me and vice-verser. I would reccomend this film to friends however i feel that only an audience that has a interst in cult movies can really understand and enjoy it to its full potential.

Although there are parts of the film that some viewers may find confusing. The film is "Strange, different, beautiful and compelling". Donnie Darko is a cult classic that will continue to confuse and bring enjoyment to many audiences.

Film: Tremors
Director: Ron Underwood
Actors: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Victor Wong
Format: DVD
LINK TO Aliens: Gale Anne Hurd acted as producer on both movies

I would to say from the begining, I love this movie. This film is very straight forward, it doesn't rely on any over complicated plots, or for that matter any plot at all. This is the plot given by IMDB.com:

"A small town gradually becomes aware of a strange creature which picks off people one by one. But what is this creature, and where is it? At the same time, a seismologist is working in the area, she detects tremors . The creature lives underground, and can 'pop up' without warning. Trapped in their town, the town-folk have no escape"

See, told you it was simple! The film has some great effects but they do look very dated due to what we have seen in films from recent years like Freddy Vs. Jason and other films of this nature.

I liked this film and have been unable to track down the 2nd and 3rd movies but I would advise people not to go near the 4th. The film has some great acting in it and is thoroughly enjoyable. I had already seen the film before, like the others I have reviewed, and it hasn't lost anything through multiple viewings.


Rating: 8/10

This movie is tremendous fun, well cast cast, beautiful shots of scenery, buts its over a bit too quick and looks a bit dated by todays standards...

Linked to Sweeney Todd as they both have the actor Timothy Spall in them.


I really love this film as i have read the books and watch each film as it comes out at the cinema. This has to be my favourite out of all the Harry potter films so far. This is for many reasons. Firstly the amount of talented actors and actresses such as timothy spall, David Tennant and Maggie Smith grew and i find that recognisable faces whos performances you can rely on to be enjoyable to watch, make films easier to understand and enjoy fully. For example.
secondly i love the way this film shows the darker side to fantasy. The costumes are all picked to depict characters personalities. Thirdly i like it because it gives an audience what it wants, a film that has a beginning a middle and and end but that will keep going if you want it to. Recognisable and easy to relate to characters and it looked good too.

Linked to Shark Tale as both are produced by Dreamworks.


I went to see this at the cinema during the weekend. The film is certificated as an 18 because it has outright violence in it, but i thought that it could have been a 15 easily. The violence is not made to look realistic, the only really gory bit is where the lady is thrown in the fire and you have to watch her burn. The certificate should mean a smaller audience as you are looking at adults who also like musical thrillers. i think many cinemas turned a blind eye to this certificate, by letting under 18's into the film. This may be because they knew otherwise they may not get a very big audience.

Overall I was disappointed by this film, although it looked really good; the costumes were beautiful, the use of colours was amazing, the shots were well planned (so it seemed) and it was all in context to the historical time period. The plot was thin, and although this is a Thriller so nothing is supposed to be resolved, the lack of closure on some subjects such as joanna and the sailor, left me feeling as if there should be more