30 December 2007

If... 2/5 (R)

Ocean's 12 2.5/5 (R)

Not as bad as I thought it would be but it steel feels like a DTV cash in by some hack director.

The Polar Express 2.5/5 (R)

All a but too creepy really

Serendipity 3/5 (R)

25 December 2007

Finding Nemo 5/5 (T)

Even without giving it my full attention this is still an outstanding film

21 December 2007

Knocked Up 3/5 (D)

High expectations weren't met but still a good film.

14 December 2007

11 December 2007

The Manchurian Candidate 3/5 (R)

Loses it's way after a major plot point but just about recovers. Great performances throughout though.

09 December 2007

08 December 2007

Hellboy 2.5/5 (R)

Pretty much the definition of an average film.

07 December 2007

The Piano Teacher 2/5 (R)

Maybe I was expecting this to be too good but I was just bored throughout.

04 December 2007

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu 4/5 (R)

Slow start but amazing finish.

25 November 2007

24 November 2007

23 November 2007

Ratatouille 3.5/5 (C)

Somewhat disappointing.

18 November 2007

American Gangster 3/5 (C)

Great ending but does nothing that interesting on the way

10 November 2007

09 November 2007

04 November 2007

Heima 4/5 (C)

Mesmerisingly beautiful.

01 November 2007

Halloween ?/5 (T)

Seems unfair to rate this becuase it was just on in the background and I think I fell asleep a few times towards the end

31 October 2007

24 October 2007

Day Watch 3/5 (C)

Disappointingly lacks any of the things that made Night Watch special but still somehow pulls itself together for a satisfying climax.

21 October 2007

A Mighty Heart 4/5 (C)

Nightwatch 3/5 (R)

Second time around it definitely seemed to be a case of style over substance.

13 October 2007

Black Sheep 4/5 (C)

A thoroughly entertaining experience which is only let down by losing it's way somewhat towards the end and some clunky lines and acting.

11 October 2007

Control 3/5 (C)

It looks amazing (but what modern black and white film doesn't?) and is full of wonderful performances but until the great, if inevitable, final scenes it rarely amounts to anything more than the standard music biopic.

03 October 2007

29 September 2007

27 September 2007

Hallam Foe 4.5/5 (C)

Simply wonderful.

Don't Look Back 3/5 (R)

Some interesting insight (the fee negotiation being a surprising favourite) but not that great a film.

26 September 2007

Death Proof 3.5/5 (C)

Moments of brilliance but drags out too long, can't help but feel it would be better in it's original Grindhouse form

16 September 2007

Paris, je t'aime 3/5 (C)

A few of these short films are great, all are watchable but some seem rather pointless.

13 September 2007

Atonement 4/5 (C)

The wonderful ending makes it seem better than it probably is. It's still a fantastic film (and adaptation) let down by some boring bits in the middle.

27 August 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum 4.5/5 (C)

Fantastic. I'm still not convinced by Greengrass' frantic camera movement though.

17 August 2007

The Bourne Supremacy 3.5/5 (D)

Slightly disappointing compared to Identity but still better than most films in this genre

15 August 2007

The Bourne Identity 5/5 (D)

I watched this again in preparation for seeing Ultimatum next week. I remembered it was a good film but I didn't realise it was this good. You can probably pick holes in the plot if you tried to but everything else is done so amazingly well.

14 August 2007

Sherrybaby 3/5 (C)

Average story, wonderful performances.

11 August 2007

The Prestige 4/5 (D)

Doesn't have the same impact on a second viewing but still a solid great film.

Following 4.5/5 (R)

Fantastic early film from Christopher Nolan

Transformers 2/5 (C)

There may well be a good film in there but Michael Bay has transformed it into a turgid mess.

10 August 2007

Dogtown and Z-Boys 4/5 (R)

Everything a documentary should be.

08 August 2007

Die Hard 4.0 3/5 (C)

Not quite pointless but not that great either. It's best to try and ignore the silly plot because it just gets in the way of the action. At times it's too ridiculous (all of the jet plane)which is irritating but at least Kevin Smith is fantastic in his small role. Overall it just made me think how good a 24 movie should be.

31 July 2007

From Russia With Love 2/5 (R)

On the basis of this I'm still not a Bond fan.

28 July 2007

The Simpsons Movie 3.5/5 (C)

Could have been better but could have easily been so much worse.

The more time that passes since seeing it the more fondly I'm remembering it.

23 July 2007

Man On Fire 3/5 (R)

OK until the man is on fire at which point it becomes a boring action film. Nice subtitles though. Oh and I'm now convinced that Dakota Fanning is an adult with a growth defect or some kind of body swapping experiments have been taking place somewhere.

22 July 2007

A Matter of Life and Death 4.5/5 (C)

The Road To Guantanamo 4/5 (R)

Cabin Fever 2.5/5 (R)

Starts off well but ends up a mess, almost as bad as having a flesh eating virus.

20 July 2007

19 July 2007

Ginger Snaps Back 2.5/5 (R)

It's alright but disappointing compared to the previous two films in the series.

10 July 2007

Tell No One 4/5 (C)

Another showcase of what Hollywood should be doing instead of churning out pointless franchises.

06 July 2007

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby 2/5 (D)

Too silly, in an unfunny way, and not that interesting. There are two or three laughs to be had towards the end but they arrive too late to make this a comedy.

20 June 2007

Starter For Ten 4/5 (D)

Charmingly wonderful.

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man 2.5/5 (C)

Some interesting insights and listening-heads but too long and didn't convert me to Walker like I assumed it would.

19 June 2007

12 Monkeys 4/5 (R)

Ghosts 2.5/5 (R)

Disappointing. Until the cockle picking scenes towards the end most of the film is unsatisfyingly average.

10 June 2007

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner 4/5 (R)

Memories of Murder 3.5/5 (R)

Great film, let down slightly by a slow pace and lengthy running time.

09 June 2007

The Wizard of Oz 5/5 (C)

Simply wonderful.

08 June 2007

Waking Life 3/5 (R)

Freaky, in a good way, and quite interesting. May have dozed of a few times which actually ended up enhancing the dream like quality of the film.

05 June 2007

28 Weeks Later 4.5/5 (C)

Intense and (possibly) superior sequel. This, along with Sunshine and This Is England are really highlighting the grim state of Hollywood at the moment.

03 June 2007

Half Nelson 3/5 (C)

Fantastic ending to an average film.

31 May 2007

Zodiac 4/5 (C)

Good solid story, great performances and wonderful cinematography. It's quite depressing the cinemas are saturated with dross like Pirates and there appears to be no real effort to show films like this.

20 May 2007

Monster House 3/5 (D)

The motion capture is a bit freaky, so it's like watching live action only you know it isn't. The film had the potential to be a great mixture of The 'burbs and The Goonies but sadly never really reaches that potential and ends up being a bit silly.

17 May 2007

Fast Food Nation 3/5 (C)

Engaging first half but then then it seems to unnecessarily drag on.

15 May 2007

Idiocracy 3.5/5 (D)

The fact that this never got a proper cinema release only goes to show how close to the portrayed future we actually are.

14 May 2007

This Is England 5/5 (C)

Brilliant from start to finish.

12 May 2007

The Aristocrats 4/5 (R)

Still great but not as good without an audience (especially one with people who'll walk out in disgust)

08 May 2007

Sunshine 4.5/5 (C)

A wonderful film let down only by a messy ending. Now that some time has passed, it doesn't seem as bad as I initially thought but that could be because I've consciously tried to forget/block how it was executed. If only somebody had piped up and pointed out how silly it was I perhaps could have given it full marks.

01 May 2007

13 April 2007

The U.S. vs. John Lennon 3/5 (R)

Dave Chappelle's Block Party 3/5 (R)

Not that bothered by the music (although The Fugees appearance did seem special) but once again made me think that I would like to work in event management.

08 April 2007

Braindead 4/5 (R)

300 3/5 (C)

Slow to get going but once the battle starts it's quite good fun.

04 April 2007

The Magnificent Seven 3/5 (R)

I've never been much of a fan of westerns and this did nothing to change my opinion. It just failed to keep my interest throughout and I just kept thinking that I'd rather be watching The Seven Samurai again.

29 March 2007

Bottle Rocket 3/5 (R)

A good film but also a big disappointment after hearing it praised so much and so often at Filmspotting.net

27 March 2007

Inland Empire 3/5 (C)

Absolutely no idea what was going on. It managed to keep me interested throughout it's 3 hour running time and with my dislike of excessive running times it means it had to be doing something right.

25 March 2007

Heaven 3/5 (T)

Not as good as I remembered.

24 March 2007

Serenity 4/5 (D)

When I saw it at the cinema I hadn't seen Firefly but still thought it was one of the best films of that year. Since then I've seen the series and thought that could make the film even better; it didn't. It's still a great film though.

22 March 2007

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.5/5 (R)

Probably not that bad but I got bored and distracted and ended up only half watching it.

18 March 2007

Letters From Iwo Jima 3/5 (C)

Blah, blah, blah. War is futile. Blah, blah, blah. We're all the same really. Blah, blah, blah. I know all this and don't especially want to have to sit through another 2.5 hours of film to be told it again. Even if it is a well made film like this.

14 March 2007

The Science of Sleep 4/5 (C)

Watching this feels like you are stuck in a dream yourself. Never being entirely sure what is going to happen next but always being delighted at what does.

06 March 2007

Black Book 4.5/5 (C)

Tadpole 3.5/5 (R)

I really like this kind of film, not entirely sure why, and watching it late at night somehow seems like the best time to watch it.

04 March 2007

The Last King Of Scotland 4/5 (C)

The Long Kiss Goodnight 3/5 (R)

(Started watching last night and finished this morning)

03 March 2007

The American President 3/5 (R)

It's interesting to watch this now and spot the seeds of The West Wing.

02 March 2007

Hot Fuzz 4.5/5 (C)

Funniest film of the year?

24 February 2007

The Cat Returns 3/5 (R)

Charming enough, but nothing that special.

23 February 2007

Superman 2/5 (R)

At first I thought the first hour was just dull because it feels like I've already seen the origin story many times before. But then it didn't seem to get much better and just when it felt like it might have (by which time I had already lost interest) it goes and spoils it all by being totally ridiculous, even for a comic book film.

The quality of this version was also pretty appalling, I don't know why ITV even showed it in this state.

I was also going to say that there is probably a perfectly fine 90 minute film tucked away somewhere in the excessive 2+ hours running time.

17 February 2007

This Film Is Not Yet Rated 3/5 (C)

Land and Freedom 3/5 (C)

Might actually be better but I only got to half watch it and missed quite a lot.

Apocolypto 3/5 (C)

09 February 2007

Gerry 3/5 (R)

Rather like Tony Takitani and Van Sant's Last Days I ended up liking this much more than I thought I would whilst I was actually watching it. Long, drawn out beautiful shots that regularly test the patience and seemingly no real plot often make it (I was going to say difficult to watch, but it's very easy on the eye) appear boring.

It's probably a case with all of these films that they are pieces of art rather than entertainment.

08 February 2007

Tony Takitani 2.5/5 (R)

Actually I quite liked this but I was too tired, it was too slow and despite only being 75 minutes it seemed far too long so I didn't actually enjoy it.

04 February 2007

03 February 2007

Tombstone 2/5 (R)

Occasionally feels like it's suddenly going to get very good, but then never does. There also seemed to be something wrong (I assume) with this version which made it look like a cheap TV film which was distracting. Val Kilmer was great though.

30 January 2007

Babel 3/5 (C)

Starts off okay but after the first hour just drags. Doesn't seem to say much either and is somewhat predictable (although that may be due to what was shown in the trailer).

There are some good bits; the Mexican wedding, most of the Japanese story but even the latter doesn't fit too well with the rest of the film.

26 January 2007

Assault On Precinct 13 3/5 (R)

(1976 John Carpenter Version)

A zombie film without any zombies.

The Actors 3/5 (R)

Enjoyable enough.

23 January 2007

The Man Who Sued God 3/5 (R)

Enjoyable but the necessary fluffy ending was always going to be a disappointment. And shame about all the swearing!

20 January 2007

17 January 2007

The Long Goodbye 3/5 (R)

Great update of the Marlowe character but the slow pace drags the film out so that the many stand out scenes end up being too diluted.

06 January 2007

Dead Poet's Society 3.5/5 (D)

It's an average film throughout but that ending is always going to get me, even this time when I told myself it wouldn't.

02 January 2007

Down With Love 3/5 (R)

Spk Kids 3D: Game Over 1/5 (R)

The only good thing in this film is Sylvester Stallone's acting (which is a phrase I never thought I'd ever use) and some 3D effects (which are redundant without the glasses).

An awful film that ruins the Spy Kids franchise and further misrepresents gaming in the world of cinema.

Mrs Henderson Presents 3/5 (R)